| Author | Message | ||
     Froggy |
Freaking Rocks!  I only had a small taste of it. Accidently made a wrong turn, ended up in Tennessee. The little bit I did see had great views  I got stuck in some weird town that looks like some kind of Disneyland tourist attraction (Gatlinburg, TN). I didn’t snag and pics there, as traffic was moving a bit too fast, but apparently everyone in the next town is very religious.  Too bad I don’t have a Stebil hooked up! The detour wasn’t all bad, I found out there is a muscle car museum  Too bad it was closed, I would have liked to check it out. After some boring highway riding, I stopped off for gas, then I saw a sign for this, so I had to make another detour  I eventually got back on the Blue Ridge in Virginia. The views here were just as spectacular   I kept on there for around a hundred and change miles. I was surprised, the Blue Ridge has some nice twisties at parts, and it almost felt like I was still on Wolf Pen Gap! I ended up filling up in Buna Vista, VA. I was getting scared, as my gas light hadn’t come on yet. I rolled up to the pump, 202 miles on the trip meter. I shut the bike off, NO FAN! At this point I freaked, started the bike again, went around the block, and stopped again, still no fan. I figured ok, this is out of the blue, but whatever, worse could happen. So I go and fill up the tank, it took only 3.01 gallons. That comes out to 67.4MPG. That was with the first 60ish miles being freeway at 80mph, and some city driving through Roanoke. Guess it finally lived up to that “60MPG – One Less Car” license plate frame I have. Time to call up Aerostitch and get the 70MPG one  . Oh yea the fan is fine, it came on a few miles later on my way home. I ended up taking I-81 the rest of the way home, as my GPS was saying it was going to be late by time I got home. I loved the little taste of the Ridge, next time I plan on hitting the whole thing, perhaps then I can get 80mpg Oh yea, the best part of my trip, I found Ft_bstrd's phone number on a guard rail outside Suches.  | ||
| Mikef5000 |
The blue ridge is great, but my favorite section is the North Carolina part. absolutely amazing! Watch out for the fog though...  | ||
| Hughlysses |
Cool pics. I have gotten really good mileage up there too. I guess tooling along at ~50 MPH at high altitude puts the lump right in its most efficient range. | ||
| Etennuly |
If I had known you was in my home area......  or..... .......or we could have made that call to Ft_b for you! | ||
| Pso |
Also some of the entrance roads and exit roads are great rides. | ||
| Chadhargis |
Dang...Fatty is cheating on me! There are SO many great roads around that area. Next time you get through there, hit US421 at Shady Valley and work your way to Mountain City. I spent 3 days up there a couple of years ago, and my friend and I found some amazing roads. We simply looked at the GPS and if a road looked squiggly, we went that direction. I can't remember all the roads we hit. | ||
| Seanp |
Froggy, Did you have any problems finding it with that intersection I gave you as a waypoint? It's too bad you got off it for a while. If it's still under construction in the same place as it was in July, it was a pretty long detour and kind of confusing. One of the detour roads, though, was awesome, and a lot like Wolf Pen Gap. I think it was Route 80. As a matter of fact, here are shots from both roads: Route 80 off the Blue Ridge:  Route 180 near Suches:  | ||
| Bartimus |
 the BRP is a work of Art! Not just the views, but the craftmanship that went into the bridges, and overlooks. It certainly is a "must ride" for anyone passing along the eastern seaboard... | ||
| Froggy |
Sean your waypoint did great, it got me there no problem. Traffic sucked in the town called Cherokee, and I got creeped out by the huge signs for Santa Land. I should have gotten your north waypoint too, but no big deal, it just added to the adventure. There wasn't any construction from what I could tell. There was the Road Work sign and a few random cones, but it all looked long done. | ||
| Thrux181 |
I hope you are right Froggy. They have had the Parkway shut down between Asheville and Mt Mitchell. It seems like forever. Its put a dent in my loops. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I need to go update my phone number.  | ||
| Mikef5000 |
According to the website it's still shut down between Asheville and Rt 80. I just checked because I was going to ride the blue ridge home from Buelltoberfest. | ||
| Nutsosane |
Traveling the BRP in Virginia requires the escort of NUTS. I am in Roanoke and have nothing better to do with my time.  I can show you roads that make the BRP look like I-95. | ||
| Sanchez |
I love the BRP. I rode it all the way from the top of the Shenandoah (where it's the Skyline Drive) down to its end in Cherokee, NC. Oh, and my best gas mileage ever was also there (61 mpg). | ||
| Tootal |
I think Sanchez did it right. Start in Front Royal and run to Cherokee. It's twistier at the bottom. We ran it south to north and by the time we got to skyline drive it was boring! A great place to eat is at Little Switzerland. As soon as you pull off the parkway you will see it. You turn left to go up to the parking lot. The road going down off the parkway is awesome. Just ride it down and back up, it will get your adrenaline going! | ||
| Thrux181 |
Tootal, is was nice meeting you at Suches. You are fastist camp breaker downer I have ever seen. The road on the BRP you speak of is 226A. Its one of my loops coming up from 181. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
ran it south to north and by the time we got to skyline drive it was boring! I agree! While I'm still going to do the entire thing at SOME point because it's a great ride... after traveling through the north carolina and surrounding part, the rest just isn't the same. | ||
| Blake |
I totally dig it. | ||
| Gamdh |
BRP is one of my favorites..   From the top of Mount Mitchell  Another From the top of Mount Mitchell  And 226 is very fun!!  | ||
| Hooper |
I need to get more south on the BRP...but here's the northern end back in March 2007...2007? I need to update my photos!     | ||
| Tootal |
Here's a shot of my other sled. A Geezer Glide w/uni-go trailer. The gentleman behind the FLHTU is my riding buddy from northern Georgia. He was 75 in this picture. He has no problem keeping up with me!!  Another shot from the parkway:  | ||
| Sekalilgai |
Here's one outside Brevard,NC earlier this summer  |
