This was my second trip to the Gap this year and it was Skidplates first trip to the Gap this year. Last year she was still pretty new to riding and really did not have too good of a time with the ride. This year was another story. She felt much more comfortable in the curves this year and actually had a really good time. Such a good time that we are trying to set up another ride this year over Labor Day weekend.
We got a good start to the ride on Friday evening at my favorite place to eat!
We spent Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights at the Gap. As usual, we were treated very well. The girls working in the grill were attempting to kill me by feeding me larger and larger pancakes each morning. I’ll be the first to admit that lots of people are faster than me on the Gap, but one thing I am sure of is that nobody can eat more pancakes on the Gap than I can. I did not care how big or thick the pancakes were, I ate them all. I have to admit they almost beat me down on the third morning, but I summoned up all my will power and ate every bite . The two pound hamburger may have beat me, but nobody will beat me with pancakes.
We had rain every day, but usually it was at night or in the evening and did not affect us too much
Here is the Yellow Wolf Gold Wing. This guy really flies.
Skidplate did a 6AM solo run. The road is nice to ride at sunrise, you usually have it all to yourself.
We stayed in room 3
Cades Cove
There are some big improvements at Deals Gap this year. All of the rooms have refrigerators and microwave ovens in them. It really is nice to have a fridge. The fire ring is finished and it is just great. It is much nicer to have one big community fire and get to know some of the people a little bit. The rain did interfere with the nightly fires quite a bit but Saturday night we had a nice fire and it made for a very enjoyable evening.
We spend Tuesday and Wednesday nights at the Pisgah Inn. This was a really nice place with a great view. Each room has a balcony on the back with a great view of the mountains. We checked out some of the sights in Pisgah National Forest and headed south into South Carolina for lunch. A local in the area told me to try out 151 off the parkway and it really was a great road. Very much like the Gap but not as wide and not as long. We checked out a fish hatchery and Looking Glass Falls.
Thursday we left the Pisgah Inn and headed north on the Parkway again. We took a little side ride down Rt. 80 and Skidplate ended up crashing her motorcycle in a turn there. Luckily, there was no damage to the bike and she only suffered a few bruises. As soon as we got her and the bike picked up and out of the road it began raining. I don’t just mean a regular rain either. It was just dumping rain. We decided we had enough adventure for the day and decided to spend the night in Little Switzerland. It turns out this was a good thing because we ended up spending the night at the Big Lynn Lodge. This was a really nice place for a reasonable rate. Our room cost the same as our room at Pisgah but both dinner and breakfast was included. The next morning we went to one of the many gem mines in the area and we actually had a lot of fun there. We went to the Emerald Village mine and took the tour and did the “find gems in a bucket” thing. Honestly, the mine tour was kind of a waste of money because you really don’t see any more than you can see from the road. We did have fun digging through our buckets to find rocks.
We went to the top of Mt. Mitchell and grilled some hamburgers and they were good. I think we may do more of this cookout on motorcycles thing.
Welcome to the Blue Ridge Parkway
Mt. Mitchell Picnic
View from room and parking lot of the Pisgah Inn
Blue Ridge Parkway tunnels are dark and scary inside!
My favorite sign on the parkway!
Gem hunting
Here is an old building we found in the South Carolina forest
Friday night we arrived in Fancy Gap just as a massive rain storm was hitting. We never rode in the rain, but we got just as wet unloading the bikes in the rain. Right next to our motel was a really cool place to eat, the Mayberry Station. Fancy Gap is near Mt. Airy which is all about Andy Griffith. Mayberry Station is a place to eat that is all about Andy Griffith and it is a very strange place. It is actually a little dumpy and cluttered, but it has a LOT of character. The food is really very good. Anytime you are in this area it is mandatory you at least stop and see this place if not eat there.
From Fancy Gap we went into West Virginia and checked out the New River Gorge Area. We spent the night in Clarksburg, WV. On the way to Clarksburg my motorcycle rolled over 50,000 miles so I bought it a cake to celebrate in Clarksburg. The next morning heading home on US250 just outside of Cameron I saw a bike parked along the road that was just like Marks. Turned out it was Marks! Isn’t it amazing that even though Mark and Jim did not actually go on the ride we ran into both of them while on the ride? I don’t thing anyone in this world loves to ride more than these two guys.
We bought my motorcycle a birthday cake in West Virginia
