| Author | Message | ||
     Whodom |
Just got back home from spending a week at Fontana Village, ~10 miles from Deal's Gap in NC. Rode my S3 all the way from SC (~300 miles). Buell sightings- Only saw a Blast for the first 3 days. Later saw 3 XB12Rs parked at Deals Gap. Passed a black XB12S on the Dragon one day and later saw his bike at Deals Gap. Finally, I passed a black/silver S3 on 28 a few miles from Fontana when I was leaving. The first ~200 miles suck (mostly flat and straight) but the last 100 miles are all great roads. From north-west SC you can take highway 28 all the way to Deal's Gap. The SC portion was repaved a couple of years ago and the NC portion has just been repaved. That leaves a ~5 mile segment in the north-east tip of Georgia that hasn't been repaved. It's a great road from the time you leave Walhalla, SC all the way to Deal's Gap. We got to Fontana Friday July 14. I made one run on the Dragon Saturday about noon. Sunday I took 129 down through Robbinsville to highway 74, then Nantahala Lake Road/Wayah Bald Road/Thunder Road (as it's variously known) to Franklin. This is a really great road if you've never tried it. I rode 28 back up to Fontana after that. Sunday I rode over to Maggie Valley, NC to the "Wheels Through Time" museum. This is an amazing collection of antique and classic motorcycles. Supposedly the vast majority of them run and are regularly ridden. I'd say ~70% of the collection are Harleys with the rest being Indians and more obscure U.S. builders. There are a lot of racing bikes and the whole place is really unique and cool as to how the bikes are displayed. Monday while checking the bike over before riding I discovered my original front isolator (~20k miles) had developed a tear. (See previous threads on the subject- I had replaced it with a new one ~5000 miles ago and that one failed completely within a couple of thousand miles, so I put the old one back). Luckily, I had gotten an aftermarket replacement from J&P Cycles (~$20) so I replaced it in the driveway of our "cottage" at Fontana. The new isolator fit fine and it seems to work at least as well as the factory part. I made a run on the Dragon Monday afternoon to test out the installation. About half-way through, I saw a cruiser upside down in ditch on the right with an injured lady nearby. There were about 30 bikes stopped and looking after her. The crowd was still there when I came back through ~30 minutes later. Tuesday I made another run on the Dragon and continued on to Tellico Plains, TN and made a loop back to 129 via the Cherohala Skyway. It's a great ride, but the speed limit on the Tennessee side is only 30 MPH and according to the "Tail of the Dragon" website they enforce it pretty regularly. I found an interesting curvy road when I was almost back to 129 through the Joyce Kilmer National Forest, but I really wished I'd been riding a Uly. The pavement was really "washboardy" and about jarred my fillings out by the time I'd ridden it's ~6 mile length. Wednesday my wife got up her nerve to go for a ride on the Dragon. It's definitely a different experience to ride a twisty road like this with a passenger. TN highway crews were working on the gravel pull-offs when we came through, with a TN highway patrolman standing by. When we got to the Dragon overlook at the north end of the Dragon, there was a bright yellow Goldwing there and a BMW sport tourer (complete with trailer). It turns out the Goldwing rider is the guy in the video many of you have seen on the internet. Get this- he has a complete video setup with a laptop on his bike with a camera on the back. For a price, you can follow him through the Dragon and he'll record your ride. The couple riding the BMW were from Germany and the Goldwing rider had recorded them. The guy burned them a DVD while they waited. BTW, he mentioned he had ~$2k worth of suspension upgrades done to his Goldwing. Yesterday, I rode back to SC via highway 28, highway 74 to Waynesville, NC, Blue Ridge Parkway and highway 276 to Brevard, NC (the highest part of the Parkway), 176 to Saluda, NC, and then I-26 most of the way home. Temps were in the high 90's in SC and traffic on the interstate was horrendous, so I got back on 176 for about the last 80 miles and enjoyed a 60 MPH cruise through some pretty SC farmland. As usual, I wish I'd had at least another week to spend up there. The S3 did great and had no problems apart from the isolator (which was due for replacement anyway). BTW, Fontana Village offers a substantial discount if you join their "Dragon Slayers Club" (free membership). My wife happened to notice a brochure in the lobby; this saved us over $100 on a week's stay. | ||
| Whodom |
I collected an "album" of my photos from Killboy, Zeefoto, and Southern Images. No knee dragging for me, but there are some decent shots: http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.dll?myphotos?a=307038 | ||
| Bartimus |
Yea, I was there...   | ||
| Bad_karma |
whodom Was there from the 22 to the 25th of July. Just miss you. Sorry Going again from Sep 27 to 1 Oct. Hope to see some buells there. Joe | ||
| Whodom |
Here's a photo of the 3 XB's I saw at the Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort, along with my S3:  | ||
| Uawjesse |
Sounds like you had a great time riding through TN and surrounding areas. I cannot wait to get out to that area and ride the Dragon. I hear that is one of the best roads in the US. I'm glad you had no problems while there. I have seen some crazy pictures off the Tailofthedragon.com website. There are a couple pics listed under trucks on the dragon and driving the dragon that show 18 wheelers off the road and one on top of a miata! Hopefully you did not have any close calls with the 4 wheelers or 18 wheelers. |
