06/04/09 - Cherohala Skyway

The Southern Cruisers had a weekend ride planned for the Cherohala Skyway for early June. Normally this results in a large group but this year there were only 4. Ron and Denise went up Wednesday and Brad and I went up Thursday morning. The weather unfortunately didn't do us any favors. We started out in rain suits Thursday morning from Springville and it would be well over 24 hours before we didn't need them any more. Brad and I took hwy 11 northward and stopped for lunch at Cleveland. At that point the clouds parted, the sky was blue and it was beautiful. We felt like we would be good from there. But as we ate at Subway the sky grew dark and it began to rain. We felt like we could get on our bikes and outrun the storm, we were wrong. As lightning bolts began to crash down after only a mile I did a frantic hand motion to pull over and we ducked under the canopy of another gas station. We would remain there for quite a while to allow this bad boy to pass. And a bad boy it was. When we left there was significant flooding in Cleveland. One woman had gotten off the road and into a water filled ditch, and there was high water across the road in many places. We just had to trudge through it all slowly. We didn't run out of the rain until we actually got to Tellico Plains. Originally we were supposed to go from there to meet Denise and Ron in Cherokee but the rain had slowed us down so much that idea was scrapped. We put up our tents in the dry and asked the proprietor for advice on dinner. He had none, so we went into town. Their was a new bike clothing shop in town and we went there but he was closing. Fortunately for us he suggested we try this place down the street called “Nutin Fancy”. This place was a culinary masterpiece, Good service, Nice atmosphere, excellent food, and cheap. We ate their every night. After returning to the campground for some relaxation the rain began again. The weather experts promised it would all be gone by morning, they were wrong. The next morning we rose and prepared to go in the rain. Denise and Ron had spied a place to eat down the road. It was a gas station. Actually it looked like an abandoned gas station. In the back behind the groceries were two tables and every morning this white haired lady would cook us up some good old fashioned BAD FOR YOU food. She said she managed an IHOP in Dallas Texas for over 20 years and this is where she retired. Once again the food was outstanding and dirt cheap. We ate there every morning. From the B&B gas station we headed up the Cherohala Skyway which begins in Tellico Plains. The rain continued solid the whole way to the peak near the North Carolina border. But after crossing the highest ridge the falling rain stopped. We were still surrounded by thick clouds and we never saw any dry road the rest of the day, but fortunately we didn't suffer any more falling rain that weekend. From the other side of the Skyway we went north on 129 a.k.a the Dragon. We stopped for the obligatory pictures, stickers, and dragon burger and eventually circled around the northern end of 129 and back to our campground. That night we actually built a fire at the campground, Brad used a Styrofoam cup to do it, go figure. It still looked like it would rain but never did. The next morning we got up to find blue skies and clean air, it was beautiful. We cleaned the road grime off our bikes mounted up and headed northward. We went to Maryville, TN where Ron and Denise collected stuff from the local Harley Dealer. From there the GPS found a really awesome road that ran along the valley below the smokies and popped up out on the northern side of Sevierville near this huge knife works shop. We spent about an hour there looking around and buying sharp things then headed south through Pigeon Forge and on to Gatlinburg where we stopped at another Harley shop and ate some ridiculously expensive food at the Hard Rock Cafe. From there we went on 71 through the heart of the Smokey Mountains over to Cherokee. Eventually we meandered back to the campground from there and enjoyed another relaxing evening. The next morning it was up and out of there for the trip home.