Day 4 of our trip to Deal's Gap.

Day 4 of our trip started with breakfast at Ruby's Restaurant. This had to be one of the greasiest breakfasts I have ever had in my life! Everything was dripping in butter and fat. Everything that is, oddly enough, except the sausage patty. Strange. Once we were stuffed full of greasy goodness, we hit the road and headed to the dragon for another go. It was a glorious morning, the forecast couldnt be better and the temperature was perfect. We headed up US129 to Deal's Gap. Stopped in for the mandatory shot in front of the Deal's Gap sign.

Who is that handsome fella!

Check out them snappy matching custom leathers!

If you look closely at the picture of me up top, you can see the footpegs, nearly brand new. Just put new covers and feelers on last year. That was all about to change.

Not on my first run through however. Got stuck behind a gaggle of trucks and minivans, thus spoiling my chance at a good shot from Zeefoto.com

Amy Came through shortly after I did.

The second run through was much better. Got a nice sparky shot there.

I turned around and went for another run through the dragon. This time I was unobstructed by traffic and had a chance to really let loose. No cops either. I left a lot of metal on the dragon on that run. I got just past where Killboy was, found a spot to turn around (there was not much traffic) and headed back to the dam overlook to meet Amy. I got pictures taken by Killboy, Zeefoto and US129photos along the way. Got some really nice ones that I am going to have to buy this time. Had a blast running through as fast as my bike would let me.

Back at the lookout at the Calderwood Dam, I met up with Amy and we headed down the Calderwood Highway towards route 72. We took Route 72 up to US441. This was a pretty nice ride, a bit straight and flat, but the scenery was great and I am glad we went this way. Jumped on US441 and headed west toward Vonore. At Vonore, we turned south on route 360. This was an exceptionally nice stretch of road. Kinda twisty, beautiful countryside and amazing scenery. We did however get stuck behind a speed limit following Goldwing for a bit, but I was too busy enjoying the ride to worry about passing. Once we got to route 165 we headed to Tellico Plains. Once there, we gassed up and stopped for lunch. Hardee's again baby! YEA.

Step one of the day completed. Great riding and amazing weather.

From there we headed down route 68. This is a pretty nice stretch, twisty and the roads are in great shape. As usual the scenery is amazing. You do however see some pretty crazy stuff. At one point we were riding along, heading into a bling right corner and for whatever reason, I slowed down quite a bit. I get into the turn and there is a guy walking on edge of the road with a dog that wasnt leshed. Holy crap. If I hadn't slowed, I probably would have smoked him or the dog, or both! We stopped in Coppertown/McCaysville and gassed up. It was blazing hot by this time. We were gassing up when a bunch of police and ambulances went flying down route 60 in the direction we were heading. Great. probably a big accident down the road I figured. Amy decided that she wanted to get a shot glass from the store around the corner, as we had stopped here 2 years ago and she went to this store and asked if they had any, they replied no, but we have some coming in. She popped in and got a shot glass. Half this town is in Tennissee and the other in Georgia. While I was waiting, I had a nice chat with some locals out riding. They were on an Intruder 1400 and we started talking about Amy's little rocket and the pro's of riding an Intruder. Nice folks. Once Amy was back she talked to a cop in the lot and asked about the emergency. Thankfully it was not on 60, we saddled up and headed south on route 60.

We rode this all the way down to Suches, GA. Nice ride, tons of great pavement and twisty roads. Highly recommend this ride. We stopped in at Dale's to gas up. Shot the breeze with some locals, bought a Tshirt and stickers. Unfortunately no shot glass. Planned out the route from there to Helen, doing as much of the "cooler run" as possible. The wolf as it is also known. The ride takes you down 60 from Suches, to 19/9, north on 129, then across wolf pen gap road back to Suches. We did the whole thing exept the section along Wolf Pen Gap Road. Arguably this is the best part, hairpins, switchbacks etc etc. The road is pretty narrow and can be a little treacherous, not nearly as much fun as the 129 section is in my opinion.

We headed down route 60 and got stuck behind a redneck Lincoln Town Car. This thing was a real hoopty ass beater. Had about 6 people in it and was nearly draggin the tailpipe. That and he never got over about 40km/h. Ugh. Just as well I guess, cause route 60 is covered in tar snakes and has some pretty sharp blind corners. The tar snakes frighten me :) Once we got to Stonepile Gap, we headed across 19/9. This is an interesting stretch, starts out slow, then gets real twisty for a bit, then ends slow. Nice pavement and a great ride nonetheless. We stopped at the intersection of US129 and 19/9 and made a decision. It was about 6pm and we were planning to get to Helen GA for the night. We could just run down 129 to Helen, or go north on 129, go east on 180 and then south on 348 to 75 east then south 17 into Hele.. I didn't want to miss this stretch as US129 along here is a ton of fun, Amy agreed and we headed north.

This stretch is arguably one of my favourite stretches of road anywhere. It is nothing but twisty road, pristine blacktop and 2 lanes when you are ascending and 1 lane when decending. The corners are banked like a racetrack. I take the corners substantially faster than Amy, so I will usually slow down in the straightaways and wait for Amy to catch up. I pulled away and left Amy far behind after a few minutes, passed a 2 up Bagger going through a corner and pulled away ripping through the turns as fast as my pegs, pipes and kickstand could take. I got to a straight section and slowed down for Amy to catch up. In my mirrors, I see a bike come around the corner and I think "wow, she's riding it pretty hard". The bike gets closer and I notice its not her, but rather a guy on a Vulcan 1500. He is blazing pretty good, so I honk it and stay with him. He is taking full advantage of the 2 lanes, cutting across both lanes in the corners. I stayed with him for about a km and decided I oughta wait for Amy. As I am slowing down I see him going into the next corner. Its a hairpin that goes to the right and it has a huge banking. I watched him go into this corner and I swear he and the bike were almost parallel to level ground. That was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I wish I had a camera at that momment. Eventually Amy caught up and we headed east on 180. This section is not nearly as exciting as the west side between 129 and 60. Nice ride, but no "Wolf". Turned south on 348 and everything changed. 348 was a great ride. Definitely worth checking out. I'd rate it pretty high. Fun road and in good shape. We got to the end and could't belive how great it was. I heard nothing about this road, just took it because it was convenient. From there we headed across 75 to 17 and into Helen.

Helen, Georgia is a pretty cool place. Its known as Alpen Helen. The whole place is done in a Bavarian/Swiss style. I didnt see a single building along the main street that wasn't Apenesque :) Lots of bar's, gift shops, hotels. Real touristy place. I would compare it to a cross between Wasaga Beach, Ont. and Blue Mountain Village. Party every weekend, young adults seeking opposite sex. Anyways, We pulled into the Country Inns & Suites, booked a room and unpacked. Nice place, free cookies (we were starving, having not eaten since Tellico Plains). They were renovating the hotel, everything seemed covered in dust! Numbers on the room doors were taped on! Still a nice hotel though. We went out and grabbed some beer at the Apline Brew and Bottle Haus Package store. Like I said, everything is Alpenesque. One thing I cannot figure is why Americans call it a package store. hmm... After that, we walked down the main strip to try and find some authentic Bavarian schnitzel. Found a new Helen, GA penny squisher (did I mention we also collect squshed pennies?) and realized we left the camera back at the hotel! After walking for a bit and not finding anything acceptable, we opted for Paul's Steakhouse. Would have loved to go to the Hofbrauhaus, but it was quite a hike and I was starving at this point. Nice selection, but a bit on the overpriced side. Nothing exceptional. I was expecting exceptional at that price. Mildly dissapointed we headed back to the hotel for a dip in the pool. Had a cooling swim and hit the sack, concluding what had been the greatest day of riding in my life.

I still can't believe we didnt get any pictures in Helen.