Day 9 of our Trip to Deal's Gap

Day 9 began with another complimentary breakfast at the hotel. The day was beautiful, unfortunately we got a bit of a later start. A few too many glasses of wine the night before I guess. We loaded up the bikes and I applied some sunscreen. I took it out of my fork bag, put the bottle on my headlight, then applied. We headed out, North on 219 up to i68. We then headed east on i68. Its a good thing we stopped where we did the night before, there was nothing up along i68. At the first gas stop we made for the day, I noticed I left my forkbag open, then I noticed I was missing a bottle of sunscreen. Whoops. I left it on my headlight and drove off! duh. We stayed along i68 till i81. Once we had got onto the interstate, it began to rain. The weather was changing fast. We stopped and gassed up and put on the rain gear. Not to far down the road, it stopped raining again. Stop and take off the raingear. Starts raining. Stop and put it on, it stops. Augh.

We jumped onto i81 and headed north. The sky got dark and it began to rain hard. We pulled over onto the shoulder on i81 to put on the raingear. Trucks blowing by at 75 while putting on raingear is not a fun thing to do. I don't know about anyone else, but when I see a vehicle on the side of the road with its left signal on, I tend to move over to the left if I can. When we tried to get back into traffic, we picked up speed on the shoulder then tried to merge, only I couldnt get over because some joker had matched my speed and wouldnt let me back onto the roadway. Some people are just too stupid to drive. We basically took i81 from i70 up to near Tremont at route 125. The rain completely stopped once we were through Harrisburg. Pretty uneventfull riding all day so far on the interstate except for the on and off rain.

We pulled off at the route 125 exit and I immediately stopped on the shoulder. I needed to get the rain pants and rain boots off. We just rode about 150kms with the gear on with no rain and it was crazy hot. As we were taking off the raingear, this trailerless transport truck coming down the road, turns onto the i81 on ramp at a high rate of speed, then smokes the guard rail! He scraped the truck off the guard rail for about 40 feet and just kept going. Amy and I were standing there looking at each other like "Did that truck just do that?!?). Crazy! Found a gas station and filled up and had a rest. Due to being behind schedule, we had to redo the day a little. At first we werent even sure we were going to come up this way (in order to ride 125). We decided to do it, then we opted to stay on 81 instead of taking 325 through the backroads to get there. 81 is a lot faster for sure. We got back on the road and headeded north on 125. Ideally we should have gotten off at US209 and then went west to 4011 which turns into 125, but I jumped the gun and pulled off as soon as I saw 125. The way we went took us through Tremont unnecessarily robbing us of some time. That and 125 between Good Spring and Tremont is not a very nice ride, straight road full of potholes.

Route 125 in Pennsylvania! A great ride!

125 is one of my favourite roads in Pennsylvania. North of Hegins, the road has some hairpins, crosses 3 mountains and goes through 2 valleys. The road was repaved 3 years ago and is in pretty good condition. In 2001 on our first real road trip, we went through here. I mapped out the whole trip beforehand. I spent months pouring over maps trying to find ways to get from Hamilton, Ont to Newport News, VA without taking interstates. Somehow I ended up on this stretch of road. The first time through, the pavement was bad, but the road twists and turns and changes elevation so much, it was still a lot of fun. The next time we came back (in 2005) it was freshly repaved. It is now an absolute blast to ride. We have seen tons of bikes along here every time we come through. When you get into the valleys, the road is like a rollercoaster in some places, up and down, so steep in some places you cant see the road as you crest the hills. Other spots its very twisty, the road dissapears into a cornfield as you crest a hill. You crest the hill and the road makes a sharp left with a 15mph sign with an arrow to the left. I highly recommend anyone to go and ride this road. Its an absolute blast. The road is already starting to degrade from frost heaves, so do it before it is ruined again.

Once we were through 125, we rode through Shamokin and up route 61. Route 61 north to route 487. Route 487 to route 54 and then route 54 north to i80. By the time we got to i80, it was around 5pm. The rain earlier had robbed us of a lot of time. We decided we were going to stay the course and go to Lock Haven. There is a restaurant there, The Dutch Haven, that we go to whenever we stay in Lock Haven. They close at 7:30pm on Sundays, so we really had to haul it to make it there before closing. We rode i80 out to US220 in pretty good time. Traffic was moving pretty fast so we were able to keep a pace of around 80mph the whole way along i80. We got into Lock Haven and checked into the Best Western. We have stayed here about 10-15 times by now. Nice hotel, nothing fancy, but the Dutch Haven is walkind distance away and its really quiet in that area.

The bikes at the Best Western in Lock Haven.

The handy dandy "Skyway Lanes" camera holder in action. Got a lot of use out of it on this trip. Strapped it to the mini apehangers and it stayed there the whole trip.

The view to the south from the BW Lock Haven. The mist off the mountains in the morning is beautiful.

We checked into the hotel and unpacked. We had to hurry because it was about 7pm when we got there and we didn't want to miss the Dutch Haven. We got changed and went for dinner. Had a great meal and talked with one of the owners. She recognized us as we have been there many times. The Dutch Haven is a really good restaurant and I recommend it to anyone who is in the area. I have never been dissapointed with the food.

After dinner we headed down to the riverfront. Lock Haven is on the Susquehanna River. The river has completely flooded and destroyed the city a few times. The army corp of engineers built up the sides of the river, making an amphitheatre out of them. Keeps the floodwaters from rising high enough to flood the city, at the same time providing seating for the river events, like rowing, boating and the concerts they hold on the waterfront. The town is full of history. So many of the buildings in the Water Street historic district. This area is very picturesque. So many of the old buildings are properly maintained and are immaculate. Unlike the downtown area in Hamilton, where they abandon the old buildings and let them crumble, making the downtown look like a slum. Lock Haven has done it right.

We ended up down on the river park's pathway and heard music. We walked down to the amphitheatre area and there was a band playing. We sat down and watched till the show was over. Lots of people, great weather a river full of party boats all tied together. Had a great time. Last time we were here on a sunday they had a band as well. After the show was over, we headed back to the hotel and crashed. Last day was ahead of us and we were both looking foreward to heading home.

As Amy frequently says, "a perfect holiday is circular. You are excited to be leaving at the beginning and you are excited to get home at the end." This is how we both feel after every roadtrip holiday we have taken.

Day 9's route.

Day 8 of our trip to Deal's Gap

Day 8 began with some dark and foreboding skies. Didn't look like we were in for very good weather for the day. We had some complimentary breakfast at the hotel and loaded up for the day. It wasnt raining so we decided to head out only with the rain boots and pants. Riding up i77 about 10 kms later we pulled over to put on the full gear. It started raining pretty hard. It wasnt so bad because it made for some really intersting views. The clouds looked like they were oozing across the treetops of the forest. Incredibly cool.

Took this picture a bit after putting on the raingear. The grade of that hill is amazing. Steep.

We stayed on i77 through the on and off rain (wouldnt you know the rain would ease to a light mist as soon as the full gear got put on). Exited i77 at route 61. Took route 61 east. This was a pretty nice ride through the back country of a part of VA I had never been to. Somewhere along this stretch, I was riding along and I saw a rabbit sitting upright in the field off to my left. It was about 30 feet off to the side in the grass. Once I got about 45 degrees from it, it bolts at top speed across the road at a 45 degree angle. I was probably doing about 80km/h and this rabbit was almost going as fast as I was! This thing was booking. I did the mental calculation and determined he would be squashied unless I did something, so I lightly touch the brake and I must have missed hitting it by about 6 inches. Stupid rabbits always seem to run across and in the direction you are moving. The road kind of follows a river for a while. Really nice scenery. Once we got to Narrows VA, we got rid of the rain geat. It was getting quite warm again. From there we got onto US460 and went west. This was a really neat stretch, divided road, 2 lanes each way and a low speed limit. The right side was a cliff going up and the left side was a drop off into trees. The cliff was VERY close to the road in spots. Hopped onto US219 a few kms down the road and headed north. We rode up 219 for a long way. We were getting pretty hungry by the time we arrived in Lewisburg (right near i64) but I wanted to go a little further before stopping as we had just gassed up about 30 mintues ago. So we stayed in the saddle and kept going. My mistake. There was nothing down the road past Lewisburg. I mean nothing. Nothing except rain. Rain and hunger. We had to pull over at the side of the road in a forest to put on the raingear. I thought we might be able to avoid it, as we were heading away from it for the most part, but we rounded a bend and headed straight at it again. Started raining hard. Problem was that this was some of the best parts of 219. We had come down this way last year and I made a point to visit again this year because it was so good. I was starting to get frustrated. The rain cleared up as we came around a mountain. The roads were dry at last and it no longer rained. We were right at Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park. This part is the best section of 219. WOOT! This part is a lot like the Dragon, hairpins, banked corners and non stop twists and turns. I was starting to enjoy it and i was thinking "Finally, this is more like it". While coming out of a right hander, going into a lefthander, I notice something to my left, out of the corner of my eye. I immediately close the throttle and right the bike and then a small deer comes flying out of the tall grass on the shoulder, hits the pavement about 10 feet infront of me and runs across the road at a 45 degree angle to my path. I grabbed all the brake I could. This deer must have been about a foot infront of my front tire when it got out of my way. Stupid thing was looking at me the whole time. If I had not closed the throttle as soon as I caught movement, I would have smoked it for sure. My heard was pounding and my hands were shaking. That was the closest I have come to hitting a deer. Had a few 15-20 feet infront of me on the BRP, but this thing was practically under my tire. Amy saw it running off the road as she came through the corner. Once we got through the state park, it starts raining again. Great. I pulled into the first place I saw. A gas station in Hillsboro. Starving, shaking and feeling extremely lucky to still be on 2 wheels, we went inside for food. Had some heat lamp special pizza and tried to wait out the rain. It did ease up a bit, like my tension. Eventually it was down to a light mist. Got back in the saddle after a needed break and headed back up 219. The rain eventually stopped and we stopped for some gas. I am pretty sure it was in Slatyfork. We ditched the jackets.

Headed back out again and rode a ways further before I decided it was finally time to completely lose the raingear. The sky was clear ahead as far as you could see. Behind us was another story.

This was the view behind us when we finally ditched the raingear for the last time.

Batman was along for the ride since day 3.

We rode up to Elkins and started thinking about accomodations. I was hoping to get to somewhere along i68, but Amy didn't think she could make it that far. We stayed along 219 and once we got into Maryland we decided it was time to find a hotel. First we stopped and grabbed a snack at McRaunchies. I needed something to eat desperately. Talking to locals, turned out there was nothing in the town we were in, Oakland. But everyone said "go to Deep Creek Lake", OK, we grab a phone book and find a hotel. We were starting to get worried about getting a room, considering it was July 4th. Luckily they had a room at the Comfort Inn in McHenry. We rode up to Deep Creek Lake. This is a pretty intersting place. Looks to me to be a playground for the rich of Maryland. Skiing, boating, cottages, fine hotels and restaurants, boutique shops. Reminded me a lot of the Muskokas in Ontario. We rode for what seemed to be an inordinate amount of time before we finally found the hotel. I was starting to get worried as we were nearing the end of Deep Creek Lake! There was so many cars parked everywhere and so many people and traffic I couldnt believe it. I guess I should have expected it in a holiday destination on July 4th. Once we found the hotel we got ourselves checked in. Another hotel with construction going on. No carpet on the floor in places, dust on everything. The rooms were nice though. Unpacked and looked for a place to eat. Found out there is a Mexicali type place about a km away. We didnt feel like riding anymore so we walked over. We found out there was going to be a big fireworks display tonight right over the water near where we were. We got to the restaurant, the Santa Fe Grille, got a buzzer and waited for a table. We forgot the camera so we went back to the hotel to get it. Back at the restaurant again it wasn't too much longer of a wait before we got a table on the deck overlooking the lake. Great seats for the show. Ordered some food, I ordered the half rack habanero ribs and scampi and I am pretty sure Amy ordered the Lazy Crab. The food was excellent. We got the food just as they turned the lights down and the fireworks began.

Great fireworks show they put on here.

Happy 4th of July!

With the dinner we ordered a bottle of wine. Ridge, 2006 Three Valleys Sonoma County Zinfandel. It is not 100% Zinfandel, but a blend of 80% Zin, 10% pettite syrah, 5% Carignane and 5% Grenache. I was quite excited about this bottle as I have heard pretty much nothing but good about Ridge Zins as a whole. They rate quite highly as far as I have seen in Wine Spectator. First smell I would have sworn they swapped out the contents of the bottle with that of an Australian Shiraz. It has a thick musty black berry nose. Smells exactly like a shiraz from Australia. Take a taste of it and it was very similar to shiraz again. big fruit bomb. Anyone that loves Shiraz would love this one. I wasn't initially feeling it, but the more I swirled it, the more it opened up. I imagine this would be better after a few years in the cellar. It was a bit too overpowering for my tastes, not enough of that Zinfandel bite for me, it was there but not enough of it. The flavours were nice, but it just lacked a little Zin'iness or something like that. :)

Ridge 2006 Sonoma Country Three Valleys Shiraz... er. Zinfandel.

I liked it, but I wouldn't say I would go out of my way to get more of it. The price for the bottle was surprisingly low considering the asking price at retailers will be around $20-24. The winelist had it for $30. Not a bad price for a restaurant. Bottom line is that I was slightly dissapointed, it was definitely not up to the level of Seghesio's 2005 Sonoma County Zin. If I were to rate it, I would probably say its around an 87-88.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and crashed. It was a pretty exciting day, nearly pasting a bunny rabbit and a deer, riding through some nasty rain, then blazing heat. It saps you pretty good.

This is the route for the day.

Day 7 of our trip to Deal's Gap.

Day 7 started with the complimentary breakfast at the hotel. Once we were on the road again, we went up up past the Chili's and jumped onto i240 down to i40 east. The section of the Blue Ridge Parkway was out just after the exit we had gotten off at yesterday, so the detour began right were we ended pretty much. Following the directions of the guy I talked to the day before, we stayed on i40 till Old Fort. There was a rather intersting section of i40 through Pisgah National Forest That had the road doing some really wavy twisty turns just before we got off at Old Fort. From there we took US70 east to route 80. This was the road that the guy said was worth the detour. He had told me that they redid the detour because people with campers and trailers had complained. This was the original detour apparantly. I had some high hopes for it considering how he had raved about it.

We headed north toward the BRP and almost immediately got stuck behind an octagenarian in a Buick. We sat behind him for at least 10 minutes going through some nice roads before I got impatient. He wouldnt let me pass (he slowed down for every turn) so I ended up passing on a double yellow. I will almost never do that. Wouldnt you know it, soon as we got out of the next turn, there it is, passing zone. Sigh. No matter, we continued up 80 and things got better and better the further in we got. This was an absolute blast to ride and I recommend you try it out if you are down that way. Up near the entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway, the road gets crazy. Switchbacks into switchbacks with elevation changes. Real tight switchbacks too. Near the end I came up on a pickup truck with a trailer and had to slow to a near stop. The turn ahead was so sharp the truck almost couldnt cut the corner. Glad he was in front of me because I probably would have gone into the corner too hot not expecting it.

This is the ride from Asheville to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

From there, we rode the Blue Ridge Parkway all the way into Blowing Rock. The ride along the parkway was really nice. Good weather and temps. Once we got near Blowing Rock, there were cars pulled off to the side of the road at every available spot. The view was amazing. I wish I had a chance to stop myself. We pulled off the parkway in Blowing Rock on US221. Gassed up and decided what to do about lunch. We opted to go into Boone as the detour took us through there.

The Boone Detour

Once we were in Boone, we looked around for a place to eat. Chik-Fil-A caught our eye and Amy suggested it. As we are pulling into the parking lot, I notice a Japanese Steak House and Sushi Bar. Woot. I point it out and Amy immediately starts riding toward it. All I did was point it out! Sushi it is. We stop in and grab a bite. Had a chef's choice sushi special. Had many raw things I had never tried before. Good salmon and tuna, but I could have done without the octopus. Its a little to chewy for me. Good food though.

Makoto's, Sushi in Boone, NC

After Lunch, we headed back to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Had a nice ride up to Fancy Gap. More great scenery and sweet roads.

At Fancy Gap, we grabbed some gas and a couple of shot glasses :) Spent some time deciding where we were going to end the day. Looking at the map and looking at how far we had come, I wanted to try and make it up to somewhere north of i81. Amy didn't. We decided we would go as far as we felt we could. It was starting to cloud up a bit by this time and looked like it could start raining at any time. We jumped onto i77 north. Immediately we were greeted by radar guns and cops on the side of the road. Virginia is one place that I do not speed. A couple of years ago we were pulled over in VA for speeding. Turns out there is basically a zero tolerance for speeding in VA. Not wanting another ticket, I kept it within about 5-10mph of the speed limit on the interstate. Saw about 5 cop cars between Fancy Gap and i81. Still saw people blowing past us at 85+mph in a 70 though. Crazy. Someone told me that if you are a VA resident, they tack on some extra charges like dangerous driving that they don't give to out of staters. Unreal. We stayed on 77 and it turned into 77north/81 south. Found that kind of amusing. Amy saw a sign for a Cracker Barrel, so we pulled off just before the turn off to get back onto 77 north (no longer 81 south). Stopped in a gas station and looked around. There were a few hotels there. The cracker barrel was up the hill where there were a few hotels. I didnt feel like walking too much so I said lets just go up there. Amy wanted a nicer place. We go into the gas station and were greeted by some bona fide rednecks. We asked about the hotels up the hill (motel 6, travelodge) and was told "I wuddn stay up thar, s'all a bunch of crackheads up there". The horrified look on my face must have made him uneasy or something because he replied "not that I have anything against that or anything". We thanked them and walked out. I started laughing once we got outside because Amy was quite concerned about the crack problem in Wytheville VA. She says "lets stay over across the street". I am laughing now and tell her. He really said "Ragheads" not "Crackheads". I can only imagine how he must have felt to see our faces as he says ragheads. Probaly thinking "OH great, i've offended the politically correct yankees" or something. Us thinking he said crackheads. I had to laugh.

We ended up staying away from the crackhead hotels and crossing the street to the Quality Inns and Suites. Not a bad place. Clean room and a pool. After unpacking we took a ride up to the cracker barrel on my bike. Had some friday night fish fry and went back to the hotel. It was raining when we came back out. Finally had the rain catch up with us. Back at the hotel we covered up our seats and packed it in for the night. Another great day of riding and good weather with a Sushi lunch bonus.

The ride from where we got onto the BRP to Wytheville.

Day 6 of our trip to Deal's Gap.

Day six begain with breakfast at Ruby's Restaurant again. Mmm. Greasy. Loading up the bikes in the parking lot, we were treated to a bunch of bikes leaving the lot. Scary sometimes when you see people on bikes. You can tell when someone isn't that skilled. Taking turns very wide, throttle racing at slow speeds, shaky stops. Watching some of these people leave made me terrified for them. Why is it that most of these types seem to be riding $20 000 bikes? We then left Robinsville for the year. Up to Deal's Gap for another few runs through before heading north. En route to Deal's Gap we got stuck behind some rather slow riding guys on VTXs. Great. Nice stretch of road and no one ahead wants to go 1mph over the speed limit. Once we hit the Dragon, right beside the Cheoah dam, was saw all kinds of bikes pulled off in the parking lot. Luckily the VTXs pulled in there too. Looked like the had the gates open and water was gushing out into the river. Quite a sight. I kinda wish we had stopped. We saw a few guys from Ohio that were staying at the Microtel there too. Unfortunately we got to witness one of the bikes fall over. Uh oh. Stopped at the Crossroads of time and had a pee break before going through the Dragon again, while sitting there, the Ohio guys drove in while we were there and I went over and talked to the guy that dropped it. Luckily he had no damage, bag rails and engine guards are a good thing :) Sat and waited for a break in the traffic so we wouldnt get slowed up and made a run through the dragon. I blasted through again, at one point I caught up to a bunch of other bikes. I passed a couple of cruisers and pulled in behind a sport tourer. He was going to slow so he flagged me by. As I caught up to another cruiser, I notice a couple of supersport bikes behind me. I pass, they pass, then I wave them by. As soon as they pass me, I goose it and catch sight of them coming out of the next turn. 10 feet apart, knees dragging. This was one of the coolest things I have ever seen before. My vantage point was about 45 degrees from behind and at a higher level. From where I was, it looked almost like they were laying on the road. Very cool. A second later another sportbike was behind me, I wave him past and decide to see if I can keep up with him. I did pretty well considering the hulking boatanchor my bike is compared to what he was riding. I was basically pushing the bike right to the limit of its capabilities, scraping the kickstand mount and pipes. I stayed with him for a couple of KMs before we went into a couple of quick switchbacks that I had to slow down too much for.

After that, I got to the Calderwood Dam overlook and turned around for another run. Pretty much the same as the last one, me pushing it hard and having a blast. A few turns kinda scared me when I hit the kickstand mount and felt the bike starting to pivot off it. Once I got past where Killboy was shooting from, I turned around and went back for the last Dragon run of the year. On the first run through I noticed the sherriff sitting in a corner, made a note to slow down for that. Had a pretty clean run going, no traffic or anything dangerous, when I came up on a few bikes ahead. A few of us passed a slower moving bike and then I noticed the Buell from Mass. that had been staying at the Microtel. Stayed with him for a while but he still got away from me, even with a passenger (I am starting to think I need a sportbike). Eventually I caught up to him when everyone was stopped dead! I had heard sirens and figured the Sherriff had pulled someone over, but no, the sirens were on non stop and werent getting any closer. Eventually I found out why, the Sherriff was escorting a semi through the Dragon. Damn, that was freaky. Seeing that transport truck coming around that corner, knowing what he was in store for. Poor bastard. Once they were past us, we got going again and I met up with Amy at the Calderwood Damn overlook.

The poor bastard in the semi. Trust me, the road is even worse ahead.

Right away she asked me "Did you see that transport truck?!" Of course I did, how could you miss it! Thank's to the sherriff for escorting the truck, sirens blaring. Without that, who knows what would or could happen. Amy told me how the truck drove up to the overlook, the driver was visibly distressed, sweating and nervous. He apparantly started talking to the people there, they told him it gets far worse ahead. He had only gone through about a mile of the Dragon and was terrified. Poor bastard :) They told him he outta turn around, but he didn't feel he had enough room. The people couldnt convice him to do it and he drove on. What a fool. Amy did manage to snap some pics of the truck. Too bad she didnt get any of the truck as it drove down the road. Had a break at the overlook and then headed through the last stretch of the Dragon.

The view from the Calderwood Dam overlook

We turned down the Foothills Parkway and rode it down to US321. This is a nice stretch of road, nothing too exciting, but its a nice ride. We took it out to the end at US321. We get onto 321 and go south from there, again a nice stretch of road, except we got stuck behind some doofus in a Cadillac. This moron would not go within 5 mph of the speed limit. To make matters worse every time there was a guard rail, he would cross the yellow line. Oncoming cars would make him get back into the lane. Scary as hell and we were stuck behind him through the best stretches of the road. Some people should not be allowed to drive. We turned down Lyone Springs road. Mercifully the Caddy stayed on 321. We took Lyon Springs road till it met up with Little River road. Took that out to US441. Nice ride through the Great Smoky Mountains State Park but the traffic was pretty heavy and slow moving. Getting onto 441 was no different. Never getting more than about 10mph over the 45mph limit. This is a really nice section, incredible scenery and a nice road, however the traffic makes it impossible to enjoy the road's twists and turns so we did all we could do.... Enjoy the Scenery.

An over the shoulder shot on US441

Lots of traffic on 441

Neat shot inside a tunnel, notice the camera focussed on my windshield's reflection.

There is one section of 441 where the road does a complete 360 degree turn, under itself. Strange, I can't figure why they would do this, but its pretty neat to ride through.

The scenery was great :)

Once we got through Newfound Gap and US441, we headed down to Cherokee to get some gas and lunch. Lunch was, surprise, Hardee's :) From here we were planning to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway into Asheville. I heard some sections of the BRP were out for construction with some big detours. I talked with some locals about it and was reassured that it is AFTER Asheville. Good news. Took off and headed to the Parkway. The weather was great and temperatures couldn't have been better. Started the ascent to the highest point on the parkway. Not too much traffic, when there was any ahead, it usually pulled off to the scenic overlooks. We got up to the highest point pretty quick considering it was the parkway. At the top, we were greeted by the most incredible views we had ever seen up there. 5th time up there and it had been foggy every time. Perfectly clear with almost unlimitied visibility.

Some of those pictures turned out so good, I am sure we will take at least one of them, blow it up and frame it. We spend about 30 minutes there admiring the view. Headed back out and stopped at a couple more scenic overlooks along the way. It was so clear and the views so amazing, we could have made leg a 2 day trip if we had of stopped to view every scenic overlook. I felt bad because I passed by so many amazing views.

We stopped in the Pisgah rest area. There was a bunch of other bikes there and I started talking with some of them. One of them was local and we started talking about the sections that are detoured. He gave me some recommendations on routes to take that are better than the posted detour. I mapped it out in the GPS for future reference. From there we rode into Asheville on the parkway, got off at US70. Stopped and gassed up right away and tried to find a hotel. Nothing appealing right there, so we headed up the road. Best Western was expensive, but we used their internet to find the Country Inns and Suites. We had stayed at the one in Asheville last year and it was pretty good so I wanted to go back. Found it on the map, rode over to it, but it was a different one! Whoops. We checked in anyways as there were some restaurants around and I was ready to pack it in. Walked up the street to the Chili's. Eaten there before and not been too impressed, but I didn't feel like walking around anymore. Surprisingly good meal this time. I had a Monterey Chicken/Chipotle Honey combo and Amy had Cajun Chicken Alfredo. We stayed a while and had a few drinks. Amy had a couple of blue Margarita drinks. They were rather large :) While sipping our beverages, we struck up a conversation with our waitress about bikes. Turns out she rides a scooter and wants to get a motorcycle. We talked about starter bikes and whatnot, of course Amy advised the 650 Savage. I am pretty sure after talking with us, she is going to seriously consider it. Good for her, its a great bike and perfect for starting on.

After dinner we stumbled back to the hotel and had a swim. Hit the sack shortly after that. Long day of some great riding, great weather and capped off with a great meal. Good stuff.

This was the route for the day.

Day 5 of our trip to Deal's Gap.

Day 5, we started out, grabbed some breakfast at the hotel. Nice breakfast with eggs, sausage and waffles. Not bad for complimentary. Today we planned to head east and go to South Carolina. We have never been to SC so we wanted to visit so we could knock it off the list of states we have been to, plus we needed the mandatory shot glass.

We headed up route 17 out of Helen. Nice ride along there. Nothing too exceptional compared to what we had already done, but it was nice. Took that up to US76/route 2 and headed east. Stayed on that untill we were in Clayton, GA. In Clayton we stopped and got some gas. God onto Warwoman Road and continued east. This is another route that I grabbed off the MadMaps Smoky Mountains mapset. I had some pretty high expectations after some of the other routes it has recommended. It started off a little slow. Nice ride, but nothing spectacular, then about 10 kms in, I see the road dissapear to the left. The tree directly ahead has a memorial on it for someone that died in the turn I guess. From then on in, the road was stupendous. At one point you would swear you are at Deal's Gap. What a blast this road is. If you are in the area, I highly recommend it. Amy and I got to the end and all I could say was "that was frikkin awesome".

We then headed south on route 28. This was a really nice stretch of highway. Nice twisty roads, great views and good pavement. It passes through Sumter National Forest.

Amy at the side of the road for a photo op.

Sumter National Forest!

We rode down route 28 into Walhalla. Stopped and gassed up and had a nice chat with the fellow at the counter about how prices vary so much state to state. SC had some of the cheapest gas prices so far. $2.89 where the average seemed to be $3.05. We stopped in Walhalla's downtown area (at least what we believed to be so) and searched for a Shot glass. We struck out on the shotglass. We stopped in a few stores along the main street and ended up in a flag shop. Outside the shop was an amazing Venture Royal done up with a space shuttle paint job. Closer inspection, it is a tribute to the Challenger crew. Extremely detailed work on this. Really amazing job. We went in the shop and talked with the guy about it for a while. Since we couldn't find any shot glasses, we ended up buying a Walhalla keychain. Plan to drop this into a blank shot glass when we get home. Sometimes you have to make due with what you have. I have had success with this kind of thing before, using the placks that you nail to a walking stick, souvenier coins etc etc. We grabbed some lunch at the worlds slowest Arby's, then headed out.

We headed up route 183 and then north on route 11. This was a pretty uneventfull stretch of road. Nothing but some nice scenery. Stayed that way till we got to US178. We stopped and gassed up, while rehydrating (it was extremely hot and I opted not to wear my jacket) I struck up a conversation with a younger guy on a Ducati. Asked which road was better to go north on, US178 or US276. He told me 128 is a better ride because of less traffic. We decided to take his advice. Once we were going north on US178, we got stuck behind slow moving cars. We were able to pass, but every time the road got really fun, we were behind a car or diesel pickup. 178 is a nice road, lots of fun.

We were really looking foreward to getting back into North Carolina because the area were we came back into is called Transylvania. With us collecting souvenier shot glasses, we were excited at the prospect of a Transylvania one. Once we got onto US64, we stopped in at the first gas station that looked like it had some souveniers. Unfortunately we struck out. Enquired about where we might get one, the answer was Brevard. Brevard was back at the intersection of 276 and 64! BAH. I was originally planning to go to 276 untill I talked to the kid on the Ducati! No way I was turning back to go to Brevard (it was another 30kms back the way we came). I was quite dissapointed as I was expecting there to be all kinds of shops featuring "genuine Transylvania souveniers" and whatnot. I figured locals would be milking Transylvania for all its worth! Bats, Vampires etc etc everywhere. Not so. Dissapointingly not so.

We headed back out dejected from our Transylvania letdown and headed west on US64. This is a very nice stretch, very twisty and in good shape. However, there is so much traffic along here it makes US441 seem like a Nascar race. Right from the get go, we got stuck behind a diesel dumptruck. Gah. No chances to pass and slow speeds. I was starting to get antsy when the dumper put his 4-ways on and slowed down to a crawl in a blind corner. I was ready to blow a gasket when I see a semi stopped in the next blind corner. Whew! At that point I was very happy to be stuck behind the dump truck. If he had not been infront of me, I may have come around that blind corner a lot faster. I may not have been in a safe position when I saw that stopped semi. We sat for a few minutes, then some civillians flag us through in the oncoming lane. I guessed the semi had stalled, as we passed the semi, I saw why it was stopped. Around the bend, there was another semi with his trailer in the ditch at a 45 degree angle, the cab still on the road and level. Ouch. The trailer was real close to tipping. Strange thing was that once we got around the trucks and out of the bend, we saw a cop car with a couple of cops standing at the side of the road, talking. WTF. Why the hell werent they down there directing traffic instead of joe shmoe civillians doing it?!?! Bizarro. Shortly afterwards, the dumptruck turned off. Finally. We stayed along US64 and came to Bridal Falls. Pulled in and got some pictures.

Me under the Bridal Veil Falls.

Amy under the falls!

Amy and her 800 Intruder at Bridal Veil Falls in the Nantahala National Forest.

Our bikes at Bridal Veil Falls. Unfortunately the resolution on this picture isn't very high. In the original you can see my footpeg is ground down almost halfway through the side of the peg.

We stayed on 64 and it turned into 28. We rode up to Elljay and jumped on 441/23 what I thought to be mistakenly. Turned out to be the right way to go. Got back on route 28 again. This is where the road started getting really nice again. Had a lot of fun on 28 between 441 and 74. The road conditions are great, the scenery is great and the twisties are fun. Had a blast along this stretch. It was a welcome relief after speding the better part of the day on some pretty boring roads and stuck behind diesel trucks on the nice ones.

I took this video on the stretch of 28 between Cowee and route 74. I was holding the camera in my left hand at the time :)

A shot of the road we just came off. Route 28 south or Route 74.

We stayed on 28 up to route 143 and headed over into Robinsville for the night. We checked in (we had booked this night when we were here 2 days ago as they said they were nearly sold out). After unpacking, we decided to go get some food. Went back to Lynn's place again. Halfway there, we realized neither of us had any money or our wallets. Back to the hotel I go. I grab my wallet, our helmets and take the bike up :) I was way too tired and hungry to walk all that way again. Lunch had been about 8 hours before. Had a NY strip which was pretty damned tasty. After dinner we chatted with a really nice guy outside the store. he had been there when we were there last time, I assume he must be related to Lynn in some way :) Amy pointed something out to me afterwards. The correct pronunciation of Cherohala, Nantahala and anything ending in hala seems to NOT be Cher-oh-halla, but rather Cher-Ah-Hay-Lah. Another example of how different we talk :) Back to the room, not much was happening tonight. Usually there are a lot of people out in the parking lot polishing their bikes and trading stories. Not tonight, so we packed it in a little early. I was pretty much sapped from not wearing my jacket all day, waiting too long to eat dinner and inhaling far too much diesel fumes over the course of the day.