Tales of the Dragon

[emptysea]

The dates: 4/27-5/3 2014

The route: Chicago to Robbinsville, NC to Nashville, TN and back, with a side trip to Chattanooga for me.

The distance: 1825.7 miles round-trip, but about 1950 for me (side trip to Chattanooga)

The riders: Glen & Laura, Mike & Judy, Matt (me) & Cheryl, and (for a few hours) Mickey

The bikes: White Goldwing (Glen), Black F6B (Laura), Black FJR (Mike/Judy), Black CTX (Cheryl) and Red CB1100 (duh)

Kickstands Up

Sunny day, but a cool ride through the straightest, flattest, and most boring parts of Illinois and Indiana. I-294 and US41 are really boring. US231 and US52 were better.

See? Flat.

Interesting note on fuel capacity and travel distances: I find that I need to fill up at about 150 miles (that's when the gauge panic sets in for me). The other bikes in our group can go as long as twice that far. However, most everyone wants to stretch at about 150 miles anyhow, so the my smaller tank had zero effect on when we stopped. It only impacted WHERE we stopped a few times during the whole trip.

The highlight of Day 1 was an unplanned stop in a little town, Metamora, IN. Historic little town with interesting shops, most of which were closed by the time we arrived. We may have to stop back there some day.

Museum of Oddities. Perfect. lol

Cheryl and Me

Breakfast, Bump Starts, and Beautiful Roads

Day 2 began with breakfast with our guide for the morning, our own The Ferret (aka Mickey). The plan was for him to lead us on a pleasant ride from Cincinnati to Paris, KY where we would have lunch. What actually happened was one of the best riding days I have ever experienced. Mickey gave us a history and geography lesson while leading us down some "awesome" roads. We visited President Grant's birthplace (on Grant's birthday), took a ferry ride across the Ohio River, and discovered the roads that certainly influenced Mickey's love of riding. (Note: Mickey swore me to secrecy about the route we took) You can learn more of that day by reading his ride report titled "by the Sea", but here are a few pictures.

Mickey is quite the charmer

Ferry

Cheryl

Mike (aka Bump Start Mike)

Glen & Laura and my luggage-laden CB1100

After a wonderful morning of riding "Mickey's Route", we parted ways with Mickey in Paris, Kentucky so that we could continue on to Berea, KY and he could get back to the birthday party for his sister-in-law, Good Ol' WhatsHerName. Hugs for the ladies (of course) and handshakes for the men and we were off on part 2 of day 2...some real surprises in store for us in the next leg.... (to be continued)

 

[CeeBeeMe_imp]

Great Pics and the weather!! - looks like a cloudless sunny sky. Everyone smiling , great time and Adventure...

 

[emptysea]

Thanks, CeeBee....the weather DOES change in the middle of our trip. More on that in future installments.

 

[redbirds_imp]

Great report. Looking forward to more.

 

[the Ferret]

:rofl:" Bump Start Mike" ... I can't quit laughing.

As Kramer on Seinfeld would say " I'm lovin it so far"

 

[emptysea]

TOD Continued:

April in Paris (and points south)

We took more time than expected for our morning ride, but it was worth every minute. We did, however, have to shorten our afternoon route which was to take us eastbound deep into Olympic State Forest in Kentucky before turning back west to our evening stop in Berea. But what would the new route be?? We figured we'd ask people, but apparently, the town of Paris, KY closes on Sundays and we didn't think the good folks at Hardee's would really know a good motorcycle route.

I have always promised that I would take Cheryl to Paris in April

In an effort to find out if anything besides the Hardee's was open, I encountered a gentleman who happened to be a photographer and he suggested that we take 627 to Winchester and then 89 south for a nice ride. What a surprise 89 turned out to be. 627 was beautiful with large equestrian estates lining both sides of the rolling highway. 89 was similar for a bit then it turned rural and a little more hilly for a bit. After, I think, Irvine, we were getting warm (it turned out to easily be the warmest day of our trip), so I stopped at this church so we could stretch and catch some shade.

Little did we know that we should have prayed at the church for safe passage through the next few miles of road. Almost as curvy and much more narrow than The Dragon, but at this point we didn't know that so we had to forge ahead. It was (what's that word again??) AWESOME!

It started out innocently enough... (that's Cheryl waving)

Then things got a little more interesting....

Turned out that this last leg was a great tune-up for the twists and turns coming up in a few days.

We arrived, a little disheveled, at the historic Boone Tavern & Hotel. This is a wonderful place to spend the night, if you're ever in the area. I was even able to find a quiet place to enjoy a cigar.

Rain was in the forecast for overnight and the next day. We set off to get a good night's night's sleep and hoping that we could stay dry for the ride to Clinton, TN and, hopefully, have a stop at Cumberland Falls State Park....(to be continued)

 

[Pterodactyl_imp]

Great photos and narrative. Am doing my best to follow on Google maps and am waiting for the next episode. Thanks.

Cheers

 

[Cormanus]

Great report and photos, EmptySea. I'm looking forward to the next episode as well.

 

[OldF7Guy_imp]

Great photos. I hope to get to the dragon this year myself. That looks like the the JJ Newberry Company in Paris Ky. I thought they went out of business years ago. Anyway, cool stuff and cant wait to read more.

What kind of bag is that on the back of the CB1100?

 

[emptysea]

The large bag is a waterproof duffel from Twisted Throttle. Works good except the opening is smaller than it needs to be, making it difficult to fit larger items. The smaller bag on top is just a dry bag from REI. I use this one for all my day trips and on longer trips to hold things that I may need easy access to on the road.

 

[OldF7Guy_imp]

The large bag is a waterproof duffel from Twisted Throttle. Works good except the opening is smaller than it needs to be, making it difficult to fit larger items. The smaller bag on top is just a dry bag from REI. I use this one for all my day trips and on longer trips to hold things that I may need easy access to on the road.

Thanks for the info. Have fun and be safe!

 

[the Ferret]

Great stuff. In my original reply to your query about routes I think suggested 89. It's a great road. Glad you took it. This is a wonderful part of the country, no so much for the scenery, but for the roads ( if you are astride a motorcycle). Appalachians had to build roads that followed hills and valleys and hollows and none of them are particularly straight and some of them are down right gnarly.

Looking forward to the next installment.

 

[redbirds_imp]

Enjoying this thread. Will get some popcorn and beer for the next segment.

 

[emptysea]

Addendum To Last Chapter

I meant to include these maps to show our original planned route as compared to our actual run. Quite a bit shorter, but it shows you how much Mickey wore us out in the morning.

Original Route from Paris to Berea (about 170 miles)

Actual Route from Paris to Berea (about 90 miles)

Berea to Clinton via Corbin and Cumberland Falls coming soon...

 

[emptysea]

TOD Continued:

The Old Man Was Snoring

Our third day of riding was supposed to be a short ride with a lot of off-bike time in Cumberland Falls State Park. 155 miles along US25/US25W should give us plenty of time to explore the park and maybe even ride a few of the park roads, which I recalled from a previous car trip were very scenic.

The threat of rain put our side trip to Cumberland Falls in jeopardy, but we figured we would head to Corbin, KY where I knew of a good coffee (and tea, Mickey) shop and assess the weather situation at that point. We had a fantastic breakfast at Boone Tavern (included with our room rate, so keep that in mind when you make your reservations). Laura and Cheryl (our crew's weather assessors) assured us that any rain we got would be light until Corbin. Even so, we checked out, donned our rain gear and headed out in a very light drizzle. Within a few miles, though, it had cleared up nicely and we took a "comfort stop" and stripped down a few layers. Off to Corbin.

Arrived in Corbin late morning, just in time for a beverage and maybe a tasty treat. Both were offered to us from the friendly (and surprisingly hip) staff at You & Me Coffee and Tea.

Cool place with mostly old mid-century furniture, good food & drink, and free WiFi. (note that the women in red shouted across the street for Mike to turn off his lights and she didn't even know that we had to remind him of this at nearly every stop after the bump-start incident)

Parked the bikes across the street and headed inside.

I just finished my scone when I heard the thunder. Within a few minutes, it was raining pretty good and we decided to hold up in the coffee shop. We asked the folks there if it was OK to stay for awhile and they replied that half of their customers order one drink and stay for 4 hours. We ordered sandwiches and stayed for 2.

It took awhile, but when it stopped raining, it stopped. No lingering drizzle or anything. In fact, the sun peeked out a little bit. We were in Cumberland Falls State Park within a few minutes. The rain must have kept other tourists away because there were only three cars in the parking lot. Having the park to ourselves was pretty neat.

My family had stopped here several years ago when we were chased out of our South Carolina vacation by Hurricane Charlie. We had always wanted to return here because it is so pretty and we were especially happy to do so with our good friends.

Look close. There's one in every group, but usually I am that one, not Mike.

I took a few photos of the falls, but Mike is a great photographer and took more of the artsy shots. He hasn't sent them to us yet, though. I may post a couple once I get them, but in the meantime here's two of mine

We (and by "we" I mean "I") turned the wrong way exiting the park's parking lot which took us on a bit of an adventure, including a U-Turn on a 4-lane (whohoo!). The wrong turn did, however, take us on some beautiful roads in and around the park until we found our way back to 25W (look at KY90 and KY92, which we rode, but look at some of the other ones in between them, too). It was getting chilly at this point, but I was the only one who had completely removed his rain gear so I was the only one getting cold. Too cold to snap any more road pictures this day. The rest of the ride to Clinton, TN was uneventful, unless you count the semi that nearly ran over my wife on I-75. She didn't panic and Glen made the necessary one-fingered salute to the guy as he passed. Rained overnight in Clinton and it was forecast to rain hard on Tuesday morning which would mean our first trip on The Dragon would be in the rain. We made contingency plans to get to Robbinsville by a longer, but less technical route although Laura and Cheryl again assured us that the weather would be fine. Off to bed, dreaming of waterfalls and twisted roads. (to be continued...)

 

[OldF7Guy_imp]

Corbin is where Colonel Sanders is from and I believe where the first Kentucky Fried Chicken store was. Just a little useless tidbit for you all.

 

[emptysea]

Corbin is where Colonel Sanders is from and I believe where the first Kentucky Fried Chicken store was. Just a little useless tidbit for you all.

LOL True. I was all set to stop the Harland Sanders Cafe and Museum, but I read a review in Trip Advisor that said it's a neat building with a KFC stuffed inside it. So we skipped it.

 

[emptysea]

Another tidbit is that, when the moon is full, it casts a rainbow over Cumberland Falls. They refer to it as a "moonbow" and people show up at the park on those nights to catch a glimpse.

 

[emptysea]

TOD Continued:

OK, So Here's The Deal

Woke up to another day with rain forecast. Had the typical Comfort Inn "continental breakfast" and started out on our newly created route to take the long way to Robbinsville and postpone Tail of the Dragon until late afternoon or the following day. Again, Laura and Cheryl insisted that rain would not interfere with our day. Turns out that they were correct again. (well, almost).

We started south out of Clinton along our new route with Glen in the lead. It was dry, but the rain overnight flooded out an underpass which caused a delay and a scanning of maps. Eventually, we got back on the road.

I did manage to catch a somewhat interesting group shot while we were figuring out how to get where we needed to be (I may be the only one who loves the stock mirrors on my bike)..

The washed out viaduct and the related delay turned out to be a major blessing. Somehow, we wound up on US129 and could see the sky above the mountains clearing. It was decided that we would just follow 129 into Deal's Gap and hope that the rain was, in fact, gone. Glen lead and I took the "sweep" position for the last leg, but we agreed that I would lead us through The Dragon itself. Riding Sweep reduced my view of the road ahead, but watching my wife ride provided some visual interest.

US129 south of Maryville is a beautiful stretch of road. Someone in our group may have taken a picture, but I'll have to post it later if one turns up. The road is curvy and there are some elevation changes, but you are riding along a river basin. Eventually, Chilhowee Lake appears ahead of you and then you turn left and follow the water before turning left again and up hill an into the woods you go. Up and around we went, experiencing a few, mostly easy, turns and stopping at the Calderwood Dam Overlook (at least that's what I think it's called) to catch our breath, switch leaders and take a few photos.

Prettiest Gals on US129

And then the fun really began...

Cheryl tossed her CTX around pretty damn good. I love riding with her.

We arrived safely, but breathless, in Deal's Gap and stopped, as most seem to do, at Deal's Gap Resort.

Proof that we made it

There was no shame for me at the Tree of Shame (unless you count being over 30 and taking a selfie). The grin didn't leave my face until half-way through lunch.

Deal's Gap Resort has a decent snack shop and T-shirt selection along with other souvenirs, but Killboy is just a walk across the road and has a more interesting selection of stickers and patches, in my opinion. US129 stops trying to be an asphalt pretzel from Deal's Gap Resort down to Robbinsville, but it still offered some of the best riding of our trip. Fast and beautiful and paralleling a stream. We arrived at Two Wheel Inn without another drop of water falling on us that day. We are starting to believe that Laura and Cheryl have magical powers...(to be continued)

 

[the Ferret]

Great photos! And a good mirror reflects nothing but beauty

Pretty and bright ( see what I did there? ) lol