Earache

Happy Valley is pretty damned narrow, no lines and full of potholes and crap. Still, if it was in Ohio, we'd flock to it. It parallels teh Foothills Parkway - just on the other side of the valley from it. Although the Parkway has a 45 mph limit, it's rarely patrolled and is a great ride. Just don't go crazy on it. Route 28 we've already discussed. The Cherohala Skyway isn't all that bad, but it's kinda straight and is heavily patrolled - especially on the Tennessee side. Nto my favorite road down there, but it does have some good views from up high. The elevation gets up to about 6,200' or so. The route he describes out of Highlands is good, but there'sa better route with less traffic on it that takes you back towards Cherokee, NC. It kind of loops counterclockwise whereas his route goes clockwise. Both are good though. Highlands is best avoided on weekends. It's a narrow as shit road road that is clogged with cars and campers. Highlands is very touristy and draws a lot of traffic. If anyone is interested, we can go to War Woman Road in Highalnds and then go down to The Loop in jnorther Georgia. It's a long ass ride though and we';d get back after dark. Still, some good raods down there as well; Blood Mountain, etc.

Yes, I've been on them. Was on Route 28 about 3 weeks ago - northern part is repaved but it's the same old shit down to Highlands, NC. So I'd stay north of Franklin, NC on 28. I try to stay off of 441; too much traffic heading to Gatlinburg. It's a decent road, just too crowded, too many cops, park rangers, etc.

Leave Friday and back on Monday is cool with me. Are you going to make all of the room reservations or do we need to do our own?

yup

4DAIVI , Just PM'd a list of hotels to you.

Staying in Knoxville area is 95 miles shorter drive than in Maggie Valley. Not bad on a bike, but can suck wren trailering. IronHorse is 75 miles further south. And the roads suck huuuuuge balls for trucks and trailers. That'll take a minimum of 2 hours to drive it and probably longer - depending on traffic, etc. Alcoa / Maryville hotel: Hampton Inn, Hilton Airport, Country Inn and Suites, Clarion Hotel, Holiday Inn SexPress, and a slew of local places. I have a list someplace and will look it up. See:

If I can go, I'll have one or two extra spots on my trailer - can pick someone up in Cincinnati on my way south.

The only bad part about staying in Maggie Valley or at IronHorse is that it'll take an additional two hours of trailer time in each direction. There is no food or restaurants anywhere near IronHorse so you'll have to ride 30 minutes to find some stuff at Robbinsville or cook where you stay. Maggie Valley is only slightly better with limited choices. I usuaully stay in Aloca or Maryville - lots of hotels to stay at that run roughly $100 per night per room and several that are much cheaper than that. Loads of the usual restaurants (Hooters, TGI Fridays, Uno Pizza, etc) as well as several local types. Matyville is a 5-1/2 trailer drive from Columbus, 20 miles from the Gap and adjscent to roads that go elsewhere. All are pretty decent rides as well. Just tossing out some info.

Naturally, he didn't say shit.

Have room for any more? Dates? Hope I can keep up with you guys. Eric

Don't you have to have a vagina to get pregnant? Or did she have her balls removed recently?

A quick, 4,000+ mile jaunt...

The next day, Friday, we hump all the way home. I arrived in Indy artound 7:00 PM while Ben and Garrett continued on to Columbus, arriving around 10:00 PM. A pretty successful trip; no accidents or bike issues, good food and drinks, good hanging out with friends and good riding. Yup, it was fun. Can't wait to go someplace a little different next year!

We blast across Texas and into Oklahoma. Got rained on a bit but made it into Joplin, Missouri around midnight. Just in time for Ding and Dong to have some corn dogs at the Pilot Truck Stop... Having recently regained control of my burning sphincter, i opted to skip the corndogs. Cheap gas, too!...

No booze for us tonight as we need to start the long hump home tomorrow. Texas is flat. boring and full of PoPo... Had about 150 m,ile sbetweena few gas stops. THis place is cool; hotel, gas station, bar, deli all in one... and they had a rather large back yard...

Dinner plans tonight are to go to the restaurant with 150 types of tequila - but it was too far to walkj to so we went to choice #2 - Guadalupe Cafe. More red and green chile slathered over some kinda tortilla nd some meat. I was sweating like a fat kid in gym classs...

Good thing we didn't stay at this "Gay Friendly" hotel... My butt hurt enough as it was.

This place is kinda cool; they have loads of old woodwarok sourced / stolen from old buildings and sell it to the construction / design places around Santa Fe. Lots of old pillars, frames, doorways, etc...

No shortage of weird shit in Santa Fe.... No shortage of cute ladies , either...

Old original buildings fo Santa Fe... Courtyard shops...

The Fajita Wagon smelled good, but I was running low on clean underwear, so I gave it a miss. Maybe next time... I had no idea what this was supposed to be or what they were supposed to be doing.... Cool Pez Man...

The next day and we're up at the crack of 9:30 AM. Today is a day off of the bikes so that our butt cheeks can heal. We wander across the street to Tia Sophia's for some breakfast burritos smothered in green and red chile.... I'd have to say that I "rented" breakfast rather than bought it, as it was out of me in record time. Shitty managed to do some crop dusting around town as well.

Shitty just had to have some ice cream....

After dinner, we waddle over to the Ore House for beers... We're the only ones at the bar and Matt the Bartender takes pity on us. Ben bought a few rounds, but this guy gave us abouyt 4 beers each and a shot or two of tequila....

Arriving in Santa Fe, we stay at the Hilton on the Plaza. Really close to the bars, restaurants, shops, etc... Ben sports his 35 Motorsports shirt to attarct the ladies and we head for the Coyote Cafe (see: www.coyotecafe.com ) for dinner on the rooftop cantina... Mmmm.....spicy chimi's...