[ride reports] [photo album this trip]
Deal's Gap & more...
TN & NC Tour
April 9-12, 2004Highlights
Intro
By 5PM on Thursday April 8th we had the bikes loaded on to the trailer and we were heading toward the highway, leaving Chicago. After a stop for dinner in Indiana and a few gas stops we made it to Maryville, TN in about 10 hours.
Day 1
After a few hours of sleep we got up, unloaded the bikes and geared up. We were leaving the truck and trailer at the Holiday Inn Express where it would wait for us until Sunday. We started the day out with lunch at The Atlanta Bread across the street from the hotel. By 1Pm we were on our way riding 129 towards North Carolina. The day was just perfect with the temperatures in the high 70’s to low 80’s. As we neared the tighter stuff on the Dragon, we were passed by 7 emergency vehicles. Not something you really want to see as you are approaching the tail of the dragon on the first ride of the year. After about 30 minutes of riding, we pulled over to take some pictures. We found out from another guy that there was an accident up ahead. We hung out for a bit as more squad cars and another ambulance went by. After about 10-15 minutes we figured we would get going. We hopped on our bikes but a few miles later we reached a section of the road that was closed off. We were told there was a bad motorcycle accident up ahead. It would be about half an hour before we could go in that that direction. On top of that delay, they were also shooting a commercial near the lake, and they were periodically closing off sections of the road to film. I guess it wasn’t our day to put on the miles, especially starting out so late.
We pulled off to the side of the road and waited about 30 minutes before we were allowed to go though. They were going to close it off right after us for another filming of the commercial, we headed out and were the last vehicles to go though, there was no one behind me all the way through the twisties. I took it easy and a while later came up to the accident spot where there were a few bikes and cars waiting to go by. There was a blue Yamaha laying on it’s side in the grass and the people that were on the side of the road looked shocked and sad. I wouldn’t find out for a few days, but the guy that was riding that bike died when his bike lost control and he was hit by an on-coming pick-up truck. According to the locals, this has been the first fatal accident since 2002. We made it down to the Deal’s Gap Resort parking lot.
Since we were supposed to be in Arkansas this weekend, I had to look at the map to see which way to go. I would work out a better route for Saturday and Sunday tonight after dinner, but for the rest of the day today we were just going to wing it. From there we took 28 East, which turned out to be an awesome road. We were going to ride in the direction of Asheville, NC and stay the night there. We wanted to hop on the Blue Ridge Parkway and back track to Asheville from there, but since we lost so much time already today, we decided to take 19 from 28. 19 had it’s moments, but there was just too many towns to pass through and there was more traffic than turns on it. We finally hopped on I-40 and took that in to town arriving just before 8PM. During the course of riding on 28, Brian took the camera and got ahead of us on a few occasions to take position for getting pictures of Dave and I in action. Well, there was a cruiser that he passed on a number of occasions to achieve this task. Apparently, the guy on the cruiser was startled by Brian's new pipe as he passed, and later on he caught up and stopped at a photo spot to let him know. Had it been a few minutes earlier, the cruiser guy said that he would have started a brawl! :confused
We checked in to the Best Western on 19 on the west side of Asheville. Crossed the street and ate dinner at the Mexican restaurant called El Chapala. The food was OK and inexpensive, they had a good spinach dip; we were told it was better than the Mexican place located in the Best Western.
Day 2
Saturday’s weather was on the cool side, only in the low to mid 60’s. The first road of the day was the Blue Ridge Parkway heading northeast. The road and the views were amazing. Not a lot of traffic either. There was still some snow in the higher elevations. The air was cool but there was plenty of sunshine. From there we took 221 north, which wasn’t really special until we passed the town of Linville. From there up until Blowing Rock, this road was super twisty, narrow and ever more technical than the dragon with many elevation changes. At the beginning of the twisty part, a single sign was posted stating to “Drive at a safe speed” but I don’t think I ever got to go over 40mph on that road.
We stopped for lunch in Boone at the Back Yard Burgers, a local fast food chain, good BBQ sauce & great Chili cheese burger w/coleslaw on top. From Boone until Hampton, there were plenty of curves for everyone and not too much traffic. First we went West on 321, another great road, which lead to 67 Southwest, an awesome road, wider with more sweepers. By now the sunshine was gone and the clouds moved in. There was rain forecasted in the later afternoon but we were lucky, we never saw a drop of rain. The plan was to hit the Virginia border before turning south and heading back to Asheville. We ran out of time, so we headed west on 173 which turned out to be an amazing road also, but on the narrow side, with many turns. Then we jumped on 107, which was OK and then got on the highway (19/23 Future I-26) to Asheville. The highway turned out to have really sweet elevation changes and high-speed sweepers and was a nice change of pace to the super-slow twisty roads that we have been riding all day.
We got to Asheville around 7:30PM and got a room at the Super 8 this time down the street from the Best Western that we stayed at last night saving about $12. I like the Best western better though, since it has the sink outside the bathroom and each room has a door to the outside so you don’t have to carry your crap though the whole building and up to your room. Also, it was a nicer building too. We had dinner at the Fatz Café which was on the other side of the best Western on 19 and was highly recommended by the locals. It wasn’t cheap but well worth it. Best smashed garlic potatoes I’ve ever had and they serve these complimentary poppy seed rolls with honey butter which I could have just filled up on and skipped dinner all together. Also, they had my favorite Pennsylvania beer, Yingling. As an appetizer, we tired the Garbage French fries, which were very good and tasted like the backed potato soup from Bennigan's, but in a solid form.
Day 3
On Easter Sunday we woke up to an overcast sky with low hanging clouds. We already knew it was going to rain, the radar showed half the county enveloped in rain clouds. As we were preparing to mount our bikes, raindrops were all ready falling so we put our rain suits on. It was in the mid 60’s so it was pretty comfortable wearing the rain jackets even if it wasn't raining, not too hot or humid. We headed south from Asheville on 19 and took that to 215 South. It was just sprinkling here and there. 215 south turned out to be a mountain road with choppy and bumpy, sometimes busted up-pavement, it was all wet and pretty narrow. It resembled the Cherohala Skyway at times but of a lesser quality in road conditions and the view wasn't as spectacular either. There were tight sections that traveled very steep. We let a few cars pass us, not feeling very confident to keep a faster pace in the wet conditions on such as narrow and bumpy road.
The next road we took was 64 west which was way more enjoyable. It had some tight turns, some elevation changes and some sweepers. It did travel though a few towns, but it was nice enough that you just dealt with the traffic at times. At some point it actually started raining but we just kept moving forward. Once 64 joined 28, my favorite section of the whole trip began. The road dipped and winded though a woody area with rock cliffs on one side. It wasn’t super tight, nothing tighter than 25mph. The road just flowed right for me. At least 50% of the turns were some sort of a tighter up hill right and immediate not as tight downhill left, after a few of these you almost got used to it and when it changed it would catch you off guard. The only one unmarked squad car that I saw the whole trip was busy pulling a car over as we passed by. We would see him again pulling over a truck next to us, but when we took a break at a gas station we saw him pull like 3 cars over, so we were on good behavior until we left that town far behind. We continued on 28 northwest. At this point we came up to the same section that we rode on Friday, but shortly we would be turning off, and heading on 143 West to the Cherohala Skyway.
Since our gas station departure, the rain was now constant. As we turned off to head west on 143 we made a pit stop to actually get some gas on the corner of 129 and 143. It was only 50 miles to Maryville, but that would be if we took the dragon back, which none of us wanted to do that in the rain. It would be a much longer ride on 143/165 plus we would have to back track to Maryville and possibly ride in the fog (low hanging clouds) at the higher elevation. We still chose that route over the dragon, there were no other alternatives. The fog started getting thick around 3000 feet but it was patchy. The turns on the Cherohala Skyway are posted at 25mph but in dry conditions you can easy double of triple them. All the turns are either heading up or down, so in the rain we were staying close to or just about 10miles over the speed limit. Over 4000 feet in elevation we were riding in the clouds and could not see a thing at times. Many times I would just coast down on my brakes not knowing where I was going, just barely making out the faint double yellow. It felt like it took forever to travel that road going at such a slow speed, plus a bit nerve wrecking since we were a bit worried that traveling so slow in such a dense fog, a car might come up behind us and rear end one of us.
At the end of 165, we were wet and cold and miserable, and at least two hours late to arrive back in Maryville. After taking even a longer way back and jumping on 68 to 411, which at least was a straight highway, we finally arrived back in Maryville by 7PM. After loading up the bikes, we walked over to Up the Creek restaurant for some sea food. The hush puppies come complimentary and are delicious. I had the sea cakes and the smashed potatoes, all was pretty good, but not as great as the dinner last night. We also had the lobster dip appetizer which is very flavorful. Due to the rain which now covered half of the United States, we would not be able to ride Monday until noon or so as we planned. After dinner we ended up heading back and stopped in Kentucky to spend the night at a cheaper motel.
The drive back on Monday took a bit longer than anticipated, we ended up stopping in Indiana to do some shopping and then stopped for a long dinner at a Cheeseburger in Paradise, arriving home at 11PM. CIP has a great menu, and authentic décor. We will be going to the one locally early and often.
As always - it's not just a ride, it's an adventure!