Fall Ride with Friends

Last weekend, I had 6 friends come visit for a long weekend of riding. Curt Owens, Steve Landes, and his wife Tina arrived on Thursday, and Andrew Steadman, Chris Galardi, and Bob Lowe arrived on Friday. The weekend started early on Friday morning as Curt, Steve, Tina and myself went up to the Suches, GA area and did some off roading. Then, on Saturday morning, the entire group departed for 2 days of riding in North GA, Easter North Carolina, and Southeast Tennessee. Our route took us from my home up through Dahlonega, GA where we stopped at Riders Hill - a really cool Moto Guzzi dealer and motorcycle cafe. From there we traveled further up into the mountains and stopped at Mountain Crossings Hiking store at Walasi Yi - this is where the Appalachian trail crosses Highway 129 about 15 miles south of Blairsville, GA. It's a historic building that is actually the only hike store "on" the Appalachian Trail (so they claim). From there, we headed on north until we reached Murphy North Carolina where we stopped for fuel. Then on to Andrews, NC for a snack stop, then we checked into our hotel, the Two Wheel Only Inn. What a cool place - it's a motor lodge designed for motorcyclists - each room comes with it's own garage. Very nice.




TAIL OF THE DRAGON

After dropping our gear, we fired up the iron horses again and headed for Deals Gap and the "Tail of the Dragon". 318 Curves in just 11 miles - cool road - fun people watching!



MOONSHINER 28

After we rode the section of US 129 called the "Dragon", we picked up US 28 and road a section called "Moonshiner 28". This piece of road is actually less stressfull riding than the Dragon - more sweeping curves and less blind corners - less hooligans.



CHEROHALA SKYWAY



For me, I think the highlight of the trip was the morning journey across US 143/165 which is the Cherohala Scenic Skyway. This is one of the nicest roads I have ever ridden on a motorcycle. Big sweeping curves, beautifull wide open scenic views - and the weather was just perfect with the leaves near their peak. It was really cool to see that part of the country on a sunny fall day. We stopped in Tellico Plain's TN for a break, then rode on down to my house taking Highway 60 through Suches, GA - another great motorcycle road.





In all, it was a fantastic trip and we were very thankful to have all stayed safe on the journe