Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Sunday Aug 27th Waynesboro Tennessee – Tapoco Tennessee 610 km
From the riding point of view we were already on the “final lap” on our way to CCR. But there were still the two famous routes to go: Cherohala Skyway and The Dragon.
When doing the route planning previous night we were not sure where the Dragon exactly was located so we could not decide will we do it or not.
We got up in decent time and got going at 07:00 and the humidity must have been 150%. We had looked for some waypoints (on smaller twisty roads) previous night and I gave them to my EuroNav II.
After 50 minutes of riding on various smaller and bigger roads we were passing Paddler’s Motel (the place we stayed overnight). Now, this is a good way to collect miles but not a good way to get somewhere…
So I changed Roy’s Garmin in the cradle and we rode relying on that until the unit ran out of detail maps somewhere near North Carolina.
Anyway, in Turtletown Tennessee when we were taking gas, we met a local Harley rider who advised us on finding the Cherohala Skyway and the Dragon. He recommended that we should leave the Dragon for Monday morning rather than rushing there for Sunday evening.
So we did the Cherohala which was nice. However there was some traffic on it so we waited and let them get further, some of the vehicles we passed…
After the Cherohala we thought that what the heck, let’s do the Dragon as well to get over with it!
Despite the Harley rider’s explanation I still was not sure of it’s location. This time I was again using my EuroNav II but just as a map. We took one right turn instead of taking a left and after a while we realized that let’s turn back. With close to 600 km ridden and a bit annoyed I was sloppy and dropped the bike in the middle of the road while making a U-turn in an slightly uphill road. Now that’s nice! Since the bike fell in downhill direction, my XL J-Peg was extended and all the saddlebags plus rear seat fully loaded the result was that the left mirror touched the ground. The mirror came off, which is completely natural – even in my bike although I have secured the mirror with a 5 mm allen bolt to the bike frame. I have cut most of the material off of the bolt head neck believing that this would be the breaking point in case something is to break. Well, I was wrong…the plastic from the mirror base broke before the bolt neck gave up…
My XL J-Peg bumper worked again. J-Peg folded nicely in and the tip of it hit the steel bumper and that was all. Some scratches on the J-Peg outer corner as well as on the left saddlebag trim. Good luck I did not change it before this trip although it was already scratched. At least some projects for the coming winter…
We put the mirror in the trunk and continued. Now I was positive that we will come to the Dragon. We followed a nice and curvy mountain road until the asphalt ended. Well, I guess this is not the Dragon…I’ve never heard that to be gravel road. Oh s**t! There we were on a very twisty loose gravel road with our superlight 600 kg off-road bikes. We just continued as I could see from the GPS that this is not a dead end. After quite a few miles and lots of curves we finally merged to Hwy 129 just few hundred feet before the Tapoco Lodge came in sight. The time was already 18:30 and we had no idea of a better place to stay overnight so we decided to call the day off.
As we were pulling in to our cottage we were welcomed by Jeff Eagan and his group who were just standing outside their cabin when we were passing by. Nice coincidence!
In the evening I used some epoxy glue that I have along and glued the mirror base and installed it in the morning. Works as new…
Packing the bikes at Paddler's Motel.
I had to give up a bit on the safety...
No gloves and the mesh jacket open.
But Jouko was the brave one. He rode with T-shirt only until he got sunburned.
I was doing 74 mph but I seemed to be too slow for the truck.
Nice rafting and canoeing resort somewhere along Hwy 74 in Tennessee.
Stopped to get gas and a lunch downtown Turtletown TN.
"Gentlemen, start your engines!"
Naw...just kidding. We took it easy.
Wievs from the Chreohala to Smoky Mountains. Sure look different than the Rockies.
When doing the route planning previous night we were not sure where the Dragon exactly was located so we could not decide will we do it or not.
We got up in decent time and got going at 07:00 and the humidity must have been 150%. We had looked for some waypoints (on smaller twisty roads) previous night and I gave them to my EuroNav II.
After 50 minutes of riding on various smaller and bigger roads we were passing Paddler’s Motel (the place we stayed overnight). Now, this is a good way to collect miles but not a good way to get somewhere…
So I changed Roy’s Garmin in the cradle and we rode relying on that until the unit ran out of detail maps somewhere near North Carolina.
Anyway, in Turtletown Tennessee when we were taking gas, we met a local Harley rider who advised us on finding the Cherohala Skyway and the Dragon. He recommended that we should leave the Dragon for Monday morning rather than rushing there for Sunday evening.
So we did the Cherohala which was nice. However there was some traffic on it so we waited and let them get further, some of the vehicles we passed…
After the Cherohala we thought that what the heck, let’s do the Dragon as well to get over with it!
Despite the Harley rider’s explanation I still was not sure of it’s location. This time I was again using my EuroNav II but just as a map. We took one right turn instead of taking a left and after a while we realized that let’s turn back. With close to 600 km ridden and a bit annoyed I was sloppy and dropped the bike in the middle of the road while making a U-turn in an slightly uphill road. Now that’s nice! Since the bike fell in downhill direction, my XL J-Peg was extended and all the saddlebags plus rear seat fully loaded the result was that the left mirror touched the ground. The mirror came off, which is completely natural – even in my bike although I have secured the mirror with a 5 mm allen bolt to the bike frame. I have cut most of the material off of the bolt head neck believing that this would be the breaking point in case something is to break. Well, I was wrong…the plastic from the mirror base broke before the bolt neck gave up…
My XL J-Peg bumper worked again. J-Peg folded nicely in and the tip of it hit the steel bumper and that was all. Some scratches on the J-Peg outer corner as well as on the left saddlebag trim. Good luck I did not change it before this trip although it was already scratched. At least some projects for the coming winter…
We put the mirror in the trunk and continued. Now I was positive that we will come to the Dragon. We followed a nice and curvy mountain road until the asphalt ended. Well, I guess this is not the Dragon…I’ve never heard that to be gravel road. Oh s**t! There we were on a very twisty loose gravel road with our superlight 600 kg off-road bikes. We just continued as I could see from the GPS that this is not a dead end. After quite a few miles and lots of curves we finally merged to Hwy 129 just few hundred feet before the Tapoco Lodge came in sight. The time was already 18:30 and we had no idea of a better place to stay overnight so we decided to call the day off.
As we were pulling in to our cottage we were welcomed by Jeff Eagan and his group who were just standing outside their cabin when we were passing by. Nice coincidence!
In the evening I used some epoxy glue that I have along and glued the mirror base and installed it in the morning. Works as new…
Packing the bikes at Paddler's Motel.
I had to give up a bit on the safety...
No gloves and the mesh jacket open.
But Jouko was the brave one. He rode with T-shirt only until he got sunburned.
I was doing 74 mph but I seemed to be too slow for the truck.
Nice rafting and canoeing resort somewhere along Hwy 74 in Tennessee.
Stopped to get gas and a lunch downtown Turtletown TN.
"Gentlemen, start your engines!"
Naw...just kidding. We took it easy.
Wievs from the Chreohala to Smoky Mountains. Sure look different than the Rockies.
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