Hey all, my dad and I will be heading out to Cherokee NC the end of June meeting up with my sister and nephew for a long weekend away. We've got a cabin rented at a KOA somewhere around there.
The trip out we'll just be hammering off miles on the superslab at least to the Nashville area where my sister lives. Once there I want to have a couple nice rides planned around the area. Maybe a full day trip planned out of cherokee and a couple other shorter rides we can hit up if we have a few hours or so. Obviously the tail of the dragon is on the must hit list, but I want to know what other routes we need to hit while we are out there.

 

You are close to the Natchez trace, when in nashville, it's a great ride.

 

We go out to see them about every year, so we'll probably plan on some rides closer to the nashville area for another time. I'll add that one to the list for later.

 

Cheraholla Skyway is a beauty and the Blue Ridge Parkway is right there too. I know you're going to Nashville, but I would strongly recommend avoiding I 65 in southern Indiana. It is one hell of a mess with construction.

 

Thanks for the tip, I don't believe that we hit Indiana though. We go down through Illinois and Kentucky coming from Iowa.

 

Wheels of time is right there too... Oh and great smoky mountain park road to Cade's cove.

 

The Cheraholla Skyway is a great ride as is the the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Avoid the Dragon and Cades Cove at all costs on a weekend as they're both very crowded and not worth putting up with the crowds.

The Foothills Parkway is a great scenic ride as is hwy 64 along the Ocoee river.

When you leave Nashville, take hwy 70 east and then pick up hwy 321 as its a nice ride and much better than the interstate.

That'll keep you busy for a long weekend.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I was planning on doing the dragon during the week. Might try to hit it up on the way out even.

 

Welcome from NC when you get here! Lots of good suggestions on the riding as well as the Maggie Valley area (location of Wheels Through Time Museum mentioned above), just a few miles NE of Cherokee on Hwy 19.

Don't lose your shirt too much at the casino in Cherokee!

 

Cheraholla was a darn nice ride for us a few weeks back. Make sure you've got a full tank before you start, and it's a little tricky to find the starting point.

There are a number of good scenic routes and simply roads down there. Good place to start finding them is here: http://tailofthedragon.com/your-trip/plan-your-trip/#


Smokey Mountain National Park is darn pretty, but it's a slow ride, with all the RVs. Same the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Two places to stop (IMO): This motorcycle museum near Cherokee http://www.wheelsthroughtime.com/, and this auto museum in Nashville http://www.lanemotormuseum.org/

If you're visiting Nashville, play tourist. They are good at it. We had an astonishingly good time at the county music hall of fame and the RCA tour. The Parthenon was neat too.

We loved Jacks BBQ (ribs were fantastic), and their chess pie was darn good, and unlike any other chess pie I've had.