2006 Summer Solo Ride About – Part 2 of 4

Part 1 left off at the KOA in Perryville, MO.  This segment is actually only going to cover two days travel.  It was a busy two days of travel however.  I have biker friend named "Doc" who was in my chapter of Combat Veterans International.  He was a Navy corpsman and that is how he picked up his road name.  He and his family decided they wanted to move back to their home town, which is McKenzie, TN, when he retired from the Navy.  He did so they did .   He went from being a corpsman to a long haul truck driver.

When I got to Perryville, MO I didn’t really know if I was going to stop at their new home on the way to Braselton or on the return trip.  I had prearranged to call them when I got close to see which option was best.  As it turned out the next day , Saturday, would work out the best.   I had already mapped and programmed my GPS with the alternate routes so I was good to go one way or the other.  I didn’t need to be there until about 4:00 PM so I could still fit in a little more of the Ohio River Scenic Byway.  The days route would end up being 470 miles. Here is a map of the next two days of my trip.

Part 2 Route: Perryville, MO to Brazelton, GA

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I got up in the morning and an hopped on I-55 South.  After about a half an hour I turned East on US-60.  I briefly picked up I-24 North in Paducah, KY to cross over the Ohio River then picked up IL-145 North.  Then I just followed the scenic route signs along the Ohio River.  There actually were not all that many scenic views ov the river along the route and I even did a number of jogs towards the river on local streets to see if I could see more of it.  I eventually worked my way into Indiana and continued on to Evansville, IN.  I turned South on US-41 and rode it all the way  through Kentucky and into Tennessee where I turned West on US-79.  US-79 passes through McKenzie, TN. 

I made it to Doc’s at the appointed hour and I enjoyed some good BBQ burgers and all the trimmings.  Doc took me out for a little tour of his home town.  He couldn’t resist showing me his big rig.  I got to see his High School and some of the local points of interest.  We stopped at the town square where they have a small Veteran’s memorial and we walked around for a little while.  Back at his place we did some relaxing and caught up what we had been doing since he moved to Tennessee.  I got a soft spot on the couch for the night.  I hit the road early in the morning because I was meeting my wife in Braselton, GA tomorrow and I still had a lot of riding ahead of me.  My goal for today would be Deals Gap, a 411 mile leg, but things don’t always work out the way you plan.

I rode South on TN-22 to I-40 East.  I rode I-40 through Nashville and picked up I-24 East.   At Chattanooga I turned North on I-75 and eventually got off the slabs near Sweetwater, TN onto TN-68.  I ran TN-68 South to Tellico Plains, TN and then onto TN-185  and the Cherohala Skyway.  Finally I was back on some interesting motorcycle roads and some great mountain country.  The Cherohala was awesome and I was looking forward to Deal’s Gap and the opportunity to run the Dragon a few times, especially without my trailer dragging behind me.  Don’t get me wrong, it pulls like a dream but it does reduce the fun factor a bit.

TN-165 turns into SC-143 and eventually merges with US-129 South or Tapaco Road, as it was originally known.  Deal’s Gap is North from this junction so I turned North on US-129.  Deal’s Gap is less than half a mile South of the Tennessee border on US-129.  I arrived at about 1:00 PM and the parking lot was just jammed with motorcycles.  I had difficulty finding a spot to park my bike and trailer.  Eventually I found a spot but the alarm bells had already started ringing as soon as I saw the parking lot .  I had not made any reservations at the motel .  Sure enough there wasn’t a room to be had. 

At least I managed to picked up a Tail of the Dragon hat, t-shirt and pin to show that I had been there.  So with that out of the way I started thinking .  My wife would be arriving at the Chateau Elan later on this afternoon.  Why not surprise her and show up a day earlier.  So after a short break I headed out on what was supposed to be tomorrows route and another 258 miles to Braselton, GA. 

Rather than getting several runs of the Dragon, I ended up settling for one run North pulling the trailer.  Looking back on things it was probably good enough seeing as how insane that stretch of US-129 is on the weekends.  The dragon is certainly an intense 11 mile stretch of highway.  The traffic was heavy and I had a very close call with a BMW M3 that decided to pass on a blind corner and the hell with whoever was coming the other direction.  A common occurrence on the weekends.  There are several photographers that make a pretty good living taking pictures of people running the Dragon.  They are set up along the Dragon seven days a week all year around. The pictures can be purchased on the Internet.  The two shown here are of me riding the Dragon.  One is from  Killboy and the other is from Zee Photo.  Dragon Slayer Photos, Moonshine Photos,  US129 Photos and 129 Pics are some other sources for your pictures on the Dragon.

After “Surviving the Dragon” I headed NE on the Foothills Parkway.  I then turned SE on US-321 to enter the Great Smokey Mountain National Park.  I guess I should have guessed the reason they are called the Smokey Mountains was because they look …ummm.. smokey.  Folks from Los Angeles would feel right at home .  Now living out West I have probably become desensitized to the proportions of geological formations.  I see mountains, I mean real mountains, every day .  But I digress, it was still a very nice ride through the park and it is very beautiful.  I guess it just wasn’t what I was expecting . 

US-321 and US-441 provided some interesting riding though the traffic was rather heavy so the fun factor was muted to some extent.  I turned off US-441 onto US-64 at Franklin, NC.  I had heard that NC-28 was a good motorcycle road and US-64 would take me to the start of it at Highlands, NC.  The reports were not wrong.  Though less technically challenging I enjoyed it more than the Dragon because it was very lightly trafficked.  I even rode it again with my wife as one of our side trips during the CCR.  I only had one motorcycle pass me the whole way from Highlands to Mountain Rest, SC.  I did pass a few motorcycles and a number of cars but compared to the Dragon it was practically deserted.

From Mountain Rest I took US-76 West and then picked up US-23 at Clayton, GA.  This took me most of the way to Braselton then it turned into I-985 at Gainsville, GA.  A couple miles later I turned South on the Winder Highway and a short distance more to my destination, the Chateau Elan Resort.

I got to the resort at dusk and even though it was only 669 miles I was pretty darned tired.  I had certainly wrangled more than my fair share of curves for one day.  The heat and humidity had taken it’s toll too.  My wife was already checked in and she was certainly glad to see me arrive safely.  We enjoyed the weeks activities and managed a couple of side trips.  We did Stone Mountain one day, which is one of the better attractions in the area.  There were some good informational seminars and the accommodations and food were top rate.  There were a good number of vendors and Blue Moon Cycle, the BMW dealer from Norcross, GA,  had set up to do service for those that needed it.  I had them do a fluid change on Rufus.  I picked up a few odds and ends as well.

The week went by very quickly and we had a great time.  That brings me to the end of Part 2 of my 2006 Summer Solo Ride About.