Fall Into the GAP - <We Are Home... Bike Is Not In One Piece, Minor Damage>

[Razors]

Here we go. I have picked my trip out for the year so far. I wrote down a few destinations but in the end, I kept coming back to Deals Gap.  STN fellow member, MadMax96 will be joining my as well.  We leave June 1st and will be gone for 6 days.

No moto-camping here. We are staying at the Two Wheels Inn.  We are also going to check out Barber Vintage Museum in Birmingham.  Outside of that, anything we should check out there or along the way?  I hope to eat at the Mom and Pop type places.  

I have read Davids post so I am looking for some more good suggestions.  

I will be posting pics and updates along the way.

Thanks

PS
Since we are going to Barber, is it worth going to Wheels Through Time?  (that might be a rain alternative)

[matkal]

421(the snake) in NE Tenn. Is worth going to.

[Fourstring]

Holy crap!  We leave on May 30th for the Gap, hitting it the long way around.  We'll be at the Gap proper on Monday the 2nd.

When you gonna be there?  Maggie and I are going to the Gap on our way to Blairsville GA, then north to the BRP.  We should meet somewhere!

[Razors]

Unreal!  We should be at the Gap sometime early afternoon.  As mentioned above, we are staying at the Two Wheels Inn.  They have adjacent garages to your room.  Let me know if you both want to meet for dinner somewhere.  I am not familiar with the area so I am open.  

At least we will have First Aid cover and the roads will be safe..... wait, scratch that last part.

[Razors]

Oh,, and whats the BRP?  Billet Racing Products?

PS
We are leaving Wednesday June 4th to head to Birmingham.

[Fourstring]

That's about when we'll be there.  We're staying in Nashville the night before and planning on getting there in the afternoon, probably having a late lunch at the resort, then heading out to Blairsville for the night with free lodging from Grandma.

BRP- Blue Ridge Parkway!  

Sent ya a PM!

[Jeremy Z]

Going to The Gap and a side trip to Birmingham, AL and back in 6 days? Sounds like you'll be on the slab for everything except The Gap and the museum.

My wife and I did this trip a few years ago. We slabbed south to about Champaign, IL, then headed east into IN. Southern IN has some awesome roads to take. It took us 13 hours to get from Champaign to Franklin, TN. We came home via slab, and it took about 7 hours on the slab.

Bottom line is that unless you want to punish yourself, allow at least two days to and from the Gap. That's four days, and you haven't hit AL yet, or properly seen the sights in TN. I'd either allow more time or skip Birmingham for this year.

The BRP goes all the way to Virginia, and it is heavily patrolled, (45 mph speed limit) so be careful there, if you try to sneak that in. Those cops are EXPERTS at speed trapping. Believe it or not, after the first 1/2 hour, when you get over how nice the road is, you don't mind slowing down because the scenery is so gorgeous.

What we wound up doing (we had about the same amount of time) was to head down to TN, did The Gap and the Cherahola Skyway for a couple days, then stopped at Mammoth Caves National Park in KY on the way home for a sweet cave tour. If I were to do it again, I'd call ahead and sign up for the advanced cave tour. (you have to be at a certain physique and be of a certain maximum girth to do it)

[Razors]

Thanks Jeremy for the suggestions. Normally, we wouldn't do as much slab as we have planned. We figured with 6 days, it is going to be tight.  Matt and I went into Brown County last year (South Western Indiana) for some terrific riding.  After Birmingham, I am still thinking about taking the Great River Road home or some taking parts of the Mississippi river home.  

I will rethink parts of the trip with Matt.  Thanks.....that's why I posted up.

[MadMax96]

Being that my wife just started working full time last week since the birth of our daughter in November, my time away from home is limited.  I try to take at least one bike trip a year - and this year it will definitely only be one... so I didn't want to pass it up.  Razors has family commitments as well so getting this amount of time off from work AND family isn't easy as a lot of you guys know.

It's either we stay relatively close and ride on all backroads and non-interstates, or we slab it to somewhere a little further and go somewhere we've never been.  Our choice was for the latter and I think it'll be great.  The way Razors and I figured it out, covering the amount of miles per day shouldn't be a problem.  The way we figured it I don't think we're doing more than 450 a day- and that's cake.

As long as the weather cooperates I think we'll be in good shape (frantically searching for wood to knock on   )

I look at it this way - if there's something we don't get a chance to check out or see - there's always next time!!

[CBRXXBLACKBIRD]

Sounds like its going to be fun.

[bomber]

WHeels Through Time, in Maggie valley, is a great museum chick full of running (mostly) American (mostly) Iron

Wyah Road is good fun

Ride safe!

[DavidLSI]

WHeels Through Time, in Maggie valley, is a great museum chick full of running (mostly) American (mostly) Iron

Wyah Road is good fun

Ride safe!

+100 on Wyah Road

[Jeremy Z]

The way we figured it I don't think we're doing more than 450 a day- and that's cake.

Typing it is one thing, and riding consecutive 450 mile days is another thing. To me, one 450 mile day is doable. The second one is tough. After that, I'm not having fun any more.

Maybe I'm just a pansy, but if I were you, I'd have a Plan B just in case Ol' JZ is right.

[Razors]

My plan B is to get into the fetal position and cry myself to sleep at the Two Wheels Inn.  

Matt and I have been talking about this trip often. We are playing it by ear and go with the flow.  It should be an interesting as well as a great trip.  The only quarks that we have is that I like breakfast and he doesn't. (if you have seen me, I don't miss many meals hence why I will not be going in any caves called Fat Man's Misery any time soon). The other is that he likes to book rooms ahead of time and  I don't.  I guess some people don't like the comfort of metal benches in local parks in the middle of the night.  

Matt has already talked me out of some parts of the trip to avoid back to back slab jaunts.  He is the experienced one. He is my reality check.  I just want to get on the bike and ride.  A full tank of gas and a bottle of Advil goes a long way!

Thanks for the suggestions. Keep them coming. I / we appreciate them.  

[Bikenut]

 A good loop from the Gap is going Northwest toward Knoxville and take Foothills Parkway off 129 going toward Townsend (Look Rock is on Foothills), Right on 321 to Townsend. Go straight through the stoplight at Townsend leaving 321 taking Little River Road (Old TN-73) from Townsend over to 441 south of Gatlinburg. (Cades Cove is a neat old settlement to check out if you like that sorta thing. You can ride through it.)Take a right on 441 over Newfound Gap to Cherokee(hit Clingmans Dome going over the top, little hike but good for a stretch). Loop back to the Gap on 28, good road.

From Cherokee you can take BRP over to Maggie Valley(Wheels Thru Time motorcycle museum), then BRP on over to Ashville and see the Biltmore Mansion as your rain alternative. Definately worth it if you've never been there. You will be amazed. Actually I 40 isnt bad from Ashville going back into TN if your on your way home and need to make time.

Another good loop is South toward Robbinsville to the Cherohala Shyway then back up on 360 to Vonore and 72 back to 129.

[MadMax96]

Typing it is one thing, and riding consecutive 450 mile days is another thing. To me, one 450 mile day is doable. The second one is tough. After that, I'm not having fun any more.

Maybe I'm just a pansy, but if I were you, I'd have a Plan B just in case Ol' JZ is right.

Well we won't be doing 450 every day - that'll only be the first day... next day is whatever is left to get to the Gap.  I did a ride all the way to Eureka Springs in one day - that was 650 miles and the weather was between upper 40s and upper 50s at best the whole way with some rain thrown in.  Now that sucked!  

When I did my ride out to Wyoming last year it was 450 the first day and close to 600 the second (90 degrees and up the whole time).  I did the trip home in 3 days but mileage was still close to 400 per day I want to say since I didn't slab it the whole way.

Needless to say *I* think I can handle it - we'll see how Sean holds up.  

As far as my breakfast goes Sean - it's not so much skipping breakfast, I just don't like to have heavy meals while on the road (lunch/dinner included).  Don't let me keep you from enjoying a big greasy breakfast but don't make me tell you I told you so...    

[MadMax96]

 A good loop from the Gap is going Northwest toward Knoxville and take Foothills Parkway off 129 going toward Townsend (Look Rock is on Foothills), Right on 321 to Townsend. Go straight through the stoplight at Townsend leaving 321 taking Little River Road (Old TN-73) from Townsend over to 441 south of Gatlinburg. (Cades Cove is a neat old settlement to check out if you like that sorta thing. You can ride through it.)Take a right on 441 over Newfound Gap to Cherokee(hit Clingmans Dome going over the top, little hike but good for a stretch). Loop back to the Gap on 28, good road.

From Cherokee you can take BRP over to Maggie Valley(Wheels Thru Time motorcycle museum), then BRP on over to Ashville and see the Biltmore Mansion as your rain alternative. Definately worth it if you've never been there. You will be amazed. Actually I 40 isnt bad from Ashville going back into TN if your on your way home and need to make time.

Another good loop is South toward Robbinsville to the Cherohala Shyway then back up on 360 to Vonore and 72 back to 129.

This is great info - thanks!  I'll have to make sure I get this info in the GPS!

[Russell_T]

If you are going to hit Deals Gap... I suggest you run the "hellbender" Sr28 & the Cherohala as they are better roads IMHO with less traffic & LEO's...

As for getting from TN/NC to Barber... i'd think @ slabing it so ya can spend more time in the smokies...

Sounds like you have an aggressive plan...

[SidneyZ750S]

When I do the Smokies trip, Deals Gap only amounts to about an hour of the trip. Doesn't take that much time to ride 11 miles and realize that the faster you can get out of there the longer you're probably going to live. The road is quite amazing but the other riders/drivers can be stupid. I've witnessed bikes going down and across the road right in front of me and cars/trucks on my side of the double yellows. If you think you're a racer, go to a track day. If you're a rider then Blue Ridge Parkway or any of the other roads that connect to it are better than Deals Gap.

I realize this is being sent on your second day of your trip...have fun!

Sidney

[R Doug]

If you are going to hit Deals Gap... I suggest you run the "hellbender" Sr28 & the Cherohala as they are better roads IMHO with less traffic & LEO's...

As for getting from TN/NC to Barber... i'd think @ slabing it so ya can spend more time in the smokies...

Sounds like you have an aggressive plan...

The Cherohala is one of the best roads in the area IMHO.  The Dragon would be better if it wasn't such a draw for people.  The more remote, the better for me.

Here's the Cherohala...


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