2007 Ride Days Gatlinburg Edition

[drgibson]

BTW she thinks that she has cuteness than a bunny only whished it had.

[Triumphant]

I will be riding solo on the Triumph. The offer is there if you want. I am comfortable riding with a pilon. Just let me know, I have offered to give someone else a ride but have not heard from them if they still want to do that. First one to take the offer gets the ride.

[drgibson]

Thanks Brian.

[Rainman]

Ok - I finally found my cable for the camera - here's some shots from the recon trip.


1st - The Hotel - They're doing a little a little remodling so hopefully, they'll be done by June.


2nd - The Room - This is a REAL photo of the actual rooms we should be getting. Some have fireplaces - some have jacuzi's is my understanding. All have a balcony that overlooks the river


3rd - Sean testing the beds - Sean's doing his best impression of the Hotels.com folks and is apparently testing to make sure the bed is suitable for...ahem...other activities.


4th - Roaring Forks Motor Trail - This is a view from the Roaring Forks motor trail and is looking back towards Gatlinburg.


5th - Waterfall - This is a small waterfall we found on the Roaring Forks road. Thought it was kinda pretty.



6th - Roadsign - This should give you SOME idea of the kind of roads we'll be on.



The rest of the photos will be in my next post.

[Rainman]

The REST of the story....

7th - Sean fertalizing the Smokeys - Sean was apparently trying to fertalize the Smokey Mountains all himself. He's standing right alongside US441, THE major road through the Smokeys. Geeze...ya can't take him ANYWHERE!



8th - The Little Dragon - Sean and I found a road that is about as curvy as the "The Dragon" but not quite as long and almost devoid of traffic. More on that later


9th - Another shot of the Little Dragon - This is just another shot of the same road. Sean was having a blast while I was trying to take photos. I didn't know a Chrysler 300M could turn like that!



10th - River - This was a really pretty river that follows I40 along part of the route


11th - I40 Tunnel - As I mentioned before, we're probably going to have to use I40 to get us down the Eastern side of the Smokey's. The good news is the Speed Limit is 55 is and it's a very pretty, scenic area with lots of tunnels and spectacular views.

[Rainman]

Here's what Sean and I have cooked up as far a route for the MAIN Saturday ride.

We're looking to do a complete loop of Smokey Mtn National Park. In certain areas - paved roads are VERY hard to find so that's why we're using I40 for a little ways. We were on it on a Saturday at around 12 or 1pm and it was pretty tame. The fastest we got in the car was about 60MPH and it was actually quite a pretty section of road and follows a scenic river for quite a ways. Not a bad ride as far as Interstate highways go.

About that section I'm calling the "Little Dragon"...it's SWEET road, but it's got one problem. It turns to gravel after about 7 miles. That's probably why it doesn't see much traffic. Anyway, Sean I couldn't resist putting it on the route so here's the plan - we'll make a run down it and then when we get to the gravel section - we'll just simply make a U-Turn and run it again in the other direction. Once we get back up to the North end of it, we found a little country road that drops down into a lush green valey populated by typical Appalachian Americana that winds up at I40. From there we take I40 down to Maggie Valley and will probably have lunch down there...or keep riding and hit the Blue Ridge Parkway for the hop over into Cherokee and have lunch there. Next we follow Hellbender 28 up to the world famous Tail of the Dragon and run it in reverse of last year. We'll of course make a stop at the store so you can get your T-Shirts and other swag.

From there, about the only option is the Foothills Parkway and Little River Rd back to Gatlinburg which is actually one of the prettier roads on the north side.

All in all - it should be a pretty sweet run. Oh yeah...I was able to cut 40 miles off last years run so we should be right at about 200 for the Saturday trip.

Here's a map of the Saturday ride:

[drgibson]

Careful there Jeremy I think I have a pic of you watering a truck from last year.

[Triumphant]

Looks great Jeremy, I can't wait for that weekend to come. I have been waiting for an extended ride for a while now.

[Triumphant]

Originally Posted by drgibson

Careful there Jeremy I think I have a pic of you watering a truck from last year.

HAHA

[Rainman]

Ya know - I had forgotten about that one....ooops. Hey, Sean was saying that that section of I40 would be a perfect area for you to do the rolling photography studio thing like you did last year. You'll have the mountains and a scenic river as a backdrop.

[drgibson]

Ok but y'all gotta slow down so I can get you all in one fell swoop. And no obscene gestures Pete!!

[Rainman]

Will 25 miles be enough for ya? I don't think Pete's commin.

[stp1971]

Well that's frickin' great. All the world can watch me pee. Oh yeah,, that little Dragon stretch,, well Rainman wanted to call it something in tribute to me like the Anaconda he said,, but I think the little Dragon is just fine.

Sheesh Rainman,,, now we know why they call you Rainman. But seriously folks this will be a great ride for Saturday but we got another idea for Friday. We will be throwing in another ride for Friday as well that is not as long as Saturday's ride but will encompass several cool features. More on that to come.

Another thing we need to know is Giovanna is going to set up a cash bar down by the River next to the pool area if we are interested one, two, or even three evenings if we like. We checked out several bars and all but found that they are a little cramped for 30 plus people to try to get into them but we are still working on that.

But the idea has been posed I think after the ride on Saturday we could have them run the bar for us if everyone wants too. Or you can just bring your own and we not even worry about it. We will just have to tell them what we would like for them to stock. The prices will be $3.50 for domestic beers, $4.00 for imports, $2.50 for cokes, $5.50 for wine, and $5.50 for mixed drinks.

I think it is a great idea but it could also be cheaper if everyone BYOB. I could bring my cooler and ice down some beers. But if Don or someone would start a poll as to whether we want the bar for one or more nights or BYOB it would be helpful.

As far as last call it looks like 1:00 am is the deal on Thursday, Friday, and not clear about Saturday if it is 1:00 am or midnight. But she said they would bartend till 1:00 am if we like.

So let me know and the poll would be the best way I think to decide.

But everyone who is going this years ride will be just long enough with enough fun factors for the trip to I think surpass last years ride. It may not have an almost constant curve for every inch forward the bike moves but when you do hit the twisties there is ALOT of bang for your buck.

I think it will be refreshing we want have to constantly work the curves and we have breaks in between.

Rickster said it best last year that he never thought he would ever say that he has finally had too many curves. So everyone continue with the maintenance, keep honing the skills for this season, and let the party begin!!!

[ShonR]

If it hasn't been done yet, it will be done soon. One of my supervisors and his buddy are coming and should have booked their room. I still have one more potential, but he may have Reserve Duty, so thats still up in the air.

[stp1971]

Cool!!!! Just keep me posted. We should have about five extra rooms.

[Rainman]

Originally Posted by stp1971

Cool!!!! Just keep me posted. We should have about five extra rooms.

Make that 4. I just talked to Shifty yesterday and he mentioned that he and J-High are splitting a room. It'll be good to have those too along. Lock up your daughters guys

How was the camping trip?

[stp1971]

It was cool!!!! Glad to have those two on board again!!!!

[tnichols]

Rainman- Thanks for posting the map. I'm heading up that way next week and will use it to check out some portions of the ride for myself.

[SVZuki]

Well, I was wanting to come on this, but I just remembered that I have my college graduation on the 9th of June!!!!

[stp1971]

College Graduation???? Sheesh boy,,ya got yer priorities all messed up!!!

Wish ya could make it though. Maybe next year wherever it will be.