My wife and I are planning a last minute trip to the South East region next week and I was hoping someone could give us some input as to where to go and roads to hit. Here is a rough idea of our plans as of now. We are planning on getting to the Nashville, TN on Wednesday night. Then heading to the Tail of the Dragon on Thursday. Friday off to Charleston, SC to visit family. Then taking Sat. Sun. and possible Mon. to loop back to Nashville. Along the way I would love to cross off as many states as I can. This is the last area for me to cross off my quest for the continental 48. Hoping to get through KY,TN,AL,SC,NC, VA,WV. Might be asking a lot with my wife along, because we will be limited to 400-500 miles a day. We are definitely interested in staying away from big cities. Planning on taking as many backroads, staying in Rural areas as much as possible. Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Help needed planning trip to the SE region
- Thread starter Jeff
- Start date
Step 1:
When you are done with the Dragon or the Cherohala Skyway, set your gps for Suches GA. Have lunch at Two Wheels of Suches (site of the Run With the Wolf Rally) and then take GA Hwy 180 (across the road from TWoS). At the end of that (highly technical), turn left, go a mile or so (still on Ga Hwy 180) and go to the Richard Russel Scenic hwy. (TR off 180) that ride will put you out at a stop sign NEAR but not in, Helen GA. That's Alt Hwy 75. Turn left to go to Helen (then turn right at the end of Alt 75) or back to Hiawassee (LEFT at the end of Alt 75) (good riding). If you turn right at the end of the Richard Russell on Alt 75, you will go to US 129. Turn right when you get there and go back north on 129 over Blood Mtn/Neels Gap back toward Blairsville. Good riding in every direction.
step 2: wipe the grin off your face!
When you are done with the Dragon or the Cherohala Skyway, set your gps for Suches GA. Have lunch at Two Wheels of Suches (site of the Run With the Wolf Rally) and then take GA Hwy 180 (across the road from TWoS). At the end of that (highly technical), turn left, go a mile or so (still on Ga Hwy 180) and go to the Richard Russel Scenic hwy. (TR off 180) that ride will put you out at a stop sign NEAR but not in, Helen GA. That's Alt Hwy 75. Turn left to go to Helen (then turn right at the end of Alt 75) or back to Hiawassee (LEFT at the end of Alt 75) (good riding). If you turn right at the end of the Richard Russell on Alt 75, you will go to US 129. Turn right when you get there and go back north on 129 over Blood Mtn/Neels Gap back toward Blairsville. Good riding in every direction.
step 2: wipe the grin off your face!
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Southern half of the Blue Ridge Parkway from Cherokee NC to Souther VA is unbeatable for scenery and road quality IS GRIPPY and GREAT! Little to NO traffic and with two days you could really have a great time!
Tons of resources available and planning couldn’t be easier. Here’s a map. We have ridden the entire route 6 times in the last 3 years, would go tomorrow if I could!
Go up Mt Mitchell, Waterfalls, Craggy Gardens, Museum of Music and enjoy many amazing miles of empty, twisty roads with lots of elevation.
Elevations will exceed 6,000 feet in locations, dress / plan accordingly and be prepared to be impressed! If you’ve never done this / in my opinion best bang for the buck on east coast.
Tons of resources available and planning couldn’t be easier. Here’s a map. We have ridden the entire route 6 times in the last 3 years, would go tomorrow if I could!
Go up Mt Mitchell, Waterfalls, Craggy Gardens, Museum of Music and enjoy many amazing miles of empty, twisty roads with lots of elevation.
Elevations will exceed 6,000 feet in locations, dress / plan accordingly and be prepared to be impressed! If you’ve never done this / in my opinion best bang for the buck on east coast.
U gotta make a stop in bowling green kentucky .. take in the national corvette museum..
Ron is right on with his info, but id plan on stopping overnight in Hellen georgia. Then in the.morning u can hit those tasty roads fresh. He didnt mention the moonshiner 28, and seeing as how Hellen was the base for the 2015 national, there should be a bunch of suggestive routes to choose from. As a member u should have access to that intel.
U should save northern Alabama for your trip to this years national rally...
Ron is right on with his info, but id plan on stopping overnight in Hellen georgia. Then in the.morning u can hit those tasty roads fresh. He didnt mention the moonshiner 28, and seeing as how Hellen was the base for the 2015 national, there should be a bunch of suggestive routes to choose from. As a member u should have access to that intel.
U should save northern Alabama for your trip to this years national rally...
Thanks Guys! I am making a list of suggestions. Going to do as much as we can. Heading south this afternoon. Fingers crossed that some tires I ordered online show up today. If not, we should be ok. Have about 1/2 life (3000 miles) left on the rear and we are trailering to Nashville. Should be ok, but I really wanted new tires on so I didn't have to even think about it. Worse case scenario, is there any suggestions of a dealer/motorcycle shop that might have a good selection of tires on hand?
When you do the lower end of the BRP, be aware that you’ll go through about 4 tunnels that have no lights , so slow down and remove your sunglasses. You’ll see why.
I forgot about 28.. There’s a good place in Highlands NC for lunch called the Mountain Fresh Grocery. Good deli and grill. It’s all the way at the East (?) end of town.
I forgot about 28.. There’s a good place in Highlands NC for lunch called the Mountain Fresh Grocery. Good deli and grill. It’s all the way at the East (?) end of town.
Thanks everyone for making this a great trip. A special thanks to Wayne for making daily route ideas and to Tim who let me park my trailer and truck at his place. The people of COG are awesome. 4 days of riding and hit 7 states in a whirlwind tour. We really enjoyed the Chattahoochee National forest and areas around it. Finally rode the dragon, which was actually quiet enjoyable because it was early in the day on a weekday, so hardly any traffic. It was starting to get a little to busy when we were almost through. Those little rice burner cars were annoying and had 2 different ones come over the center line on corners. I would not want to be there when it would be busy. Found a handful of roads just like it where we didn't see a single other car for over an hour. Loved the Highland area and the water falls on 28. It was early enough in the season that we had the BRP all to ourselves. Did close to 400 miles of it. Great scenery. The road through the smokies (441?) was nice, saw 1 elk. Would have been better, but had a semi that decided to cut through there. He was making great time, so that wasn't an issue. The issue was his brakes were smoking so bad the whole valley reeked. Almost made a person sick. Loved the area, will definitely be back to find more hidden roads and treasures. One of my favorite roads was found by being lost. Coming out of Gatlinburg on 321? I missed a turn and ended up on an extremely twisty road. It crossed the Appalachian trail. We talked to a couple hikers that were out there for the whole summer. Crazy. The road was awesome, but turned to dirt at the end, but finally got back on 40 after talking to a local that helped us out. Great start to my season.
Riding that part of the country helped solidify our decision to move to georgia from outside of chicago when we retired. 5-6 hours away from great roads and views vs a 2 day ride west to sw colorado...
Granted i love the rockies, yellowstone, chief Josephs highway, but it was just so far away.
Granted i love the rockies, yellowstone, chief Josephs highway, but it was just so far away.
Glad to hear you both enjoyed yourselves and got a good sampling of the smokies - beautiful area. 4 days is not enough, however, you guys saw more than many in that time!
We have spent two weeks at times in the area and there’s always another mountain calling.
Race the Rain, Ride the Wind and Chase the Sunsets.
Wayne