The weather forecast for Friday called for a 60% chance of rain and thunderstorms becoming more numerous in the afternoon so we left about 8:30am and got to Tellico Plains about 1:00pm (including an hour time change from CDT to EDT).  We beat the rain but a few hours after we got there it came down in buckets.  The photos below will verify that!

There are several photographs below of a small dog.  His name is Punky and he has more miles on a motorcycle than most people do.  Punky rides with his owner Lew and they have traveled all over both North and South America, Canada, and Alaska.  Here Is A Photo of Punky and Lew riding their KLR650.  Note the goggles to protect Punky!  Here Is A Link to the originating page for the previous photo that tells a lot about their travels and experiences.  Ride on Punky!  It was a pleasure meeting both of you!

I guess everyone in this part of the country has heard of The Dragon at Deal's Gap and I'm no exception.  The Dragon is part of Tennessee Highway 129 and is 11 miles long.  In that 11 miles a rider will find 318 curves ranging from mild sweepers to complete 180° reversals.  It is a somewhat intense section of highway and each year it claims its share of bikes and riders.  We made it through without incident the first time, however on the second pass (I wasn't there for this one) one of our riders went down.  No serious damage to bike or rider other than some scrapes and bruised pride.

I've wanted to try it for the past year and Saturday was my chance.  From what I understand it was pretty much a typical summer weekend at The Gap, and there were motorcycles everywhere.  Every type, make, and description imaginable and every one of them trying to "Tame The Dragon."  My goal was to get through in one piece, enjoy the ride, and pay attention to what was going on.  I succeeded in that and had a lot of fun doing it.

I finally did get to the Cades Cove Visitors Center but I was ready to spit nails when I did!  The Visitor's Center is located in the middle of an 11 mile long one-way loop.  The loop is a "Scenic Trail" and even though there are signs every few hundred feet telling drivers "Do Not Stop In The Road - Use The Pulloffs" people tended to ignore them.  If they saw something of interest the idiots would just stop in the middle of the damn road, presumably under the assumption that the dozen or so cars behind them wanted to stop and look as well.  To those people I offer this observation: Not everyone wants to stop just because you do!  Use the damn pulloffs like you are supposed to!  If everyone would keep moving it would have been easy, but since so many people apparently can't read worth a damn the Park Service has put up even more signs warning that the loop takes 2 to 3 hours to complete.  They weren't kidding either!  It took me three hours to go around that 11 mile loop, and about 15 minutes to get the stamp and get gone.  Oh well, I got the stamp and it was a pretty area.  I also managed to get another Passport Stamp that I didn't expect at the Townsend Visitor's Center so all in all it was a good trip.

I then headed through the park to the Sugarlands Visitors Center for a stamp, and from there to the Gatlinburg Visitors Center.  Let me give you a word of advice: Never, never, never, not for any reason whatsoever go through Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge, TN on a Sunday in the middle of the summer.  Those two towns are apparently a tourist mecca and it was absolutely wall to wall people.  At one point it took me over 30 minutes to go less than 2 miles.

Plans were meant to be broken though, and in this case it was because of weather.  I got the stamps at Oconaluftee and Waterrock Knob, as well as the one at the home of Carl Sandburg.  About mid morning the rain that had been threatning decided to start up and I spent a good part of the day riding in it.  When I left Carl Sandburg's home at mid-afternoon it was about 50 miles to Cowpens, 30 more to Kings Mountain, and then another 100 back to Asheville, NC where I planned to stop for the night.  At the time I was only 30 miles from Asheville and really didn't have 180 miles left in me so I decided to skip South Carolina this time by.  It's not going anywhere and I'll get back there at some point.

One good thing about the rain is that my rain gear actually felt good!  The west side of the mountains was sweltering with temperatures in the 90's and humidity to match.  I had spent the last few days on the west side of the mountains with a mesh jacket and gloves and every time I got off my bike the first thing I did was come out of them.  I could not believe the change when I crossed to the east side.  It was much cooler and I was glad for my rain gear.

To get from the Oconaluftee Visitors Center to the Waterrock Knob Visitors Center I rode over a portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway.  That road is absolutely magnificent.  Unforunately on this particular day the low-hanging clouds and fog made for an interesting ride to say the least!  Take a look at the fourth row of photographs below.  The "North Carolina Horizon" sign shows what can be seen from that vantage point, but if you'll notice there is nothing but cloud.  The photograph on the right shows my motorcycle and if you look closely through the gloom behind it you can sort of make out the flag pole and visitors center, but you have to look closely.  As can be seen visibility was about 100' which makes for an interesting ride along a mountain road!

The cool weather is continuing, and I'm certainly glad for that.  The forecast high temperature for Asheville, NC today was 79° and I've been accustomed to the mid 90's.  Luckily I brought the liner from my winter-weight First Gear Kilimanjaro coat as well as some winter-weight gloves.  These really felt good in the higher altitides of the Blue Ridge Parkway all day.

It may have been a rather long day but it was certainly an enjoyable one.  The Blue Ridge Parkway is a magnificent place to ride and is pretty much a never-ending sequence of mountain vistas.  Every mile offers fantastic scenery and fairly screams for one to stop and take a photograph or just enjoy the view.  If I had stopped every time I wanted to I'd still be up there riding.

I had planned stops at 7 visitors centers for Passport Stamps.  They were Craggy Gardens, The Museum of North Carolina Minerals, Linville Falls, Linn Cove Viaduct, Moses Cone Memorial Park, The Blue Ridge Music Center, and Rocky Knob.  The first stop at Craggy Gardens was scheduled for 9:00am when the center opened but somehow I managed to get there a bit early so I spent the time checking my bike over and taking a bunch of photographs.

The entire back wall of the Visitors Center at Craggy Gardens is windowed, and it looks out over a vast panorama of the mountains.  It was a magnificent view in July and I can only try to imagine what it would look like in the fall when the trees are in color or in winter when there is snow.  The lady who was in charge of the VC said that it was a waste of my time because there is no way to imagine what it looks like, you just have to see it to appreciate it.

The last stop for the day was at the Rocky Knob Visitors Center in Virginia.  After that I backtracked about 30 miles to Fancy Gap, VA where I spent the night.  On the way up I noticed an interesting spot that needed some photographs taken but I wanted to make sure I got to the VC before it closed so I decided to pick them up on the way back.  Probably a good thing to since I only had about 30 minutes to spare when I got to the VC.  I did stop on the way back and get some good photographs of an old mill named Mabry Mill.

After this trip I have effectively covered the Blue Ridge Parkway from the southern end at mile 469 where it enters the Great Smoky Mountain National Park at the Oconaluftee Visitors Center to Rocky Knob at mile 169 in Virginia.  300 miles total and I enjoyed every one of them.  This is an absolutely beautiful place to ride and visit and I highly recommend it to anyone traveling that part of the country.

I did receive one AGirl-style comment along the way though.  When I stopped at the Blue Ridge Music Center there was a couple there on a Honda Gold Wing that I talked to for a few minutes.  They asked how I enjoyed the ride up and I said that it was fantastic but I was pretty worn out from it.  They asked where I started that morning and when I said Asheville, NC they commented, "Gee, that is a pretty long ride.  We left Asheville two days ago!"

The cool weather I've been enjoying for the past couple of days on the east side of the Smoky Mountains came to a screaming halt today to.  Coming down the interstate from Fancy Gap, VA it was cool enough that I had to turn on my grip heaters to keep my hands warm.  I was wearing the liner from my winter-weight First Gear Kilimanjaro jacket under my mesh jacket as well as my winter-weight gloves but was still pretty chilly.  It warmed up as I rode and by the time I got to Bristol, TN it was actually quite comfortable.  When I stopped in Greeneville, TN I got off my bike and remember saying to myself, "Hmm ... it isn't quite as cool here.  In fact it's getting damn HOT again!"  It must have warmed up at least 15° between Bristol, TN and Greenville, TN and gone from "Cool and Comfortable" to "Hot and Humid!".

It will come as no surprise to many that there are more photographs at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation than anywhere else.  I've been an aviation nut since I knew what an airplane was.  Both my parents were pilots and I learned to fly as well many years ago.  Airplanes are one thing that I am always willing to make a trip to see.

Funny thing about the Tennessee Aviation Museum .... I was at the airport here a couple of years ago and picked up a brochure for the museum.  At the time I didn't even know there was an aviation museum in Tennessee so I was interested in it.  I looked over it while waiting for a meeting to start, and it had a photograph of an old F-86 that caught my eye.  For a couple of hours afterwards I kept thinking back to that F-86 and something about it kept bothering me.  It finally dawned on me, and I grabbed the brochure again to be sure.  Sure enough, it wasn't an F-86!  It was a MiG-17 with US markings on it.  I had just automatically seen a jet from the Korean war with US markings and assumed F-86.  I sent the museum an email and asked if they really had a MiG with US markings and got an answer that said they really do.  I have been wanting to visit the museum to see that ever since and this was my chance.  Photographs of the plane are included below.

In fact the museum has two MiG-17s as well as a MiG-21 on display.  Russian aircraft have always interested me simply because they are frequently such capable aircraft.  They are usually quite large when compared to comparable western aircraft and they do not have the "Bells and Whistles" of their western counterparts, but they do what they were designed to do: Fly well and shoot down the enemy.

A GPS Track Log is included below however it looks somewhat "Busy" because it covers a good bit of area.