Day 11. Robbinsville to Kodak/ Morristown. The end was good!

This morning we started at 7 AM to get everything out of this day.
It was going to be the hottest day in our trip.

With a little sadness we left Smoky Mountains and wanted to try Wheels through Time in Maggie Valley for the second time. We arrived a little before 10 AM and Dale Walksler, the owner was walking around and opened his museum.
40 years of work on all kind of vehicles, all of them are running.

Never seen such a collection before.
Dale told us he rides at least 20 vehicles every day, just to keep them running.

Check out his website for video's. Rides of 100++ miles off-road in Death Valley on Harleys of 1930...amazing! Website Wheels through Time

Here are just a few pics of what we saw. Please visit this museum to see it all!

Whenever you need to practice or if your drivers license is confiscated, you can mow the lawn on this Harley.

There is a special kindergarten available.

Let me guess...six gear Harley???

A Corvette and a chopper

A Molenaar Special

Dale drove this Lincoln out of the museum. A master piece!

The proud owner of the museum amongst three strangers.

After the museum we did a second try for the Blue Ridge Parkway. Just about 20 miles, but enough to keep it in our memory. Amazing views everywhere.

 

Mark was trying to do 2 things in one time: driving and taking pictures. His female multi tasking hormones are good working.

We passed Pigeon Forge, the city where Dolly Parton owns an amusement park.

Lot of tourists here....

We had lunch in a 60's style "restaurant".

FYI: I had a salad with grilled chicken. Atkinson proof!

I did not eat any fries this trip.

The last part of the trip was along several lakes in the Kodak area. Marc's Wing was almost empty, when we came at a closed bridge. We had to turn, ride back for 6 miles and find a gas  station. He was thinking of Herman Brom's famous OK-sign. It's a pity that there was no room for a decent gas tan on the black sofa/ boat.

We returned the bikes at Eaglerider. It was Randy's birthday. He inspected the bikes for any damage and after doing some paperwork, we could leave. Egbert dropped his helmet somewhere and forgot to take it back. 

Marc and Egbert followed me in the car to Morristown, where I would meet Larry Joe, my forwarding agent.

Larry Joe will bring the bike to Toronto to get it in the container to Europe.

We had a chinese buffet together.

It was nice meeting Larry Joe. I hope he can ride the blue one in Europe soon.

He is a retired mine worker, just like Marc. Today there was an explosion in a coal mine in West Virginia, near Larry Joe's place. Horrible...

So this is the end of our adventure. Not everything we did was planned, we did not do everything we planned. But it was an exciting trip.

I want to thank everybody who commented this blog, followed us, gave us advise, helped us with all kind of things and allowed us to do this.

Tracklog:

Statistics:

Temp.low: 46º F (gorgious)

Temp. high: 92º F ( miserable)

Distance: 225 miles. 

Morristown, TN, April 5th 2010

René van Glabbeek.

Day 10. Smoky Mountains. Tail of the Dragon is closed, but lots of alternatives.

This could have been the perfect day, but the start was not right.
For a perfect day you need 53º F , blue sky and sun to start with. We started with only 52º F.
The rest was OK.

We rode on our own this morning, so we could make pictures and stops whenever we felt the need for doing that.
Egbert programmed his ZUMO, I did it on my 2820 and Marc put the route in his GW1800 NAVI.

Deals Gap, where the Tail of the Dragon starts showed a sign the road was closed.

Business is dramatically going down in this area. The impact of this 11 mile long road is tremendous.

We were told by Steve Kirkendoll, the man on the pic with Marc, that Dolly Parton called the governor to get the Tail open ASAP.

Instead of September it should open coming Wednesday. Dolly's business went down a lot. Her hotels have 75% unbooked rooms.

Steve retired last Thursday. His wife told him she did not want to see him after breakfast next day. Go ride!! Steve made many videos and shot pictures at Tail of the Dragon.

Check his website Steve's website

At Deal's Gap you wll find the Tree of Life, filled with broken parts found along the Tail.

We had the ultimate ride today. Excellent roads, curves, temperature and almost no traffic.

Here are some impressions we took with our cameras.

No words needed for explanation.

All pictures are made in:

by Egbert, me and:

Marc talks to all officers in uniform.

License plate of the police car:

We ended the day with a nice ride from Franklin to Robbinsville, took a shower and walked to all restaurants in this village to find food.

The only one that served food was the Mexican one we ate yesterday.

There was enough on the menu to chose from, so he got the business.

Tracklog:

Statistics:

Temp. low: 52º F

Temp. high: 79º F

Distance: 148 big (s)miles

Day 9. Cookeville to Robbinssville. We saw the tallest waterfalls east of Rocky Mountains.

Basic plan was to see the Niagara Falls, if weather would permit.
The east of USA had real bad weather, tha's why we went west.

Today we followed the route Keith explained to me yesterday to the Smoky Mountains.
And again we need to thank Keith.

It was a realxing day, not too much riding.
Morning started with storms and rain, but piet Paulusma promissed that would be gone by noon.
We left Cookeville after 10 with a little rain and a lot of wind.
Within an hour temp was OK, wind decreased and the sun was back.

We spent over 2 hours in the gorgious Fall Creek Falls State Park. Whenever you are around, take some time to see this. On of the best things we have seen!

Egbert on a suspension bridge making a moving movie.

To be found at a vista point in this park.

We visited a store with "real" Indian trade stuff. They only trade with dollars at this time.

You make a document on your computer, print it out and sell it for $5 in a Indian store. 

ell why not...

We took US30 East till we arrived in Telico plains. 

There we rode the Cherohala skyway, for Marc the second best road he ever rode in his live. (#1 = Stelvio)

No comment.

No comment.

Tacklog:

Statistics:

Temp .low: 42ºF

Temp. high 86º F

Distance: 194 miles

Day 8. RTE in Cookeville with members of the STOC forum. Locals know where to go!

Started in Murlfreesboro and had a nice route to Cookeville.
We arrived 9 sharp, because the start was planned for 9.30. The meeting place was Dispey Doodle Drive In in Cookeville, TN.

This is a typical, local meeting spot for locals. I like these places.
It was good to meet some STOC members.
Everything was very relaxed, so we left at 10.30 AM.
Keith made a perfect ride, Phil gave instructions for a safe ride (bread crum method) and we were gone!
Men, these guys know where and how to go.

The ride was planned till 7 or 8 PM and that is too late for us, so we decided not to join till the end.

Here are some impressions of the area we saw.

 

We took a short break in Red Boiling Springs at a motor museum.

Huh??? that is not new for us!!

The owner recognized our Belgian funny stranger right away!

I will steal more pics from the STOC forum as soon as Phil put them there.

After we said goodbye we took the direction of the Great Smoky Mountains.

Marc was exhausted, so we stopped in Cookeville for a hotel.

We need to thank Keith and Phil for this excellent ride!

Tracklog:

Statistics:

Temp. low: 46º F

Temp. high: 89º F

Distance: 223 miles