Murphy Loop...

[hubcapsc]

Ever since I noticed this loop above Murphy on google maps I've been thinking
about going over there and riding it. I got up this morning with that on my mind...
I called Henry... he had a date... I called Stanley Steamer... he had a date too...
So me and my date headed off to breakfast at a local place, and I left from there for
the loop.

I stopped at Unity Church on the way out of South Carolina...



These cool machines were at an overlook on 76 in North Georgia...



When I got to "the loop", I started seeing signs like this...





The loop is good... I went counter clockwise from Murphy, it is kind of congested
in a farm traffic kind of way near Murphy, pretty remote up at Beaver Dam Road...





After a while a blob of condensation formed right on the lens of the inside of the
goPro's case.



I left the loop and saw the road to the John C. Campbell folk school, so I went down
there, and turned down several more likely roads and finally ended up here...



I left there and intended to head home. Presently Tennessee welcomed me,
but I was kind of ambivalent about it since I thought I was in Georgia going east at the time...



Made it back to Clayton, and hit The Real Mexican restaurant...





There's mine...



Two awesome chicken tacos and a bottle of water, $4.25...



So... I didn't always know where I was going, it was a great day of riding, around
300 miles 

-Mike

[..]

Those cars are so cool they are HOT!

Wish you had more photos.

[BF]

Those cars are so cool they are HOT!

Wish you had more photos.

+1000000.  I love that style of hot rod.

[Mr Whiskey]

Mike, we were in Robinsville today. Wish I'd known you were that close!
Been dyin' to ride the Joe Brown part of that loop.
Looks like ya had a good one Brother!
Peace, Whiskey.

[hubcapsc]

Those cars are so cool they are HOT!

Wish you had more photos.

+1000000.  I love that style of hot rod.

Sorry, that's it... I spent more time talking to the guys than taking pictures...
they called me Honda Dude or some such... at least two of their cars have headlights
made out of giant pistons...

-Mike

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Do you know if you crossed the bridge at Hangin' Dog ? I plan to take the folks that ride with me on The Fall Color Ride out that way.

[donaldcc]

  looks ike a great, spontaneous day and lots of nice sights!  Those are the best.   

[hubcapsc]

Do you know if you crossed the bridge at Hangin' Dog ? I plan to take the folks that ride with me on The Fall Color Ride out that way.

I think I went all the way down Hanging Dog Road, I don't know nuthin' about no bridge...

The Hanging Dog Road part of the loop seemed the most populated.

-Mike

[hubcapsc]

Mike, we were in Robinsville today. Wish I'd known you were that close!
Been dyin' to ride the Joe Brown part of that loop.
Looks like ya had a good one Brother!
Peace, Whiskey.

I could have met you at Murphy, I got there as planned, spent the rest of the day lost 

-Mike

[Thunderbolt]

Nice little ride.  I did that clockwise a couple of years ago.  I started from 74 up 294 then across the Hiawassee dam to Joe Brown road.  Thought I was gonna run out of gas before I found a station coming in to Murphy.  I filled up and asked did they do a lot of business this far out in the sticks, the attendant said "Murphy is just up the road". Maybe it's just what you do in the area, but did you notice that when your car dies that they just push them off the side of the hil?

[Mr Whiskey]

Set the new tire in on the Dragon today! Cruised the Cherohala. Dinner at Bert's in Madisonville.
http://bertsgrill.com/
Good food, good prices, good service. (We've rode the 80 miles jus to have dinner there.)
Forgot the camera 
Was a good day to roll, glad ya had a good one too.
Tryin' to work out FCR. Don't know for sure yet but hope to see ya there.
Peace, Whiskey.

[musclehead]

Murphy loop? I thought it was a thread about everything that can go wrong will come around again!

cool pics! 

[..]

Do you know if you crossed the bridge at Hangin' Dog ? I plan to take the folks that ride with me on The Fall Color Ride out that way.

Joe,

I believe you've ridden that loop around the lake with me. If my brain is functioning correctly.

The major "LOOK OUT FOR" is the sudden ending of blacktop heading north from the Hiawassee Lake Dam. You have to make a sharp right turn onto Joe Brown Rd.

Even at 30 mph the turn comes up pretty unexpectedly.

The gravel section eventually comes out on Hwy 68 about 9 miles south of Tellico Plains.

Hanging Dog Rd north off Joe Brown Rd eventually changes to a dirt road as does Beaver Dam Rd which meets up with the dirt section of Joe Brown

[lacon]

That gravel part of Joe Brown was on my list of rides to do someday until about a month ago.  A lot of history to that road.  It was an indian trail across the mountains over a thousand years ago, trail of tears route, toll road before the Civil war.  A lawless place after the Civil war.  Anyway, I did ride it.  8 1/2 miles of gravel before you get across the TN line, where it is paved on in to Coker Creek.  Might be good on something like a KLR, but I found the sloping switchbacks intimidating on the Valk. 
Murphy's Mercantile at the intersection musclehead mentions is supposed to be open on Saturdays & you can get a haircut there too.

[hubcapsc]

The major "LOOK OUT FOR" is the sudden ending of blacktop heading north from the Hiawassee Lake Dam. You have to make a sharp right turn onto Joe Brown Rd.

While on the loop I had various people pull out of their drives on me, came upon several people only half
pulled off the road on my side and several farm tractors... 30 people chasing Smokin' Joe through
there would need to be on their toes... the three main roads that make up the loop all go
dirt I guess, but if you stay on the loop there's no dirt. I said yesterday I rode all of Hanging Dog
Road, but I can see on google maps that there's a little bit of it continues beyond the turnoff
to Beaver Dam Road. Beaver Dam Road would probably be the funnest part of the ride.

-Mike

[..]

The major "LOOK OUT FOR" is the sudden ending of blacktop heading north from the Hiawassee Lake Dam. You have to make a sharp right turn onto Joe Brown Rd.

While on the loop I had various people pull out of their drives on me, came upon several people only half
pulled off the road on my side and several farm tractors... 30 people chasing Smokin' Joe through
there would need to be on their toes
-Mike

Yerp, it really is a country road with no real destination apart from the local residents homes/farms.

[hubcapsc]

Those cars are so cool they are HOT!

Wish you had more photos.

+1000000.  I love that style of hot rod.

Sorry, that's it... I spent more time talking to the guys than taking pictures...
they called me Honda Dude or some such... at least two of their cars have headlights
made out of giant pistons...

-Mike

http://cutwormspecialties.com/

-Mike

[BigAl]

Love those Rat Rods.

The Red Neck Rumble or Rod Run, was a good one this year at Lebanon Tennessee.

Full of Rat Rods and girls dressed for the period of time.

I did not go but one of the guys that worked for me last week did.

Here is one from 2010.

Good report Mike.

Redneck Rumble September 2010 Lebanon Tn

[BIG--T]

Mike, we were in Robinsville today. Wish I'd known you were that close!
Been dyin' to ride the Joe Brown part of that loop.
Looks like ya had a good one Brother!
Peace, Whiskey.

I could have met you at Murphy, I got there as planned, spent the rest of the day lost 

-Mike

Mike, On some of my best rides I was lost! Lol. I sure wished I'd known you were headed out that way I woulda went with ya. I went to Fields of the Wood about 2 weeks ago and was 7fascinated..never knew it existed - but was lost again!  Btw I lost your number and probably 70 more contacts in my phone. My smartphone turned stupid and wipe my contacts out- at least I still had pics. Verizon never could explan it!