Goodman4
Pressing on
Tammy and I had a really good trip on our first ride to the Blue Ridge Parkway. First, I need to thank Lee Davis and several others on the forum for your very helpful advice in planning the trip.
We left on Friday, April 26. I was planning on driving to just east of Nashville, TN that evening, but Saturday was forecast for heavy rain all day, while it looked clear Friday. I took the afternoon off and we got ready and of course it started raining. We hit lots of road construction in the rain, stop and go for about half an hour. Yay. We finally drove out of it around Nashville and had a nice ride to Rock Island State Park. A side road to the park, Hwy 30 east of McMinnville was a fun road.
This is Spring Castle in Rock Island State Park. We went this route on our first long trip 5 years ago, so it was a good memory. But this one's a little blurry as I had just fallen up the stairs and jammed my thumb. My wife said I may be too clumsy to drive.
Got to Athens TN just as it was getting dark so we stopped there for the night. On Saturday we only had a few miles to go to get to the Lodge at Tellico, which was good since it was pouring rain. This place is great for bikers as they have a locked bike garage and provide motorcycle towels. Beware the concrete floor as it's a little slick
They had a nice game room where we waited out the rain with some fierce ping-pong and shuffleboard.
They told me the Cherohala was socked in with fog so I just rode up 16 miles by myself when I went to get us some sandwiches at Kats Diner by the Tellico River.
We had a big day of riding planned for Sunday, going across the Cherohala and up and down the Dragon before going down 28 to Highlands and back to Cherokee to start the BRP on Monday. The rain was so heavy that most of this got cut out, but 129 was still the easiest way to Cherokee, so we waited for what looked like a break in the rain and went for it. The rain was light, but totally stopped just as we got on the Dragon. Took it really easy due to the wet roads, but it was nice to not see a single other soul on it during a weekend afternoon.
For Monday there were fog warnings in high elevations in Boone so I was not optimistic about the BRP. Fortunately it was just fine.
This is from the Parkway starting just past Cherokee Monday morning:
I am standing by the final resting place of my lens cap. It fell in the storm grate.
The road was closed by Craggy Gardens so we took the detour that Lee Davis suggested around to the north on Ox Creek rd and 197. We didn't enjoy the gravel part of 197 too much, but the switchbacks through the nice community on the east side of 197 were a pleasant twisty surprise.
We came back around to the Parkway and looped back to go up and see the Mt Mitchell overlook. Beautiful views.
Highest peak in the East
The clouds were hanging on one edge of the mountain and wouldn't cross
Bridges on the Blue Ridge
We were more tired from the rain and wind than expected, so we decided to cut our day trips shorter than planned while in Boone after we got to the cabin Monday night where we stayed until Thursday morning. I had some nice routes in the GPS that Lee had given us, but we took it slow and only did a few or the roads on those routes and mostly toured the area. With so many mountain roads there, it was all good. On Tuesday we enjoyed 194 and ate lunch in Banner Elk which was an interesting little town.
Then we drove over to Grandfather Mountain. They charge $16 per person to go up, but it was worth it for us. They give you a warning sheet if you are riding a motorcycle because of the steep switchbacks. I loved it, but I didn't let Tammy read the warnings.
You can see the Harley below in the wrong lane because that is the only way they could make the corners.
Incredible views from the rocks after you cross the swinging bridge.
Continued in next post...
We left on Friday, April 26. I was planning on driving to just east of Nashville, TN that evening, but Saturday was forecast for heavy rain all day, while it looked clear Friday. I took the afternoon off and we got ready and of course it started raining. We hit lots of road construction in the rain, stop and go for about half an hour. Yay. We finally drove out of it around Nashville and had a nice ride to Rock Island State Park. A side road to the park, Hwy 30 east of McMinnville was a fun road.
This is Spring Castle in Rock Island State Park. We went this route on our first long trip 5 years ago, so it was a good memory. But this one's a little blurry as I had just fallen up the stairs and jammed my thumb. My wife said I may be too clumsy to drive.
Got to Athens TN just as it was getting dark so we stopped there for the night. On Saturday we only had a few miles to go to get to the Lodge at Tellico, which was good since it was pouring rain. This place is great for bikers as they have a locked bike garage and provide motorcycle towels. Beware the concrete floor as it's a little slick
They had a nice game room where we waited out the rain with some fierce ping-pong and shuffleboard.
They told me the Cherohala was socked in with fog so I just rode up 16 miles by myself when I went to get us some sandwiches at Kats Diner by the Tellico River.
We had a big day of riding planned for Sunday, going across the Cherohala and up and down the Dragon before going down 28 to Highlands and back to Cherokee to start the BRP on Monday. The rain was so heavy that most of this got cut out, but 129 was still the easiest way to Cherokee, so we waited for what looked like a break in the rain and went for it. The rain was light, but totally stopped just as we got on the Dragon. Took it really easy due to the wet roads, but it was nice to not see a single other soul on it during a weekend afternoon.
For Monday there were fog warnings in high elevations in Boone so I was not optimistic about the BRP. Fortunately it was just fine.
This is from the Parkway starting just past Cherokee Monday morning:
I am standing by the final resting place of my lens cap. It fell in the storm grate.
The road was closed by Craggy Gardens so we took the detour that Lee Davis suggested around to the north on Ox Creek rd and 197. We didn't enjoy the gravel part of 197 too much, but the switchbacks through the nice community on the east side of 197 were a pleasant twisty surprise.
We came back around to the Parkway and looped back to go up and see the Mt Mitchell overlook. Beautiful views.
Highest peak in the East
The clouds were hanging on one edge of the mountain and wouldn't cross
Bridges on the Blue Ridge
We were more tired from the rain and wind than expected, so we decided to cut our day trips shorter than planned while in Boone after we got to the cabin Monday night where we stayed until Thursday morning. I had some nice routes in the GPS that Lee had given us, but we took it slow and only did a few or the roads on those routes and mostly toured the area. With so many mountain roads there, it was all good. On Tuesday we enjoyed 194 and ate lunch in Banner Elk which was an interesting little town.
Then we drove over to Grandfather Mountain. They charge $16 per person to go up, but it was worth it for us. They give you a warning sheet if you are riding a motorcycle because of the steep switchbacks. I loved it, but I didn't let Tammy read the warnings.
You can see the Harley below in the wrong lane because that is the only way they could make the corners.
Incredible views from the rocks after you cross the swinging bridge.
Continued in next post...
