July 11th - 15th

I know i'm a little late in posting this i've been so busy catching up after being gone.

Vicki and I set out for the Smokie Mountains on the Wing. This was the first trip for us using the trailer I built. While we ususlly can pack for several days in the bike alone the trailer was stuffed with about 3 times as much clothes then we needed. Extra shoes, pop, beer, and some girlie drinks for her along with a laptop computer, two cameras and a couple of lawn chairs we didn't use.
The trailer pulled great and we really didn't know it was back there most of the time except when we got to the gas pump to fill up. It took about 5 MPG off of our usuall mileage.
An uneventful trip to Tennessee on friday afternoon. We pulled out of Cincinnati about 1:30 PM and shot down I-75 to get there quick. We checked into the campground and got to our cabin.
This was an awsome little cabin for two with a full bathroom, queen size bed, and a mini kitchen. You could almost live in it even though it was small. It reminded me of something from The Little House on the Prairie, with a bathroom. :)
We met up with our group of friends who had driven their motorhome down and pulled their bikes on a trailer behind it.

Day 1 in the Smokies
Saturday morning was our first outing. I'm guessing we pulled out about 10:00 AM and headed for the Tail of the Dragon. We took the long way around to get thre going through the State park.
We arrived at the Dragon on the top side and had lunch at Deals Gap Resort before riding.
Here I got to "visit the shirt" left there by Tank at www.rideohio.org .
We finished lunch and grouped up for our Dragon ride. We headed down twisting our way toward the bottom and enjoying every bit of it. The Dragons tail is considered to be one of the most highly ridden roads for North American motorcyclists.
Once safely at the bottom I was ready to go again and so were a couple of others. The womed decided they had enough and electec to stay at the bottom with the cooler.
three of us headed back up a lot faster then we had ridden it with the girls on. We stopped at the store again to make a bathroom stop and headed back down. Again a little faster then before.
We picked up the girls and the cooler and headed back toward camp.
A great first day of riding in the Smokies.

Day 2 in the Smokies
Sunday morning we woke up to rain. :( One of our riders woke that morniong with allergies bothering him pretty bad and decided not to ride that day.
We had breakfast and checked out the weather reports then about 1:00 we set out for a ride with rain still in the area with no real destination in mind except wanting to head toward the Cherahola Skyway but decided not to because our rider back at camp wanted to ride this as well so we decided not to ride it that day.
We went south and ended up on some really cool twisty roads we didn't go down to ride but i'm glad we found them. We encountered rain again on our way back to camp on the Foothills Parkway. The rain continued for the balance of the ride back and into the night. All in all we got to ride and most of it rain free so in all it was another great day of riding.

Day 3 in the Smokies
We woke Monday to the most beautiful morning. The sky was clear and not a cloud in sight. The temp was perfect and we were all ready to set out. We had a small breakfast packed the cooler for lunch and drinks and hit the road toward the Cherohala Skyway.
We planned our route toward the Skyway somewhat before but also as we went in that direction we somewhat changed it and I would say for the better. We found some really nice country roads that were little traveled and made the best of them enjoying every mile.
We finally locked in on the Cherohala Skyway and started our climb. This is an awsome road with the potential to be dangerous if you don't respect it.
It is so twisty but not tight turns like the Dragon. It has more sweeping curves and always a beautiful overlook as it climbs into the mountains.
We stopped about half way up for lunch at an over look. After lunch in a shady spot we continued our journey toward the top and then back down again.
We had a nice ride there, took a lot of pictures and really enjoyed the day.
We stopped in ribbinsville, NC for fuel and we started back toward camp. A long day already and we needed 2 + hours to get back.
We took a route planned out by our own "mapquest minded" Vicki. The route took us back to the top of the Dragon so we got to ride it again. This time I guess I rode it a little too fast with the other three bikes keeping up because I had the girls ready to kick my butt when we hit the bottom.
We followed our route back toward camp again using the Foothills Parkway.
This was definatly our best day of riding and longest day as well. I wore everyone out. :)

Day 4 in the Smokies and headed for home.
Vicki and I got up about 9:00 Am and the other part of our group had pulled out and headed for home. This was kind of nice and we could choose our own way home and we did.
We packed up the bike and the trailer and backroaded toward Knoxville and passed right through town passing the UT campus along the way.
We continued our back road quest until our GPS decided it wanted to jump on and off the highway ever few miles so we used I-75 for quite a while.
we came upon some road construction that had the highway closed in kentucky and got off at the next exit. We took old Route 25 for a long time and really enjoyed it.
we decided it was getting late and were ready to be home so we got back onto the highway and cranked it up toward home.
An awsome vacation with a lot of riding. I can't wait to do it again.