Whenever I told people I was going to Deals Gap, they kept asking me, “Didn’t you just go there a couple of weeks ago?”. Yes I had, it makes no difference because deals gap is “The Best Place on the Earth”. Well, at least it is the best place I have ever been to. The whole area lives and breathes motorcycles. There are so many great roads you could ride for years and never get tired of them.
We started out early on Wednesday. Mark and I met up at 5:40 AM and hooked up with Jim at 6:00 AM. There are not too many reasons why I would be up and about at that time of morning on a day off.
We took 77 South to 81, across to 40, and down 129. It was about a 640 mile ride, but it was a pretty easy ride. We had a lot of fog as we were driving through Ohio, but by the time we got to West Virginia the skies were sunny and the temperature was warm.
We really wanted to get to Deals Gap before dark. I planned the route and we would have made it but Jim and Mark insisted on stopping for lunch. That really blew the schedule. I guess those guys don’t have the same reserves that I have. The sun was setting as we arrived in Knoxville, TN so we figured if we were going to arrive in the dark, we would arrive with full bellies, so we stopped at Cracker Barrel and ate a ton of food. Under the parole agreement I made with Skidplate I was required to phone in each day, so I took advantage of the stop in Knoxville to fulfill my parole requirements. I pulled over into the overlook and asked for volunteers to lead the last 10 miles. Silence was all I heard. Honestly, Jim has FOUR headlights – shouldn’t he have led? We hung out there a little while admiring all the stars and the quiet, and once I built up the nerve we rode the last 10 miles. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t scary. By the time we arrived I was just about crying like a baby – but we had slain the dragon at night (if you could call 25MPH slaying the dragon, but hell, it was scary).
The next morning we took 129 up to the Foothills Parkway, across Little River Road, down through the Smokey Mountains to Cherokee, and back to Deals Gap. We got lost trying to find the Foothills Parkway, but found another great road anyway. When the road became not so great we found Earnest the car salesman. He was a really nice guy (and I usually don’t care for car salesmen) and got us right back on the parkway. Little River Road was an absolutely beautiful road. This is what is great about the area. Long views across valleys, mountain range views, and Little River Road was an excellent road through the forest running alongside a beautiful river.
Ernest
The ride through the Smokey Mountains was great. We were lucky and there was not a lot of traffic. Basically the first half is all up, and the second half is all down. One thing that I thought was interesting is that the up side had an oil slick running up the middle of it. I guess it is because the cars are running so hard to make it up the mountain. The tour busses were just screaming trying to get up the hill. The smell of burning brakes was strong in the air from the cars and trucks coming down.
We devoted the entire day Friday to Deals Gap. What a great place. I cannot tell you how well we were treated at the Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort, AKA Crossroads of Time. Everybody there is so friendly and helpful. The food is great, and the prices are reasonable. They have everything you could possibly need right there. Mark and I spent the entire day riding up and down the Dragon, while Jim went back to the Foothills Parkway to ride the part we missed. Jim got lost again on the ride, but it really doesn’t matter. No matter where you go it is great riding.
Mark and I rode up and down the Dragon all day and had a great time. It was really nice to have a room right on the Dragon where we could pull in, get a drink, look at the bikes, and then make another pass. It was pretty cool just to pull over somewhere and watch all the bikes go by. We saw a couple of guys go into the ditches, but none of them were injured and the bikes were only slightly damaged, so that is good.
Friday evening we took a ride into Robbinsville for a great pizza buffet and to stop to see the Cheoah Dam.
We had to move to another room on Friday night. There were not a lot of people around, so we figured we would take the nicest chairs that were in front of the rooms and put them in front of our room. It was a good plan. When we came back from th ride for pizza and to see the dam all of our chairs were stolen. We suspect it was the Harley riders a couple of rooms up, because you know how Harley riders are. We showed ’em all though, we pulled the couch out of our room and put it in the parking lot. Now we had the very best chairs! One of the Harley guys who was really, really drunk asked to sit on Marks bike. Now, you know Marks bike was less than a week old – you know what his answer would be. I could not believe it when he said, “Yea, go ahead and try it out.” Jim and I and the rest of the Harley guys looked on in HORROR as this guy started climbing on. There were about eight guys all around the bike holding it up and keeping it from rolling away and we got through it without incident, but really, what the hell were you thinking, Mark?????
Saturday morning was kind of sad for me, because we had to leave Deals Gap. I woke up super early and got showered and dressed. I waited for the sun to come up and got one more run in on the Dragon. It was really nice because I had the road entirely to myself. It was so quiet and peaceful, it really broke my heart to have to leave. When I got back we went over for breakfast and I had one last pancake and sausage breakfast. I got and extra pancake to help get me through the day and we left for the Blue Ridge Parkway with our bellies full.
What can I say about the Parkway? The best part of the parkway is the south end of it, and off course it did not disappoint. It really is some great riding. We stopped at Mt. Mitchell and had lunch and checked out the sights. The food was good, but it was kind of expensive, but what a view. When we got to the top we were in the clouds and that was really cool. Sunday we would not think the cloud thing was so cool, but more on that later. After Mt. Mitchell we took a little detour off of the parkway to ride a road that I found on the map, and it really was an awesome road. I think I may keep the location of this road secret, but let me tell you, it does rival Deals Gap.
We arrived in Blowing Rock as the sun was setting and had to find the Riders Roost in the dark. We found it without too much trouble and pulled in. We were getting in kind of late and everybody was pretty lubed up when we arrived. There was probably 50 bikes there: 47 Harleys and 1 Kawasaki, 1 Suzuki, and 1 Honda. We were welcomed to the campground like long lost brothers. Uncle Roy and the rest had given up on us figuring we were not going to show up, but pulling into the campground at 10:00PM is actually not doing too bad for us! Everyone offered us beers and it really was a bummer we could not partake, but we did have to get on the road early in the morning to make it home.
During the middle of the night at Riders Roost it began to rain. When I heard the rain hitting the metal roof of our room I sure was happy I was not in a tent. When we woke up in the morning it was still raining. This did not bother us too much because mainly all we were doing this day was returning home. We decided to skip the last leg of the parkway due to the rain and just head straight to 77 and home. As we approached Fancy Gap on 77 we got into the clouds again. The fog was thicker than I have ever seen it in my life. The southbound lane was a mess. Traffic was completely stopped and there were wrecked cars all over the place. Everywhere you looked there were ambulances, police, and fire trucks. We read in the news when we got home that one person was killed, 24 went to the hospital, and 50 cars were wrecked. Thankfully, we got through it safely before the closed the freeway. The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. I pulled in my driveway around 9:00. It was a real bummer to go back to work the next day, but as soon as summer returns I will be going back.