so me and the wife are looking to take a week trip in july. leaving from ohio. we are thinking pigeon forge tn stone mountain ga somewhere in the carolinas then back towards home at some point what are some great placed to visit, and good roads along the way. any advice would be great
Hi - Its just personal taste, but I would never point a motorcycle toward a touristy trap like piegon forge and its neighbor - Gatlinburg. Traffic out the wahzoo. Just a word of caution. Good luck, MD
My older brother is a veteran rider who lives in southwestern North Carolina. This past Memorial Day weekend we met up at Ansted, WV that Friday, then took an out-of-the-way routing on mostly rural roads to eventually arrive in Lexington, VA where we had a couple of motel rooms reserved for the weekend. The next day we explored many fine rural motorcycling roads well beyond Lexington (which is a beautiful college town), including a brief stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway. All of this was carefully pre-planned using DeLorme maps, and we used GPS as an additional navigational aid. At any rate, I offer the following ideas, suggestions, etc... 1) Don't overlook passing through some of the many highly scenic and historic areas of West Virginia (the Colorado of the eastern U.S.), particularly Kanawha Falls; Gauley Bridge & river area; Hawk's Nest State Park, etc., all of which are along U.S. Rt. 60 which follows the Kanawha River. This area is also part of the New River Gorge region. Some other related spots in West Virginia include Seneca Rocks, as well as Blackwater Falls. From Ohio (I'm located in Delaware Cty.) you can of course follow U.S. Rt. 33 east into some of the most beautiful regions of WV, but if you haven't yet travelled Rt. 33 on a motorcycle, be advised that this road becomes quite mountainous and hairy at times. Expect steep grades, tight curves and spirals, decreasing radius curves, hairpins, etc., as well as stretches of road that may be rough, gravelly, wet, muddy, etc. In these highly rural and mountainous areas along 33, there's no cell phone coverage unless you have a satellite phone. Keep all of this in mind if you're not yet feeling really proficient with 2-up riding. 2) If you choose to pass through West Virginia on your week-long tour, you might consider heading further east to the Lexington, VA area, where there are many nice motels/hotels as well as great night life. As well, the Blue Ridge Parkway lies just to the east of Lexington, which you can of course follow south into North Carolina. The Blue Ridge Pkwy, while beautiful, can soon become rather monotonous and boring because it is so highly 'engineered', and the maximum speed limit is 45 mph. That said, it's great fun if you're seeing it for the first time, riding 2-up, and there are lots of cool places to stop and take photos, as well as lots of little towns to stay overnight along the way, particularly Blowing Rock, NC., as well as a stopover at the Biltmore Estate in Ashville, NC. 3) I tend to agree with Mello Dude that you might want to avoid the tourist trap areas of Gatlinburg, Dollywood, etc. unless that's what your into. 4) On your return trip, unless you're feeling tired at that point and you just wanna hightail it back to Ohio on freeways most of the way, one suggestion would be to check your maps and look into hooking up with I-26/U.S. 23 north, and then north of Kingsport, TN. Follow 23 north through VA and KY, all the way to the Ohio river at Ashland, KY. Next, if you want a break from highways, you can follow Rt. 60, over the Ohio river, then pick up OH Rt. 93 north--> Rt.35--> Rt. 23--> Columbus area if that's near where your home is. Have a safe and fun trip, and please post an account of your adventures! Take Care, Red
thanks for all the info rover.. i actually did travel a large part of WV on memorial day weekend.. black water falls, snow shoe, marlington, weston, cass was a great ride, and the rodes are amazing. wanting to go to pigeon forge for 2 reasons... never been there, and we want to do the indoor sky dicing, and the zorb thing. i heard alot of good things about stone mountain VA as well.. but we will see.. hell we may even make it as far as florida. i have family down there. who knows. whats this delorme maps you speak of??
