This saturday was the "Waking of the Dragon" so a group of us made the pilgramige to the legendary stretch of road.
Saturday morning at 8am our group headed out , 58 degrees and a light drizzle from Buford , Ga. We made our way north through Cleveland up 129 to Blairsville where the sun finally poked through and itbegan to warm up nicely. We stopped for gas ,and headed north up to Andrews ,NC where we stopped at Cherokee County Cycles.
The folks there met us with warm smiles, open arms fresh coffee and donuts , and after a bit of shopping sent us off with a hot dog , all on the house. Southern Hospitality! If your ever in the area stop by and visit .
From there we went up to Deals Gap , the parking lot was full of bikes of every description, we saw at least 4 trucks pulling trailers loaded with crotch rockets, with all the pseudo bravodo those boys have , they can't even ride up and back on them.
Traffic through the Dragons Tail was heavy and there was a police car at every turnout.
More than a few folks got pulled over. When we got to the far side and pulled over we saw a bank of police and ambulances . At least they were prepared.
We rode north to the inersection of 411 , almost to Knoxville , then south on 411 to 68.
We stopped in Tellico Plains at the Tellicafe a popular restaraunt with the 2 wheeled set with very good food and nice folks. There were no cars in the parking lot except one of the local cops, and probably 60 bikes.
After lunch we headed home over the Cherohola Skyway , the road is great , the weather perfect. We picked up 52/53 out of Blue Ridge and down through Ellijay , Dawsonville and back home . A 350 mile loop filled with a nice mix of twisties and straight stretches to recover.