Sky Cove Dropped My Bike Tour

This weekend we decided to take a trip with Big Red to the mountains of NC. Slick and I planned this trip with the intent of just taking Big Red and the trailer. Then we started thinking that if we were going to the mountains for the week we need to have an alternate mode of transportation besides the bike. So, Slick drove her car so we could haul more stuff for the weeks stay. We are glad we did, because we did not check out the ride to the top of the mountain and how bad that was going to be for me on Big Red. More on that later.

As we left home on Saturday morning the weather was great. The whole 5 hr trip to the mountains was great. There was little traffic on I-40 and I-74. We found our way to Bryson City. We checked in to the rental office for the cabin. We got our map and directions and off we went to the cabin where the real fun started. (Fun is not the correct word)

I followed Slick because she had the directions to the cabin. As we got to the base of the mountain, we then entered Sky Cove (that should tell you how high the cabin was). I followed Slick for about 2 minutes up the mountain. The road was a one lane road. The road was paved and did have a little gravel and some pot holes. The fun part started when I approached my first hair pen turn to the right (a steep up hill turn). I didn't swing out far enough or give the bike enough gas, so it fell over (drop #1). After picking up Big Red, I ventured on. It was a steep but no problems until I got to my drive way. The drive way was a long a gravel road. I had to make a hard right up hill on gravel. Not a good combination for me. I hate right turns up a steep hill, especially on gravel. So I dropped the bike again (drop #2).

After that drop and having to pick up the bike on a 45% hill. I decide to take the bike up further up the mountain so I could turn it around and enter the driveway in a straight direction. As I continued up the hill to turn it around, you guessed it, I dropped it again (drop #3). After picking up the bike for the 3rd time I was getting a little tuckered out. I finally got the bike to the driveway and parked it at the end of the driveway. Prior to getting the bike settled on the gravel driveway, I put the kickstand down. It sank in the driveway, so of course it fell over again (drop #4).

All-in-all, I dropped the bike 4 times on the trip (so far). I still have to go down the hill on Saturday. It is kind of funny. I have dropped the bike more times on this trip that I have dropped it the whole time I have had it. Oh well, I will drop it again, I'm sure. Many bikers drop their bikes but are too macho to attempt it.

Even though I did drop the bike we have had fun on the trip so far. We have taken a nice train ride through the Smokey Mountains on the Smokey Mountain Railroad, visited Fontana Dam and Fontana Village, and rode on highway 28 toward TN (very nice bike road). We plan to ride back to Fontana Village next year. From the village you have some really nice roads to ride and you are less than an hour from the "Tail of the Dragon". Highway 28 in very curvy and in great condition.

We have 3 more days before I attempt the trip down the mountain on Big Red. It should be a little easier for me to go down the mountain rather than going up the 45% grade hill. I did learn a valuable lesson from this trip. Always personally checkout the location of your lodging if you plan to take your bike on a trip high into the mountains. Also, take a look around at the bikes that are already on the mountain. There was NONE! That should have been my first hint, I was screwing up. Below is a link to some photos of you road at Sky Cove.

Sky Cove Road

I am really glad we did not stick to our original plan of only riding the bike and pulling the trailer. That would have been a real disaster.

Until next time and remember, don't be so busy making a living you forget to make a life.

Pappy

Tail of the Dragon Ride Photos

Below are some of the pictures of our ride at the Dragon's Tail at Deals Gap. I thought I would share them. Enjoy the pictures because we enjoyed the ride.

Until next time and remember life starts at the end of the off ramp.

Pappy

The Dragon and Cherohala Hwy Trip

Jordan, Kevin and Pappy

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Well, I just got back from my planned trip to the Dragon’s Tail in TN and Cherohala Hwy. Jordan, Kevin (brother-in-law) and I took a nice little 670 miles trip and it turned out pretty well, except for some rain on the first day, the Holiday Inn in Cherokee was the worst I have ever stayed at, the service at the hotel was crappy, and Jordan lost $70.00 buck at the casino. Besides that, it was awesome!

Jordan and I started out on Saturday morning around 11:30. The original plan was to leave around 8:00. We decided to hold off on leaving early due to some pretty heavy rain in the local area. So we actually didn’t get to leave until 11:30. We headed west to meet Kevin off of interstate 40. Of course, it was raining, but not too bad. As we reached Kevin, we decide to fill up the bikes. Gas was a big issue on this trip. There were storages of gas all over the state and we knew that was going to be a big issue. The gas station where we met Kevin only allowed a $20.00 fill up. That was not a problem, since we have bikes. I think Jordan and I only put in about $8.00.

After we filled up the bikes, we headed west on Interstate 40 to Maggie Valley and the Wheels Through Time museum. Of course, we did not leave the gas station until 1:30 and we knew we were not going to make it before the museum closed. By the time we got to Maggie Valley and Cherokee the rain began, again. This time rain was pretty heavy and we decided to get more gas near Cherokee. So we stopped at a little store to fill up the bikes. I pulled into the station and as Jordan and Kevin followed me, there came about 12 other bikes. Some of those bikers needed gas; others just wanted out of the rain.

Early Morning in the Smokies

Taking a Quick Break

Country Roads Take Me Home

Kevin's New Harley

Speaking of rain, it was time for Kevin to put on his new fancy-mancy rain gear for the first time. Kevin had to find a dry place to put on his rain gear (it took him 10 minutes). Actually, his rain gear was a nice, biker sexy skin tight rubber suit he bought from somewhere. The funny thing was Kevin had a little problem getting the suit off when he did take it off. Another thing he had trouble getting off was his new gloves. His new gloves just happen to shrink up when they get wet. But Jordan and my favorite part was he was not wearing a full-faced helmet. Those of us that ride understand, half helmets aren’t that cool in the rain, unless you like to feel like sand is hitting you in the face and you can’t see. Of course, Jordan and I got a kick out of that. I think Kevin will be buying a new rain suit, gloves and a full-faced helmet soon. One bright spot is he did have some cool water-proof boots that worked well. It was too bad the rain suit got his pants wet. Oh the joy of riding in the rain.

As we left the gas station we headed to Cherokee to find our hotel and the casino. Slick had given Jordan $20.00 to blow and he brought $50.00 worth of quarters in a plastic bag with him. Of course, casinos don’t like real money. So Jordan had to get a players card. As we walked around the casino looked for that big pay out machine, we got to experience the sights and sounds of people putting all their hard earned money in the slot machines. My favorite part of the casino is the wonderful smell of smoke in the casino. Of course very few people win at casinos and others get nothing. I knew I could make some money up there if the casino was let me sell T-shirts that said “I Visited the Cherokee Casino and All I Got Was Cancer”. Anyway, Jordan was done gambling in about 15 minutes. Actually, it took him about that long to get his new players card.

Our next stop was the hotel. I screwed up and pulled into the wrong Holiday Inn. I was told our hotel was about 2 miles south. So after Kevin finally got his rain suit off over his new boots we headed to the correct hotel. And what a joy that hotel was. As I checked in I asked if they had gotten me a roll away bed for Kevin. Of course they didn’t. The room looked clean but looked like crap. I believe the hotel was not originally a Holiday Inn. After looking at our wonderful room we decided to get some chow in the restaurant in the hotel. The waitress tried to get us to get the buffet, but it didn’t look that great. So we ordered from the menu. Of course, all of the stuff on the menu was a little steep for us so we all ordered their $9.00 burger. The burger wasn’t that bad. The problem was even though we had 4 different people wait on us, they would not give us the check so we could leave. And get this, we were the only people in the dining area. After about 45 minutes, we were finally out of there and headed back to your penthouse and get view of the parking lot.

The second day of our trip was the best part. With the rain behind us we could start enjoying the best part of the trip; Deals Gap and the Cherohala Skyway. As most bikers know Deals Gap is where the Tail of the Dragon starts. The route is 11 miles long and has over 300 curves. It was an awesome ride. You do have to watch for idiots on other bikes. Luckily for us we didn’t run into any stupid bikers on the route. However, there were a lot of bikes all over the place. The curves on the Dragon were awesome. There are a lot of tight turns, but none of them were that difficult if you did the route safely. Kevin did awesome! The guy just got is first bike; a Harley, and did great. He has only been riding for about 3 weeks and tackled the Dragon. He did it like a pro. After the Dragon I told the guys that we can now officially wear our ‘I Survived the Dragon’ t-shirts we bought. Those that know me know how I feel about guys that get t-shirts and really haven’t been there and done that. That is just not right.

Just Arrived at Deals Gap

The Tree of Shame at Deals Gap

Filling Up...Again

Fontana Dame off of 129

Don't You Just Hate Tourist?

After Deals Gap, the 3 of us headed toward Cherohala Hwy. To get there we had a few options. One was to head west and take hwy 441 and then south. Instead we took a scenic route; route 360. It was a great decision. Route 360 is about 40 miles long and takes you directly to the Cherohala Hwy. 360 was the best scenic route I have been on. It was my type of route; county, scenic and very little traffic.

After exiting 360 we hit the Cherohala Hwy. I had heard a lot about it. It was great. We just needed to remember to fill up the bikes before we started on it. The hwy is about 50 miles long and there is no gas on the route. You either get gas before or after. With all the gas stations being out of gas we were not going to take any chances. The highway was a lot like the Blue Ridge Hwy or Skyline Drive. I think I actually like it better than either one of those.

Bikes Were Everywhere

Scenic Views Off Cherohala Skyline

One incident did cause us some concerns. Jordan’s bike was having an issue with the headlight. It would turn off after he cranked up the bike but would later come back on. That was a concern because we realized that Jordan and I were not going to make it back home before dark. That meant we had to start heading back early. By the way, I totally miscalculated the amount of time it would take us to do my original trip. So, we decided we would make plans for another trip.

Time for Some Lunch

Jordan Getting His Headlights Checked

As we exited the Cherohala Hwy, we head back east on hwy 74 toward Ashville NC and eventually on Interstate 40. We had been riding for about 2.5 hours. Once I got on Interstate 40 I was looking for a rest area, but I couldn’t remember where one was. So I kept riding, and riding, and riding. Finalize as we got into NC, I found one. It was about 20 miles from where we were going to stop anyway, so I kept riding. Of course, Kevin and Jordan were not too thrilled with the idea of all that riding without stopping. For some reason they kept complaining about their butts being sore. I don’t get that.

Once we did stop at where we originally met Kevin, we tried to get gas. This time the gas station was out of gas. That presented a problem because Jordan was getting pretty low. Fortunately, we found a station with gas the next exit down the highway. We were pretty lucky on getting more gas and most of all that Jordan’s headlight stayed on all the way back home in the dark.
All-in-all the trip was great. Yes it did rain a little and we didn’t get to see the museum, but hey; that is just another excuse to ride back up there. The weather turned out nice on Sunday and it was a very nice ending to a great trip. Jordan and I put on a total of 670 miles. We are looking forward to our next great trip.

Until next time and remember that life starts at the end of the off ramp.

Pappy