Men's Fall Trip 2015 w/more pics

[the Ferret]

Well this will be the third Men's Fall Trip report I have done for this forum. Time flies when you are having motorcycling fun. For those new to the forum in the last year, each year some of the men in our family and maybe an invited guest will take a week in Sept and go for a motorcycle ride. We have been to the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Dragon and North Ga area (2009), the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (2010), West Virginia (2011), our home state of Ohio and northern Kentucky (2012) Did the Skyline Drive, BRP and back to the Dragon area again (2013), Central Kentucky (2014) and this year decided to go back to the BRP and ride some of the side roads and attractions off the Parkway you miss when you ride straight through.

We decided to get on the BRP at Fancy Gap Va MP 200 and use Little Switzerland at MP 331 as our base to ride the roads known as the Diamondback Loop (RTs 226 and 226A) and Devils whip or Devils Staircase (Rt 80) and do the Murder Mountain run from Little Switzerland up to Roan Mountain State Park in Tennessee and back all on curvy back roads. In addition we would take in Mt Mitchell, Grandfather Mountain and visit the Wheels Thru Time motorcycle Museum in Maggie Valley N.C. before heading home.

This years participants are the same as last years myself, my son B, my younger brother Randy and B's father in Law Jimmy.

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[Rick Froscheiser_imp]

That is very kool that you all get together every year for a ride.

[the Ferret]

Our first day was from our home in s/w Ohio, to Fancy Gap, Va. This was a super slab trip covering 403 miles. Temps were in the low 90s and it was hot and humid. We left at 9 am and pulled into our hotel at 5 PM that night. Our hotel was called the Country View Inn. We called it the "Chucky Place" because the owners decorated with little girls dolls all over the place. Was kind of creepy, but it was clean and the price was right at $46 per room per night split 2 ways. The next morning we awoke to fog

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by 9 am or so the fog had burned off and we were able to jump on the BRP which was a couple miles from the motel. Love this road. So do other motrcyclists and we would see many over the next few days. Most waved. Some didn't. Lots and lots of Harleys (later learned there was a Thunder in the Smokies rally going on) and big ADV bikes, very very few sport bikes.

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on the northern end of the BRP it's mostly rolling Virginia hills and more open views. You see lots of this split rail fence which I think is really cool.

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as you get further south into North Carolina you start getting into what I came for, the mountains!

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This is cool, the Lynnville Viaduct with the road built out over the mountainside. I've seen similar viaducts in Europe.

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After another full day of riding, this time covering 202 miles at the BRP mandated speed limit of 45 mph we arrived at our base for the rest of the trip, the Skyline View Inn near Little Switzerland, right at the head of the Diamondback Loop Rts 226 and 226 A. Again nice clean rooms and since I mentioned seeing the Inn mentioned in the April 2014 issue of RoadRunner magazine (which did a report on the rides in this area) which recommended staying there, that earned us a 25 % discount on our rooms. Nice! We walked over to the Mountain View Restaurant for dinner which certainly earned it's name and had a fabulous dinner. My brother and Jimmy ordered the "Angry Shrimp" which was recommended by our hotel owners Mike and Lynn and said it was great.

After a nights res,t we again woke up to fog in the low lying areas as viewed from the balcony of our hotel

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Weather in the mountains can change quickly and rain was forecast from 20%-50% every day we were there. We woke up to rain and had breakfast at the hotel. In the meantime the rain had quit, we decided to ride the Diamondback Loop. This is a 20 mile loop that circles 226 and 226A with 226A being the curvier section which is about 16 miles of the loop. Because it was our first time riding I, and the roads were wet, I didn't take any pics and concentrated on the road. 226A is indeed curvy, so curvy your speed is limited to about 30 mph, but the 226 part is a little more open and the curves are big uphill high speed sweepers taken closer to 50 mph. Neat loop. We would ride it several times during our stay..both directions. After the Diamondback we headed to MT Mitchell the highest point in NC at close to 7000 feet. Mt Mitchell was fogged in with zero visibility to the mountains but we hiked up to the high point anyway. While up there the skies opened up and it rained...hard! Our helmets were locked to the back of our bikes...upside down. We made our way back and got our helmets, dumped the water out, and covered our tank bags and retrieved and donned rain gear.

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We rode back to the hotel on the BRP and peeled out of wet clothes, hung them all over the room, turned on the ceiling fans and just chilled. Total miles for the day was a very soggy 90. It rained hard again that afternoon, but we had gotten back to the hotel 45 minutes before it came down, and were enjoying the views from the hotel patio.

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Oh and I got stung on my right arm and right hand by a wasp. I quickly went up to the room and took a benedryl which kept damage to a minimum. It swelled a bit and itched like crazy (still itches as I type this). That night we ate dinner at the hotel. Burgers and fries and warm fresh baked pecan pie just out of the oven with vanilla ice cream

Here is a view of some of the sweepers on 226 part of the Diamondback as seen from the overlook in front of the hotel. This goes on like this back and forth for 4 miles at a very steep angle. More fun for me to ride up than down although both are fun.

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After a good nights sleep it was again breakfast at the hotel the next morning. Thought I would show you guys the menu at the hotel which is quite funny. The really funny part is B, Randy and I all said we wanted the first breakfast listed and Jimmy insisted he would rather have the second one. I think if you read it closely once or twice you will get why it was so funny.

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This morning the roads were dry and we decided to ride up to Grandfather Mountain which was about 30 miles north on the BRP. Much fun riding the BRP on dry roads with clear skies

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the road up to Grandfather Mountain overlook is a hoot as well

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after spending some time walking over the mile high swinging bridge and climbing up/out on the rocks to an amazing over look (still can't believe in this litigious day they let people do that) we headed back to the BRP

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and went and rode the Diamondback again, only this time on dry roads. Much better! Mileage today was only 84 miles. About 60 on the BRP and 20 on the Diamondback loop.

more to come after someone posts a response

.

[Inhouse Bob]

Good times! Looking forward to more. How did your behind handle all those miles the first day?

[specialist8]

Amazing pics Ferret. Looks like a heck of a time. Certainly going to keep BRP on the queue for desired MC trips.

[the Ferret]

Bob, it handles it just fine. Just another day of riding lol

OK so the next morning we decide to ride 2 notable rides..the "Devils Whip or Devils Staircase" (heard it called both) N.C. Rt 80 from Rt 70 north to the BRP and then the Murder Mountain Loop a combination of curvy roads that goes up into Tennessee thru Roan Mountain State Park and back down to Little Switzerland

Rt 80 The Devils whatever was indeed a Devilish Road, newly paved at the bottom, it was a sinuously delightful romp back and forth, pretty tight and technical

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as soon as we finished that it started drizzling so we stopped and donned rain gear. From here on, up into Tennessee and back to the hotel, it would be the Murder Mountain Loop

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The drizzling soon stopped and we pulled over and got out of the rain gear. The rest of the ride up to Roan Mountain and back was great, clear and sunny. On the way back we stopped at a little town called Spruce Pine and looked up a little place called the Tropical Grill, also recommended by Mike and Lynn at our hotel. They served tropical food and the owners were from Columbia and made some wild stuff. Highly recommended if you like that kind of food.

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Very colorful, kind of spicy. Here's my brother's grilled Tilapia Tacos (I had a turkey and ham club sandwich which made the owners wife shake her head lol). They had home made salsa, guacamole, and some other blended veggie goup that was hotter than the salsa that Randy and Jimmy liked a lot.

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after returning to the hotel, Randy and Jimmy decided to rest up so B and I went out and did the Diamondback (backwards this time)..down the big sweeper hill and up the tight technical hill

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For you guys that followed me at the rally and think I'm smooth and fast, you should follow B. He is such a talented rider. Much faster and smoother than his old man. Just a pleasure to ride behind and watch.

A warning sign to truckers who think they might like to take this road. The Skyline Inn, our hotel, is about 100 yards directly beyond this sign on the right.

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We ate dinner again at Mountain View Inn and here is the view from our table. I was actually still full from lunch and just had sweet tea and pumpkin pie. Man, it was good.

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Mileage for today was 158.

more to come

[Volchkoff_imp]

Great photos. Especialy in motion. How did you do it? Did you use an active camera?

[Inhouse Bob]

Not enough CB porn in this thread!

[WhiskeyUSMC1979_imp]

Awesome ferret! Thank you for sharing your adventures. I can't wait until I have the time to actually RIDE instead of just commuting.


Sent from an undisclosed location

[the Ferret]

Saturday it had rained overnight but stopped by the time we got up. Today our plan was to ride 120 miles further south on the BRP, stop at Maggie Valley and the Wheels thru Time Motorcycle Museum then head for home making it as far north as we could.

The going on the BRP was slower than usual. Patches of heavy fog and some drizzle made for poor visibility.

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but then it would clear up like nothing ever happened

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and then back into the fog again

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Some of you may remember this spot from the CB rally. Today was a lot colder, damper and foggier

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then the road would clear up again...just crazy

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anyhow we finally made it to Wheels Thru Time in Maggie Valley.

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Owner Dale Walksler was there and firing up all kinds of old bikes and riding them around. Here an old indian 4 cyl.

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It was nice to see Dale again, and even though they were busy he took the time to chat a bit

we had a great late lunch at the Cataloochee Café and Bakery in Maggie Valley and if you're ever find yourself in town don't miss this eatery.

Anyhow by the time we finished lunch it was 3 PM and time to make tracks north...again slabbing it

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traffic ugg ..hadn't seen any for a week.

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We made it as far north as Corbin, Kentucky found a Fairfield Marriott and when we checked in discovered my brother had left his credit card on the table at Cataloochee. We called, they hadn't seen it. A few minutes later they called his cell, they had found the card and owner Amber volunteered to either cut it up or mail it to him. Nice folks! We ate dinner that night at a Sonny's BBQ which we had discovered on last years Men's Fall Trip. Very good pulled pork and mac n cheese.

The next morning we made the final 3 1/2 hour run for home. Here is Randy continuing north when Jimmy, B and I split to head east iin Ohio

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The 3 of us had about 13 more miles to go, but who can complain when the roads are like this

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Jimmy and B head straight while I take the road on the right

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Home at last

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7 days, 6 states 1452 miles. Wonderful riding, beautiful mountains, great roads, great food, great motorcycles, clean and comfortable accomodations and amiable company. We had a great time and laughed a lot. Does it get any better?

The BRP is amazing, go in Sept after kids are back in school and before the leaf peepers and their motor homes invade to see the fall colors and you have 469 miles of basically traffic free roads to yourself. Temps varied from 52 at the lowest to 92 at the highest on the trip. We saw everything but snow I think weather wise lol. For those interested, particularly those in other countries, some things you may want to Google for more info... or if anyone wants any specific info feel free to PM me.

Blue Ridge Parkway
Skyline View Inn Little Switzerland, NC
Grandfather Mountain N.C.
Mt Mitchell N.C.
The Diamond Back Rts 226 and 226A N.C.
Devils Whip Rt 80 N.C.
Murder Mountain Run N.C.
Wheels Thru Time Museum Maggie Valley NC