Left out on Tuesday evening after working 5 hours. Spent the night in Fayetteville, GA. Hit the road at 6 am to beat the Hotlanta traffic. Breezed through town on the HOV. Hightailed it to the Hollywood Diner for breakfast. It's just before Tallula Gorge which is always a nice stop. I think it's 6-700' deep.
Went on up to Dillard and took the road over to Highlands and US 64. Forget the Dragon. Lots of curves and a whole lot more miles of em and no worry about sportbikes crossing the yellow line. Followed 64 through Highlands,
http://www.highlandschamber.org/ Cashiers,
http://www.cashiersnorthcarolina.com/ , lake Toxaway and Toxaway falls,
http://www.ncwaterfalls.com/toxaway1.htm even Bat Cave, Chimney Rock
http://www.chimneyrockpark.com/ and stopped at Lake Lure at Larkins on the Lake. Great Hamburger. They have one that weighs 1.5 lbs for $20 if anyone is interested and if you eat the whole thing ya get a t-shirt. Not me. Great setting on the lake with the mountains as a backdrop. Sorry, forgot the camera.
http://www.larkinsonthelake.com/Got to Rutherfordton and decided to take secondary roads to Charlotte instead of hitting 74 then I-85. Had till 5 pm to get there. I dipped down to Forest City and GPS'd someone on how to get to Polkville. That was fun. Took me three GPSes to get there. (That's "Go Petition Somebody"). Makes the trip most interesting and you always meet the nicest people that are more than glad to help. Would've never met them without using my GPS system. Maps aren't much help with backroads. I ended up on W Stagecoach Road. Man, that is a beautiful ride through NC hill country. It was on this road, I believe between Lawndale and Falston or just east of Falston that some bimbo decides she want to hear the Stabel. Pulls right out in front of me so I can give one really long blast, which does it's intended job of stopping her dead in her tracks. She was a third in my lane when I passed by. No time to get scared. Just throttle down baby.
Not too far down the road I see a pull off, looked like a convience store with pumps but turned out to be a hardware store. Worked for me, none the less. Had a cold Gatorade. Asked the young cashier about the area and since I was out of the mountains and in the hills did they refer to themselves as hillbillies. She acknowledged they definetly were and that they even had their own Sasquatch, known as the Casar Knobby.
I'd of never know about this if not on the back roads.
Made it to the hotel at 5pm as hoped. Got a shower hit the hot tub, had the complementary grub, etc. Met with Tom, potential boss, over Friday's steak and shrimp. Went well. Actual interview was for Thursday, 1100 hrs. I think it went well.
Hit the road and went as due west and as fast as possible to make it to Bryson City by 6 or 7 to set up camp at Deep Creek.
http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/deepcreek.htm Made it with about 1 hour of daylight. Set up the tent and headed out of the campground to get some grub. Stopped at the tube rental place just out of the park and got a chicken sandwich from the snackbar. Was excellant. Then came the good part, a hot fudge sundae. I got there and thought they were about to close. Only person there. Then as soon as I got my sundae the bottom fell out. Folks from the campground poured in there looking for their favorite frozen concoction.
Out of the crowd and fellow named Kevin form East August, SC comes over and asks about the Valk. He just sold his bike and is looking to buy a Valk. Has a buddy with one just like mine, color, model, etc. Hello Kevin if you're reading this.
Gotta go for now. Will post the second half of a great road trip later.
Off for the afternoon. Got up bright and early Friday morning and did a little sight seeing around Bryson City. Looked at some properties for sale and headed for Coker Creek, TN. Headed up Hwy 28 towards the Dragon and saw the sign for the Ironhorse Motorcycle Lodge and Campground. Made a u turn and went to check it out. This place is excellant. The rates seemed resonable as well. Dry county though for those that may be interested. They have some big bucks invested in this place.
Started to head to the Dragon but had business to tend to so I opted to do that another day. Besides, been there done that and the Cherohala was calling.
Ate at Phillip's Restraunt in Robinsville and hit the Skyway. Not a lot of traffic. I was riding cautious after talking to a fellow rider at Phillip's who had informed me of two fatalities the week before on the skyway. Sportbiker crossed the center line taking out three others head on. Still I made a pretty good run of it and enjoyed every minute of it. Always do. Got to the turn off for the falls and stopped and took a dip with the trout. That was so refreshing with the temps in the upper 90's. And the water temp was just right.
I made it to Coker Creek Village around 5 and waited for the camp director to show. He had been out on the Hiawassee River with a group. His grandfather had worked at TMI (Tennessee Military Institute) and started this camp in 1963 with 5 campers the first year. They now have as many as 300 a week but generally have 150 to 250 in camp and take groups as few as ten. Anyway, his grandfather and I had met about 12 years ago and really connected. I have always had a passion for camping and wanted to share some ideas with and meet his grandson who now operates the camp. Sanford Gray, his grandfather, passed away in 2005 and no one else in the family wanted to run the camp so, Cameron, took it on. Anyway, I'll be sharing some ideas with him on how to improve attendance other than summer camp. We'll see how it goes.
Made it to Ducktown about night fall. Checked into the Ducktown Inn??? Not reccomended. Anyway, the manager was a hoot, Gilligan. Special ops. Very animated individual. Got the scoop on where to eat breakfast the next morning and off for more adventure. Hyw 68 Diner about 4 mile north of Ducktown just north of the RR tracks, in case you're in the area. Highly reccomended.
After washing down a big ole cathead and gravy I headed to the Ocoee Olympic Whitewater Park. Was there in 96 as a Bleacher volunteer for the Olympics. As I walked out on the bridge, I noticed upstream that the water was rising, which means the TVA is doing a recreational release. I hightailed it back up the road to the nearest Rafting outfitters, Wildwater, and was able to get in on the 9am trip. woooooohoooooo. Never done the Upper Ocoee and have done the lower at least a dozen times and once in my canoe.
It was a blast. Numerous class 4 rapids, some in succession. What a blast. Hwy 64 follows the river for miles and you could see or hear bikes riding by all morning. I wander how many ever stop to enjoy such a great experience. If you're gonna be in the area, ya gotta try it. I'm planning on going back in a couple months and do the all day trip with the family. Probably September 11 or 18 if anyone wants to make it a Valk river trip.
That was Sat. morning. Left out and made it to Blue Ridge by 3 pm. Took a gander at the map and decided to take the long way home and if I didn't lollygag around I'd be home by @ 9 pm. And forget the interstates. I got to Ellijay and decided to take 52 across to Chatsworth (took a detour thru Ft Mountain St Park) then turn and head south through Rome so I could pick up Hwy 27 to LaGrange so I could eat at Rogers Barbeque. They have the absolute best Brunswick Stew anywhere. Well, the rest of the trip was miles of enjoying hearing the fat lady sing. Made it to the house at 9 pm. Wow, how's that for guessing.
Btw, on the way to Charlotte, my goal was to be to the motel by 5 pm. Made it right on time. Never could've planned it and hit it right on time. Thank you Lord for such a great trip.
