Tennessee / Georgia / North Carolina / South Carolina .... Ride

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Three of us hit the road Saturday morning for a ride hitting four states. 25 degrees when I left my garage however it warmed up nicely throughout the day. We stayed in the mountains pretty much the entire ride on roads made for motorcycling. This first picture was taken at Deals Gap, North Carolina.




This bike belongs to a local that's made a few day rides with us and he wanted to get out on a overnight ride.His name is Rodney and he's a good dude I enjoyed riding and hanging out with him. The Yamaha XT1200Z Super Ténéré is a motorcycle produced by Yamaha Motor Corporation, that was launched in 2010. The XT1200Z is the latest in a series of dual-sport Yamaha motorcycles named after the Ténéré, a desert region in the south central Sahara. It features a liquid-cooled four-stroke, fuel-injected 1,199 cc parallel-twin engine with a 270-degree crankshaft, which powers the motorcycle through a six-speed gearbox and shaft drive. The XT1200Z also features multi-mode traction control system and electronic throttle control  with programmes to support off-road use, switchable engine mapping, and combined brakes with ABS.




We made our way through The Great State Of Tennessee into North Carolina , Georgia and on to South Carolina for our layover Saturday night. We stayed in Seneca that is the hometown of Mike ( hubcap ) . Special thanks for Mike coming to the motel last night and haulin' us in his cage down to Applebee's for supper     He also invited Stanley ( Steamer ) to join us on a ride on some of his favorite SC backroads today.  Great ride Mike we all enjoyed riding the country backroads.



I've seen this in the past but never stopped to check it out Mike was telling me about it and today we made a stop to check it out.North American B-25C Mitchell, 41-12740 of the 473d Bombardment Squadron, 334th Bombardment Group en route from Greenville Army Air Base, South Carolina, to Key Field, Meridian, Mississippi, crashed into the Blue Ridge Mountains ~21 miles N of Walhalla in Pickens County, South Carolina, at about midnight, killing all five crew "apparently instantaneously." The aircraft was assigned at Greenville AAB. Despite a large-scale search by army aircraft along the route from Greenville to Meridian, the wreckage was finally found 21 March 1943 by a 15-year-old mountain boy, Seab Crane, who was riding a horse along a remote path known as the Moody trail. The bomber had clipped off treetops at the peak of a mountain, just off Turnpike road about 2 1/2 miles from the Walhalla State Fish Hatchery, and plunged into a ravine. The altitude where the plane first struck is more than 2,000 feet. Heavy recent rains kept the crash fire isolated to the actual wreckage. Crane, who lived in the Cheohee community, was riding to visit relatives who lived beyond the Tri-State Fishing club house, when his horse balked at an unknown foreign object on the trail. The boy and his mount galloped 2 1/2 miles to the nearest cabin, the club house, where he recruited the caretaker Ben Rogers, and they returned to the site where the mystery object turned out to be one of the Wright R-2600-13 radial engines that had been thrown a hundred yards beyond the main wreckage, the bulk of which had ploughed into an embankment in a ravine after it had sheared through tree tops for a quarter mile. "Three of the airmen were thrown from the plane and they lay as they fell – twisted and gesticulating. One of the men's wrist watches had stopped at 9:30. One of the men had died in his seat and the fifth body was found in the wreckage." One of the motors and the gasoline tank had burned, but only a few square yards of woods had burned. "After Rogers and Crane had found the wrecked ship they reported it to R. A. Stewart at the Fish Hatchery, an aircraft warning service spotter. Stewart put in a 'red flash' call to the filter center in Columbia and immediately afterwards notified Derrill B. Darby, of Walhalla, chief of the aircraft warning service in Oconee county [sic]. That was shortly before 1 o'clock Monday afternoon." After the wreckage had been viewed, home guardsmen took charge and kept watch until army men from the Greenville air base arrived. The victims were: Flight Officer Richard S. Brook, 22, pilot, of 10 Superior Court, Lima, Ohio; Second Lieutenant Earl S. Monroe, 26, co-pilot, of Bolivar, New York; Second Lieutenant Philip J. Graziano, 23, navigator, of 166 Chestnut Street, Lawrence, Massachusetts; Staff Sergeant Harvey M. Capellman, engineer, of Blanchard, Idaho; and Sergeant Michael Sekel, 29, radio operator, of Buffalo, New York. "Soldiers, home guardsmen, and volunteers labored into the night to remove the bodies and carry them on stretchers up the steep mountain side to the ambulance. Salvage of the wrecked ship was started on Tuesday. A later report stated that the B-25 was en route TO Greenville Army Air Base from Meridian, Mississippi. A memorial marker to the crew was dedicated at the site on 21 March 2014 by the Walhalla American Legion and the Oconee Veterans Council.





Cullasaja Falls is a waterfall in southwestern North Carolina. The waterfall is located on the Cullasaja River in the Nantahala National Forest and is part of the Mountain Waters Scenic Byway. Cullasaja comes from a Cherokee word meaning "honey locust place".







Dry Falls, also known as Upper Cullasaja Falls, is a 65-foot waterfall located in the Nantahala National Forest, northwest of Highlands, North Carolina.Dry Falls flows on the Cullasaja River through the Nantahala National Forest. It is part of a series of waterfalls on an 8.7-mile stretch of the river that eventually ends with Cullasaja Falls. Dry Falls flows over an overhanging bluff that allows visitors to walk up under the falls and remain relatively dry when the waterflow is low, hence its name. Visitors will get wet if the waterflow is high.




I was telling Mike ( hubcap ) about a lake that looked like a Christmas tree that I saw on another ride we did in the same area. He " thought " he knew where I was talking about and took us by there today apparently I'm the only one that thinks it looks like a Christmas tree .This is Lake Keowee. Mike claims is so deep and clear that trees are still standing at the bottom along with grave yards that you can still read the headstone.Lake Keowee is a man–made reservoir in the state of South Carolina. It is notable for having been created to serve the needs of a power utility (Duke Energy) as well as public recreational purposes. It is approximately 26 miles long, 3 miles wide, with an average depth of 54 feet, and a shoreline measured at 300 miles in total, and is approximately 800 feet above sea level. It began in 1971 as a massive demolition and building project, including the construction of two large dams––Keowee Dam and Little River Dam––and covered 18,372 acres of the state. The lake collects or impounds waters from the Keowee River and the Little River and others, and the outflows below the respective dams join to form the Seneca River which flows into the larger Savannah River.

[Rams]

Nice ride report, as usual, very informative and scenic.

My deepest respect to the crew, families and the home unit of the B-25C Mitchell, 41-12740 of the 473d Bombardment Squadron, 334th Bombardment Group.   

[Mr Whiskey]

Glad ya had a great ride Bro!
64 along the Cullasaja is one of our favorites

[_Sheffjs_]

Nice pics.  I think it looks like a Christmas tree.  Or there is a very large mouse curser out there.  

[Valkorado]

  Great report, thanks for the ride along.

[Skinhead]

You guys are so lucky!  Nice report Joe, and yes from that vantage point, the lake does look like a Christmas tree.

[Gavin_Sons]

Nice report. Is that the same lake connected to the road to nowhere? I remember when you took all of us to that road and told the history of it and the towns and graveyards destroyed by the lake.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Nice report. Is that the same lake connected to the road to nowhere? I remember when you took all of us to that road and told the history of it and the towns and graveyards destroyed by the lake.

No.... You are thinking of Fontana Lake ... I pretty sure TVA moved all the graves that Fontana covered ... The Road To Nowhere A Broken Promise was a road that would allow the kin of affected areas of the lake to vist the graves of loved one's. They never finished the road <<<The Road To Nowhere... TVA does have dates you can show-up at and they have pontoon boats haul the families to the grave's that cannot be reached by land since they flooded the area.

[HayHauler]

Thanks for the report and the history Joe.  I saw the pics on FB, but the story is over half of the report.

Hay 
JImmyt

[hubcapsc]

[msb]

Thanks for posting. Enjoyed the photos, the commentary and  descriptions of places and history. Hopefully if it works out, I'll have a bit of extra time after Morgantown in June to swing down that way and see a bit of that area before my ride home. Never been, have always wanted to.

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

As always Joe, great pics and ride report. I really enjoy the background stories, thanks for sharing.

[Bronxboy]

Nice ride report & pictures 

[DDT (12)]

As always Joe, great pics and ride report. I really enjoy the background stories, thanks for sharing.

Me too, Joe... Great job, as usual...

DDT

[DirtyDan]

cross the fontane dam going west, on the south/west side there is a graveyard if I remember correctly. take 28 {the "moonshiner" 28 south/east from there GREAT sweepers}

couple years back so I might be wrong.....

Fontana dam...check....{I love this game  }



dan

[The emperor has no clothes]

Doubled up in laughter ?

[KY,Dave (AKA Misunderstood)]

Thanks for sharing the ride Joe 

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

I think South Carolina could have named this " Christmas Tree Lake "  or maybe "  Arrowhead Lake " .... Thanks again Mike for hookin' us up with a ride to supper and a great ride around South Carolina back roads 

[Alpha Dog]

A geography and history lesson all wrapped up with great pics on Valkyries.  I love it.
Chuck

[Oss]

good friends, interesting roads, and no snow while riding in the wind

Pretty much sounds like a perfect weekend to me

Thanks for posting Joe

[NJF6Cowboy]

That was a great ride report! Thanks Joe, this Yankee is itching to ride, but the weather sucks here.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

That was a great ride report! Thanks Joe, this Yankee is itching to ride, but the weather sucks here.

Pack your crap and move south .... The south is full of Yankees ... Look forward to ridin' with again 

[NJF6Cowboy]

Can't wait for Inzane, partying and riding with the Wild Bunch. As far as moving down South, it will be awhile as I Love my job too much. lol

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Can't wait for Inzane, partying and riding with the Wild Bunch. As far as moving down South, it will be awhile as I Love my job too much. lol

I'm looking forward to InZane..... See you there