Riding my own in the Blueridge Mountains

[TGCarol]

Hi all. The hubster and I just returned from a week long trip to the beautiful Blueridge Mountains. We had been there before but I was not riding my own yet and experienced it from the back of my husbands Hereitage Softail.

We decided to only bring my trike instead of both bikes. The hubster rented an Indian to ride while there. We borrowed a friends trailer and loaded him up.



We planned to leave early Friday morning but, as has happened before, since we were all loaded and packed up on Thursday evening we decided to leave early. We always stop over at the Hilton Garden Inn in Tifton GA. They always treat us well and it knocks three hours off the next day's drive.



We rented this beautiful mountain house with amazing views.



We spent Friday evening at our favorite Craft Brewery in Sylva NC, Innovation. Good beer and a food truck with the best French Fries ever While there we met this beautiful boy....



What a flirt .

Since we weren't due to pick up the hubster's rental until Monday, and the weather was off because of Hurricane Nate, we spent the weekend driving through the Blueridge National Park and exploring Asheville. We didn't take many pictures because we'd been there done that before. We did see an Elk but she was so far away there was no way to get a good picture . We also found ourselves at Smoky Mountain Harley in Maryville. They have a fun bar/restaurant called The Shed. There was a great band there.



On Monday morning we went to pick up the hubster's Indian. Since he will not ride "cupcake" on my trike, I had to follow him back in the truck Here's the rental.



K guys. I'll post more later. Stay tuned

[TGCarol]

After following the hubster back riding his rented Indian Classic (I think ), I finally get my chance to ride in the mountains . We headed up onto the Blueridge Parkway. I won't lie, it was a little intimidating at first but once I got into a rhythm it was FUN . Here I am all geared up at the Highest Elevation and a couple other overlooks. Living up to it's name, The Smoky Mountains decided to obscure our views that day.







Next we headed over to Maggie Valley and visit Wheels Through Time.



Here are a few cool trikes I saw there.



After the museum, we stopped at Legends for a bite to eat.



Stay tuned for more.......

[David357]

Nice Pics Carol!!

Glad you had a great time!!

[1dn5up]

So Carol, how did your hubster like the Injun

Nice pix

[TGCarol]

So Carol, how did your hubster like the Injun

Nice pix

Hi Frank. He didn’t really like it. He said even though it has the 111 engine it was slow and he missed all the instrumentation being up off the tank. Of course he is used to his Street Glide so.....there’s that.

[Fearless]

The new bars worked out well I take it? they look really good glad they are a great fit for you. ride safe Fred

[ol' school]

Carol, looks like you and hubby had an awesome trip!

[Gone2Three]

Good afternoon Carol it looks like y'all had a great time. Thanks for sharing your pictures with us. It sure is beautiful there!

[kybigmac]

Good pics! I love the Maggie valley area and I always go to Legends sports bar when I’m there.

[Zammy]

Great pics Carol, thanks for taking the time to post them, Wheels Through Time is just awesome. It sure looks like you guys had a good time, that whole area is super riding.

[Burnerboy]

I went there, a month ago, it was a beautiful ride... Did you ride the "Tail Of The Dragon??

I was a newbe on my trike, first time ever riding a trike'd bike, and man O' man it was interesting, I sure got broken in real fast for sure!

Ronnie

[TGCarol]

Nice Pics Carol!!

Glad you had a great time!!

Thanks . We absolutely did.

[TGCarol]

The new bars worked out well I take it? they look really good glad they are a great fit for you. ride safe Fred

They really are great. I could tell, even though I hadn't ridden any super twisty roads before, that they made the ride a lot easier.

[TGCarol]

I went there, a month ago, it was a beautiful ride... Did you ride the "Tail Of The Dragon??

I was a newbe on my trike, first time ever riding a trike'd bike, and man O' man it was interesting, I sure got broken in real fast for sure!

Ronnie

Yes we did ride the Tail of the Dragon. Those pics are next . Wow! You took it on as a newbie? You rock .

Great pics Carol, thanks for taking the time to post them, Wheels Through Time is just awesome. It sure looks like you guys had a good time, that whole area is super riding.

We love Wheels through Time. This was our second visit. Last time we got to meet Dale and he fired up one of the bikes for us . He wasn't there this time though.

Good pics! I love the Maggie valley area and I always go to Legends sports bar when I’m there.

Yep. Legends is great . Thanks

Good afternoon Carol it looks like y'all had a great time. Thanks for sharing your pictures with us. It sure is beautiful there!

Thanks. Ever since I first read one of Kevin and Mary's ride reports I've wanted to write one of my own. It's going to be pretty short by comparison but some day I would like to go on an epic ride like theirs and share it

[Rollin Thunder]

Good Morning Carol. AWESOME pictures of your trip together .

THANKS for posting pictures of it for us. GLAD you guys got to get away and enjoy the riding .

Rick

[TGCarol]

Thanks Rick. I’ve got more pictures to post 😁. I’m getting them together and will post them soon. We definitely had a great time.

[TGCarol]

Next we come to The Tail of the Dragon . This is one of the reasons I wanted to bring my trike here . We started off from Sylva in the morning and took 28 (also known as The Moonshiner) to get there. This was a beautiful ride. I highly recommend it. (OK....here's the mushy part) The trees were in full canopy over the road. The sun was filtering through them with bright yellow and red leaves falling all around us. It was one of those perfect moments that are so rare. I will always remember it even without a picture. (End of mush ). We pulled off to get our bearings and so my husband could touch base with his work.



Unfortunately, there was no cell service. So we move on and stopped at a gas station thinking we would have better luck.



Nope. He just had to wait until we got back to civilization . Sometimes he needs to be forced to unplug.

We arrived at Deals Gap and took a few pictures.







It was a week day and as you can see, it was not very busy. Perfect for my first time We rode The Dragon both ways and had a great time. So much fun! Here are a couple of photos curtesy of Killboy.





We did come up on one accident. It was right after the first couple of turns. The rider and bike were both in the ditch. People had stopped to help and he was sitting up and seemed OK. We wish him well.

We got back to Deals Gap and bought some stickers and T-shirts. We also visited Killboy's place.



We took the Moonshiner back to Sylva because it was so beautiful on the way over. It was beautiful again except we came up on another accident. This one was worse than the one on the Dragon. The rider almost went over a 30 foot drop. He was on one side of the road with his buddies helping him. He seemed whole except he was in total shock. We stopped and I put my flashers on and people started slowing traffic down. Thank goodness there wasn't that much. The guys bike was teetering on the edge of the drop and his saddlebags were 30 feet below in the stream. We helped gather his things and someone rode to the closest place with a phone to call 911 (still no cell service). After everything seemed to be in order we wished them well and left. There were so many people stopping that we wanted to get out of the way. I hope the young guy is OK. The Ambulance passed us on our ride back.

It was a sobering end to our day but we still had a great time.

That's all for now. There's a bit more to come.

[ol' school]

Love all your pics Carol! That area is an awesome place to ride.

Glad the two riders that went down weren't hurt any worse.

[1dn5up]

As Clint Eastwood said ; MAN HAS TO KNOW HIS LIMITATIONS

[Fozworth]

TGCarol,

You're doing a great job with the way you're sharing your trip. I too have been inspired by Kevin and Mary going with them on their trips via photos.

I will be retired next year (that's not to far off) and have put the "tail of the dragon" on the list of trips to take.

Keep up the great work!