2009 May 20th: I got a late start this morning and by the time I got on the road it was already 9:30am. I had to stop for gas and I ended up talking to someone at the hotel for several minutes. Another conversation about life and some life experiences that this person wanted to share with me.
I got back on the BRP and stopped at several visitors’ centers to stamp my passport some more. The BRP was beautiful and the road went up real high today. The road went up to the elevation that I live at.
The squirrels were up to there usual tricks again today and there were several victims to show for it. That is what they get for twitching there little tails at those cars. I was fortunate not to have caused any deaths in the squirrel population.
I saw several more wild turkeys along side of the road again today. Some of these were really big. I always tried to stop to get a picture but I was never able to.
I have to say the one thing that surprised me today was I noticed these huge flowering trees. I slowed down to have a closer look and to my astonishment the trees were Rhododendrons. These trees were the size of the oak trees they were next to with trunks 2ft thick. I have seen a lot of Rhododendrons before but never anything that size.
Once I was through the BRP, the road went right into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This road was packed with cars and not a lot of fun. The traffic was slow and when I got to the other end of the park, there was heavy traffic through Gatlinburg, TN. There was some construction in town causing most of the problems.
I stopped at the visitors’ center just outside of town and those people were very nice and gave me some maps. I stopped several times trying to find a place to stay but the cost was too much so I kept going.
I ended up going through Deal’s Gap and I tamed the ‘Tail of the Dragon’. That road was fun and very twisted. I now know why so many people crash. When I got to the end I stopped and took a bunch of pictures. As I pulled in at Deal’s Gap, the loaded down bike kind of caused a disturbance as several people came over to me and I got a little crowd of attention. All these people were having trouble with the little Ninja being so loaded down and me running the ‘Dragon’. I didn’t have any problems, but of course, I didn’t’ ride it that hard. The attention was fun, but I soon tired of it and got back on the road. Seen it, Done it, Now what’s next.
The way the three parks are setup is interesting. Shenandoah NP, The Blue Ridge Parkway, and The Great Smoky Mountains NP are all on the same road. When you finish one you can continue right onto the next one. Together they total about 630 miles. That is a lot of scenery. I would have to say that I now understand why the BRP is considered the number one motorcycling road in the United States. I think that a lot of it has to do with its shear length and ease of access by the large population on the east end of the country. I have seen a huge portion of the Rocky Mountains roads, and the scenery is fantastic, but the roads are short in comparison. The other thing about Colorado is the riding season is also very short.
I’m saddened by the fact that I have put the last route of this trip into the GPS today. I’m now officially headed toward home. I plan to stop at Graceland in Memphis, TN and then on home. I figured that it will take a couple of days just to get home after my stop at Graceland.