Boring roads, crappy scenery on a bike that's too small

[klaviator]

I decided that my life was way too exciting so I'm taking three days off to have a really terrible time and get my life back into balance.

I spent 5 exciting days in Wichita, Kansas without a bike.  It's a good thing I didn't have a bike because those Kansas roads would have spoiled me forever.  So I flew home on United and was really thrilled to not be dragged off the airplane :applause-003:  Then I loaded my Smax on my truck and drove to Tellico Plains this morning.  I know that's cheating but that's what I did :cool08:

I set up my tent at Cherohala Mountaain Trails Campground which charges an outrageous $10 per night for camping.  I guess I'll have to work some overtime to pay for it.  Then I headed out on my Smax and got high.



As I mentioned, the roads and scenery here really suck, nothing like Kansas.



I stopped at Deal's Gap.  Not that much of a crowd. 



Then I made a few passes through the Gap.  This road really sucks.  The tourists call it the "dragon" or some name like that.



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I headed back to Tellico via 129, 72 and 360.  Dinner was at the tellicafe where the food was terrible and I ate waaay to much.

I rode around 160 miles and burned up nearly 2 gallons of liquid dinosaur.  Basically it was a totally wasted day.  Hopefully tomorrow will be just as bad :bike-038:

[dredman]

Poor guy..... hang in there dude.  :rain-035:

[klaviator]

One more pic of the crappy scenery.

[klaviator]

Rode over 310 miles today.  WiFi here is really slow so pics take forever to upload.  Here's a few for now.  I'll finish up after I get home.



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I'll be getting up early and heading to Deal's Gap in the morning :DANCING-banana-032:

[klaviator]

I headed out Saturday morning for some of the crappiest roads in North Carolina.  At the beginning of the Skyway I stopped and took this pic because I knew there were no scenic spots on the skyway to take pics.



It was between 8 and 9 am and the skyway was strangely deserted.  There were a lot of hunters out because there were many truck parked off the side of the road but virtually no traffic.

As you can see the weather sucked too.



This explains the lack of traffic, I mean who would want to ride or drive this road?



Way to many curves on this road.  How can you text and stay on the road?



A few miles before the end of the Skyway I did see one motorcycle coming the other way.  It was a KLR.  It figures that a KLR owner would be dumb enough to ride this road.

I stopped here for breakfast.  Sausage and egg biscuit and apple juice.

[klaviator]

I filled up in Robbinsville.  This bike really sucks down the gas, 80-90 MPG.

I followed 129 to 19 to the Nantahalla Gorge.  So now I had to decide, Wayah RD or Winding Stair?  It hate it when I have to make decisions.  Maybe I should just join a club and ride around in parades.  That way I don't have to do any thinking, just follow the leader.

So Winding Stair it was.  This road starts off crossing a narrow bridge. 



Probably too cold for the rafters and Kayakers.  Even in July and August thie water in the Nantahalla is always cold.



Damn, they forgot to pave this road!



And there are curves.  Unpaved and curvy, I might spill my latte if I drive this in a minivan :thumb-down-012:



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They really need to install some guardrails.......and more warning signs.......and a double yellow line. :thinking-022:

[klaviator]

Winding Stair ends up leading to Wayah Rd, it just bypasses the first section where it runs along the river.  It didn't take long to get stuck behind slow moving traffic.



I think one of them was a new FZ-10.  If so Yamaha needs to give this bike some more horsepower.



They pulled off before long and I was able to resume normal speed.

One of the switchbacks on Wayah Rd.



Riding through the valley towards the end of the road.

[Guidedawg]

Dangit, I'm forced to go up that way this weekend and now I'm all bummed about it.  I certainly hope there are better roads and scenery than you experienced or my trip will no doubt suck just as much.

Is it too late to plan Kansas instead?

[klaviator]

Dangit, I'm forced to go up that way this weekend and now I'm all bummed about it.  I certainly hope there are better roads and scenery than you experienced or my trip will no doubt suck just as much.

Is it too late to plan Kansas instead?

If I had to suffer then you do too :lol-049:

Now it's time for the really crappy roads.  I really hate these roads but I keep forcing myself to ride them.



10-30 MPH?  How do they expect us to get anywhere??



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Did I mention the scenery sucks too?



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[klaviator]

I stopped in Cashiers for lunch then headed off to do some exploring.  These twisty roads are way too confusing and it's easy to get lost.  If they laid out the roads in a nice grid with straight roads it would be much easier to navigate.  So don't ask me where these next pics where taken, I was lost much of the time.



More of those damn curves!



They forgot to pave this road AND put it right next to a river.  Someone could fall into the river and drown :crazy:



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You'd think they could get some modern farm machinery.



Those of you on ADV might know why I took this pic.



Damn, another road they forgot to pave!



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This bridge goes from nowhere to nowhere.  I'm not sure why they built it :thinking-022:

[klaviator]

My plan was to stop in Robbinsville for dinner and then catch the sunset on the Skyway.  It was getting too late for that so I stopped at Subway and picked up a sandwich.  I figured I could eat dinner on the Skyway while watching the sunset.

I picked this spot a little before the State line.



Gourmet dining.



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So I took a bazillion pics.  I won't bore you with all of them, I'll just bore you with a few.



The moon was even out.



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I probably should have found a further down the road because it was a pretty long ride in the dark to get back to Tellico.

[dredman]

Thanks for not passing that FZ  :respect-048:

[Fencejumper09]

Man I really hate that you had to experience such a crappy couple of days! My Condolences!


:lol-049:

[klaviator]

Man I really hate that you had to experience such a crappy couple of days! My Condolences!


:lol-049:

It's wasn't over yet, one more crappy day to go. :sad-055:

[klaviator]

There are a bunch of local riders who have nothing better to do Sunday mornings than to go for a ride to Deal's Gap.  Poor guys!  I really feel for them.  One of them is a friend so when I'm in the area I normally meet him at the overlook.  To do this I had to get up pretty early.  I set my alarm for 5:30 but was up at 5:00.  That's in Alabama time so that is actually 4 AM :crazy:

I was on the road at 6.  I took the straightest and most boring route to start stopping around 15 miles down the road for gas.  Did I mention this bike is a real gas hog?  I took 68 to 411 to 72 to 129.  This was at the intersection of 72 and 129.



The sun was just rising as I rode 129 along the lake.  I was hoping to get some good sunrise pics over the lake but the angles and timing was off.  My friend was planning on getting to the overlook on 129 around 7:30 and I wanted to beat him there.  I got there early but he was already there. 



For those of you on ADV, this was TrashCan.  It was light enough to be able to see the road so we headed off and had a clean run to Deal's Gap.  We didn't get stuck behind any slow moving traffic because there just isn't much traffic this early.  We had the parking lot to ourselves when we got there.  Another rider pulled in shortly after we did.



A few minutes later the rest of the Sunday morning crew showed up. 



We ate breakfast then hung out for a while.  Deal's gap is an interesting place to hang out.  Hang out for any length of time and you will see all kinds of bikes and meet people from all over the country and some other countries.  One guy form New Orleans who was there for the first time commented that this place was like a museum.

You won't see one of these every day.  250cc, 2 stroke V-twin, kick start only.  Looks like it would be a blast on this road.



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If all this really bores you, you can walk across the street to the Killboy place and climb the stairs to the platform on the hill and take advantage of these



Eventually I had to head back.  I stopped to get this pic.  There is a story behind this sign.  Some time back there was a Hayabusa rally going on in the area and some of them where hanging out at the Deal's Gap resort.  Some one came and reported that one of the riders had crashed so one of they guys got up and started yelling "Busa Down, Busa Down"  So now every bike crash is called "Busa Down" :lol-049:



This next pic was taken maybe a mile from the "dragon" but I'll bet 99%+ of the riders who come here have never ridden this road.



I saw this bike a bit later and had to stop and check it out. 



I rode back to the campground, loaded up my camping gear and bike and headed home.  I stopped for gas along the way and filled up my scooter first.  110 miles and 1.1 gallons of gas.  I told you this bike was a real gas hog :lol-049: