Road Trip

I just spent the most fabulous four days motorcycle riding in North Georgia and the Great Smoky Mountains with 4 awesome ladies!!!

I am inspired, refreshed and wholly invigorated.

The women I rode with were very supportive and encouraging for this new rider. Riding in a group provided more protection and helped me to relax. Their counsel was patient and their instruction valuable.

We hit Chattanooga where we were hosted by wonderful friends and ate like kings, then rode to Gatlinburg (getting soaked on the way) where we stayed in an old style motel (and ate like kings).

It has been 10 years or more since I was in the Smokies and I must say I feel like I visited heaven, it was almost a religious experience. I LOVE the area and think that if I had to pick one place to stay for the rest of my life this would be it.

Leaving Gatlinburg we headed into the iconic Gateway to the Smokies. I've been on this road many times as a child and as an adult. As a child I never understood why we would drive fast on the interstate for hours to get to this place and then spend days driving slowly around. As an adult I appreciated the serenity more, but on a bike...oh, my - what an experience, what a view.

We hit Clingman's Dome early in the morning. It is August but none of us took off our jackets.

As usual the mountain was full of the famed "smoke" that gave the range its name. I pity the uninformed tourists who brave the 1/2 mile walk, every step up a mountainside, only to get to the top, walk up the ramp to the 2 story tall observation tower to see...FOG. LOL. I've done it and won't be doing it again. Don't be fooled by national park pamphlets talking about being able to see for a 100 miles. I've NEVER seen it and I've been there in Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring. I have been there when you could not even see the ground below the observation tower.

Oh, and that fog is NOT pollution. That famous mist on the mountain is a result of the rapid cooling of warm moist air coming up from the Gulf of Mexico. As it rises up to the top of the mountains the moisture condenses and lingers over the peaks.

Next we descended the other side of the mountain into Cherokee, North Carolina and headed for the Cherahola Skyway, another fabulous drive through the Cherokee and Nantahala National Forests. We stayed in Murphy, NC, where we did not eat like kings.

Our last day found us making our way down to Dahlonega, Georgia via Blairsville. In Blairsville we stopped at a little country store with the OLD gas pumps (you know the kind where the numbers roll up). We met locals who had their dogs with them and found all kinds of treasures. I bought red pepper jelly and another called Smokey Mountain Traffic Jam (combination of raspberries, blueberries and strawberries). The name is tongue-in-cheek because there are lots of traffic jams, after all the speed limits are 30-40 mph.

In Dahlonega we enjoyed a leisurely lunch at a local cafe and perused the shops on the square before making our final way back to Atlanta. I learned that the actual journey is so much more fun when you are not in a hurry and can enjoy whatever you encounter.