Southern Fall Leaf Tour

[cmguerrero]

Ride Report: Southern Fall Leaf Tour

Well, just got back from a 1 week Fall Leaf Tour trip in Northern Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. Actually, the only section of Tennessee that I was at was the northern section of the Tail of the Dragon on Highway 129 and the Cherohola Skyway. The colors were at 80% change factor, but that was alright by me because you see, I'm from Miami, and there is no such thing as a Fall season here, so I was very pleased at 80%. Such beautiful color saturation, unbelievable.

Rode the Cherohola Skyway, rode thru the Nantahala, Piscah and Cherokee National Forest, the Sumnter and Vogel State Parks, visited Helen, Ga., and Sunshine, N.C. and many other small towns that were quite appealing. I stayed at the Copperhead Lodge in Blairsville, located in northwestern Georgia, a motorcycle exclusive lodge that I highly recommend to everyone, The service was fabulous and friendly, and the food was great! Great packages are available with food included. Ask for Warren or Dave Turcotte @ 687.409.1343 for assistance in reservations. Dave is the owner of Copperhead Lodge and Warren is the manager. www.copperheadlodge.com

I guess the only negative part of the trip was the straight and flat ride home, but then again, you see, I'm from Miami...

PHOTO CREDIT OF DRAGON PIX BY: Killboy.com & Zeefoto.com

 

[xrated]

I absolutely love this time of the year for the fall colors. I also hate this time of the year because I know that winter is just around the corner. We live 18 miles from Tabcat bridge, which is the start of the Dragon, down by the lake. We've been out the last three weekends looking at the fall colors and this past weekend was the best so far. Two weekends ago we went across the Cherohala and it was very pretty from about 4000 feet elevation and up. The next weekend we rode over to Tellico Plains and then down TN 68, which is a great road to start with and then we went across US 64 to US 129 over to Murphy and then on up 129 to Robbinsville. 143 out of Robbinsville to Rt. 28 north and into Deals Gap then home. This was a very nice ride across the roads to Murphy as far as colors go. Yesterday, we left Maryville and headed up I-75 to exit 134 (Caryville) and through Jacksboro and then up 25W and then east on Rt. 90 to Middlesboro, through the 3/4 mile long tunnel. Back down 25E to Rt 33, then 61 North to Norris Dam and home. I have to say that I've never seen such beautiful colors as we saw on Interstate 75 between Lake City and Caryville. Absolutely stunning and bright......not to mention some pretty good roads to ride, as far as the twisty stuff goes.