Ride To South Carolina...

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

First off thanks Mike ( hupcap ) for getting this ride up   I rolled out friday morning to hook up with Bruce ( DDT ) outside of Sweetwater,Tennessee. We took the twistie scenic route to South Carolina crossing The Dragon ridin' The Moonshiner 28 going through The Highlands of North Carolina. Friday was a awesome day to ride these roads with nice cool temps and dry roads until we hit Walhalla,South Carolina that evening then the sky went black and a turd floater followed us the last 12 miles to Seneca to the motel.First picture from Deals Gap ( The Dragon ).




After crossing into South Carolina we took a break here not much to see but a cool place for a break.













We took shelter under this bridge during the hardest down-pour but still got soaked the 12 miles to the motel we did't put on the plastic suits just let the fat lady roll.




Mike and his wife took us out to a awesome BBQ place out in the middle of Nowhere,SC on friday night in her car as the storms was still going thru the area with pouring rain. Great Q and DDT took care of the check ( Thanks Bruce   ).
I've got alot of the same pictures as Mike and Steamer posted in the other thread so I'll pass a repeat of them at the Hutchinson House. The state of South Carolina had planned years ago to make this place a state park they built nice restrooms paved a big ass parking lot and then run out of funds. It's under lock and key now but Mike got in touch with Park Ranger John Lawrence who agreed to meet us saturday and give us a tour. Can't say enough about John he was cool and let us see the entire place and answered all questions and never rushed us ...If you see this Mr. Lawrence as I know Mike gave you this website to check out ....Thank You  


Some of the huge hand cut timbers under and in the upper floors run the entire span of the house and would be worth a fortune to a modern day builder.






Mike posted in his thread about the newpaper used to wallpaper the walls to keep out the wind with some dating back to the late 30's with news articles about Hitler it was so dark in this room I could'nt find much but did take a few pic's hoping to score the Hitler news articles  

 




After leaving the group outside of Clayton, Georgia I had plans to back-track across The Hellbender 28 and The Dragon on the way home however in Clayton I made the decision to just stay on Hwy 441 and cross The Great Smoky Mountains cause I was putting some miles behind me across 441.Heres a few shots from The Great Smoky Mountains.













I made great time across the mountains even rolled right on pass Gatlinburg on the by-pass and hit Pigeon Forge it was packed as always but I hit the lights pretty good. Stopped at one redlight and heard someone yell " Hey Joe " I looked around  and saw Curt ,Teresa, Larry and Lisa ( The Evil Twins ) chillin' out at a motel after a nice day ride. Lisa told me they have named Hwy.209 in Hot Springs,North Carolina and are calling it  " The Rattler " with t-shirts soon to come . No doubt I'll have me one of those as my Wild Bunch ride that road several times a year on a nice long day ride.I stopped in and shot the bull with them another guest at the motel claimed he had a storage building in West Virginia full of Valkyrie's and parts he even said he had LaMonsters yellow blown Valk with many of the blowers Lamont had made back in the day.



" The Money Shot " taken at the South Carolina state line.....Again thanks Mike for putting this ride on...I talked to Mark ( Detn8er ) yesterday when I stopped in Cherokee to gas up and he was out all day lookin' for us     Hate we missed you Mark I miss the old days when just about every ride we took you would join us.Let me know next time and the group will not roll until you show-up  

[Crazyhorse]

Great report Joe . You take some very good pictures. See you in a few weeks.

[hal47]

Super good report and pictures,allways injoy them.Ride safe

[hubcapsc]

Hey Joe!

Thanks for coming... I've never been on 441 up to Gatlinburg but once
that I remember, it was packed and awful, filled with lunatics... and I
didn't appreciate the relevance of the Gatlinburg by-pass, but you only
do that once 

441 seems like it would be a great road if there was light traffic, I especially
remember the loop-de-loop that seems like it is there for no purpose...



-Mike

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Hey Joe!

Thanks for coming... I've never been on 441 up to Gatlinburg but once
that I remember, it was packed and awful, filled with lunatics... and I
didn't appreciate the relevance of the Gatlinburg by-pass, but you only
do that once 

441 seems like it would be a great road if there was light traffic, I especially
remember the loop-de-loop that seems like it is there for no purpose...



-Mike

If you can catch this road ( early weekday mornings ) you would be hard pressed to find a better road for the art of motorcycling from Cherokee,NC to the Sugarland Center just before you hit Gatlinburg,TN . Same goes for Little River Road that runs from Sugarland to Townsend talk about a beautiful ride with awesome twisties all the while running along the river with whitewater....All and all the traffic was'nt that bad yesterday.....Thanks again Mike I enjoyed the ride and company 

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Great report Joe . You take some very good pictures. See you in a few weeks.

Mac if your route to " Return To Hillbilly Highway " comes anywhere near Knoxville let me know we've got a nice group ridin up on that friday and would love to have you join us. We'll be takin' the scenic twistie's most of the way up 

[thumper]

We rode "The Rattler" a few weeks ago when we were up that way.  Funny, cause I was looking for the T-shirt store.  There is a sign at one end of it when you enter.

Great stretch of road....but then they all are up there.

[DDT (12)]

Great hangin' with ya, Joe... fabulous ride and weekend!!! Thanks...

DDT

[..]

We rode "The Rattler" a few weeks ago when we were up that way.  Funny, cause I was looking for the T-shirt store.  There is a sign at one end of it when you enter.

Great stretch of road....but then they all are up there.

Have you been in the country store towards the southern end of 209 once you start to get into the bumpy bits? I'ts where you have to make a right turn to continue on 209.

Lots of old store fixtures still being used.

Opposite the "The Rattler" sign.

[MrArn]

Thanks for the ride report--I enjoyed reading about your ride.

[Mr Whiskey]

Sorry I missed this one brother. Looks like a good run for all!
Lookin' forward to seein' everyone at Hillbilly.
209 is "The Rattler" huh? Cool! New shirts give me an excuse to go ride it again.
Peace, Whiskey.

[thumper]

We rode "The Rattler" a few weeks ago when we were up that way.  Funny, cause I was looking for the T-shirt store.  There is a sign at one end of it when you enter.

Great stretch of road....but then they all are up there.

Have you been in the country store towards the southern end of 209 once you start to get into the bumpy bits? I'ts where you have to make a right turn to continue on 209.

Lots of old store fixtures still being used.

Opposite the "The Rattler" sign.

No I didn't...ride leader blew right by it. LOL

[..]

We rode "The Rattler" a few weeks ago when we were up that way.  Funny, cause I was looking for the T-shirt store.  There is a sign at one end of it when you enter.

Great stretch of road....but then they all are up there.

Have you been in the country store towards the southern end of 209 once you start to get into the bumpy bits? I'ts where you have to make a right turn to continue on 209.

Lots of old store fixtures still being used.

Opposite the "The Rattler" sign.

No I didn't...ride leader blew right by it. LOL

What a complete and utter plonker that ride leader must have been