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Ride Faster, I Hear Banjo Music!
We’re always looking for a reason to hit the mountains. After last year’s journey, we were ready to do it again. (If you missed that one, it’s in the archives here) Our reason for going this year popped up when a Women in the Wind convention coincided with an AMA Woman’s exposition in Athens, Georgia. Brenda, Donna, and Jeannie joined Faye and Sandy from last year’s trip for the day-early departure riding to Athens. Tom rode with ‘em but I was short of vacation time and had to wait another day. Max,
Monk
Dixie Biker Moto-journalists Dave and Faye and a group of friends from Brevard County and Women in the Wind ride to the Smokey Mountains in July 2006
By Dave and Faye Carroll
Some photos by Glen, Donna, & Jeannie
Article originally published in the August 2006 issue of Dixie Biker Illustrated
my drinking partner from last year’s trip and my new Vice President of the Independence ABATE Chapter, headed out the next day, Friday, June 30th. We rolled into Athens about 6 PM.
The girls were watching for us but didn’t recognize us because
the guy on the front bike wore a helmet and the bike in the
rear was a girl because the guy was riding in front. (Huh?!)
Actually, I was in front and wasn’t recognized because of that
damned helmet I was wearing. They’re certainly not used to
seeing me wearing one, thanks ABATE! Max was on the other
bike but they assumed he was a girl because it was obviously
a guy riding in front. I’ll let y’all figure out how they could tell I
was a guy from a distance.
Athens is a college town - how about them Dawgs? The town’s full of bistros and bars, lots of partying downtown after dark. Athens also has a rare Harley shop. H-D of Athens sells and services Honda, Yamaha, and Suzuki in addition to Harleys. I guess when you’re the biggest town in a 50 mile radius Milwaukee is more lenient. We’re used to Harley only shops here in Florida and it did seem kinda funny seeing Electra-Glides sitting next to Goldwings, crotch rockets and dirt bikes in a Harley shop.
Our next destination out of Athens was Helen, Georgia. It’s a quaint town in northern Georgia styled as an alpine village. The problem with Helen is alpine villages have narrow streets and they mimicked the atmosphere, too much. Riding
villages have narrow streets and they mimicked the "Alpine" atmosphere, too
much. Riding into town sitting in stop and go traffic made me wish for Day-
tona’s Main Street on a bad day during Bike Week. Glen and Carol hooked
up with us there and sat in traffic and moved less than a quarter mile in an
hour. Alpine villages must also have several small shops for tourist and
pedestrian crossovers every 50 feet, the cause of
the traffic jam. It’s two lanes through town with no
room for widening the road. Also, we experienc-
ed very poor service at a suggested biker rest-
aurant, Han’s. It definitely wasn’t a biker restau-
rant. At another place, an outdoor bar called Big Daddy’s, the service was so slowwww that the waitress bought us a round and apologized. Y’all remember a Star Trek movie where Earth was under attack from the whale-space probe? I’ll repeat the movie’s big announcement, with modifications: “Avoid the city of Helen at all costs!!” It was that bad. We couldn’t wait to leave town.
Our next destination was a breath of fresh air, Maggie Valley NC, and Dale Walksler’s Wheels Through Time Museum. I promised y’all an in-depth story last year, and
it’ll happen this year, just not this month. Dale, the Curator, was there but tied up all day and he and I are trying to hook up for an interview. Look for it soon.
We spent the nights of July 3rd and 4th in Maggie Valley. Wheels Through Time was open on the 4th so we went to
the museum, were in a bar for the launch of the space shuttle Discovery - we took the place over (top), grilled hot dogs in a thunderstorm (below), heard but never saw fireworks due to the rain, and still managed to have a great 4th of July! Hey, when you are with friends you make your own party. And that’s what really matters.
No trip to the Smokey Mountains would be complete without a ride on The Dragon through Deal’s Gap, 318 turns
in 11 miles at the Tennessee/North Carolina State lines. The bummer was we arrived in the morning and it had rained hard the night before so the roads were still wet. Nothing scraped that morning cause we rode like old men. (Shit, we are old men. Monk)
Later that day we rode the Cherohala Skyway, also in both Tennessee and North Carolina. I’d read Wile E’s article about it, but it was a new road for me. The Cherohala Skyway was completed in 1996 and is 36 miles of fast sweeping curves ranging between 2,600 feet and 5,390 feet elevation.
The road crosses through
the Cherokee and Nantahala
National Forest, hence the
Cherohala name, and you’ll
see nothing but mountains most of the way. By the way - there are more deaths on the Cherohala than on the Dragon because of the faster curves. Cops were not in sight, we could have blasted faster, but my chicken strips were gone already and when you haven’t seen a sign of civilization in 20 miles and you’re riding fast in the mountains, your butt is puckered enough already.
We found several new
roads again this year. Every
new road was because I
made a wrong turn or mis-
read the map. The others in
the group bitched about the
missed turn, but complained
about only one road. If you get a chance to ride up toward the Dragon from Franklin, take Wayah Road west to US-19. It’s about 25 miles of the same type road you’ll find on the Dragon but without all the damned sports cars. Another great road, tamer than Wayah Road but still mostly barren, is NC-28 going south between Lauada
and Franklin, NC. In fact, we didn’t really find any bad roads at all. All were in great shape, most were lightly travel-ed. Oh, we did have to watch for gas in a couple of areas since a Sporty was in the group again this year.
Anyhow, I got lost and asked for directions three times. The only good directions I received were from a NC State Trooper I flagged down. He sent us to Wayah Road. I wound up talking to cops twice: one pulled in during a gas stop and wanted to
Getting lost is not hard to do in that part of the country, but if you do get lost, get out the map and figure out the right route yourself. Twice when I asked directions the other person had to know how I got there before they’d attempt to tell me how to get where I wanted to go. They couldn’t understand the concept that it didn’t matter how I got there, what’s more important is how to get where I wanted to go. I also talked with a woman on the phone that didn’t know the difference between highway 17 and Alternate highway 17. Both ran through town, she knew that, but just referred to the both as highway 17.
It was pretty funny when this guard rail let loose. Yep, it really did. No kiddin.
talk shop. It seems he'd just bought a little Honda Twin Star and was scheduled to get his motorcycle safety course in a couple of weeks. I recommended the course, I think it shocked him, and we chatted for about 30 minutes while everyone else just took it easy.
After the Cherohala we spent the night in Blue Ridge, a town just south of the Georgia/Tennessee state lines and took two days getting home. It was a bummer watching the land flatten in the mirror as we kept traveling, but the best highlight of the ride home was ripping that friggin’ helmet off crossing the bridge over the State Line. It’s great living in a state that gives us bikers the personal freedom of choice.
Anyhow, it was a great trip with a great group of friends and we got so far out in the sticks a couple of times that some of the group reported hearing banjo music echoing through the mountains. That’ll give you incentive to keep ridin’!
We had a great time again this year, and we’re looking forward to the next long road trip. Ya just can’t beat 'em.
