Just back from another 5-day NC / TN ride
Stayed again at A Holiday Motel in Maggie Valley. As is often the case there was a Rolling Thunder / Harley / cruiser type event going on, so we were 3 sport riders among a sea of hogs at the motel and in Maggie. Pop's there in the background is a breakfast place jammed right up against the motel so close that it's literally like 30 feet from the motel; may even be on the same property, not sure. Excellent breakfast, fairly priced:

This is the same trip we've been making for quite a few years now, albeit different in that we rode 5 days instead of the usual 3 or 4, and we trailered up in style this time with my 24' enclosed car hauler instead of exposed utility trailer. 3 bikes fit great end-to-end. Prob could fit more side-by-side, if needed. Skies were ominous when we arrived! ... but didn't dump on us. Only rain of any consequence was the last 30 minutes of the entire 5 days while riding the Parkway back to the motel on the last day - Not bad, can't complain. Oh, and A Holiday Motel's property includes this nice field of grass where many truck/trailers can park:

We secured each bike using a front wheel chock attached to the floor and strapped to the E-track running the length of the trailer, and rather than aligned end-to-end, wheel-to-wheel we rotated the chocks a little so the front bike could easily get past the other chocks without having to manually lift / slide the rear wheel over into alignment; just let 'em sit a little sideways and ratchet 'em down. Using 2" wide E-track straps, my bike did not budge; surprised at how firmly it was held:

The view out of our room. My truck/trailer is straight head and just left, only blocked by the hand railing; in other words we can see it from our room:

We again stayed in one of the four "family units" out back which includes 2 beds in the main room and this bedroom in back; I was allotted the bedroom since we used my trailer!
I prefer to not hear snoring while trying to sleep!

This Blue Ridge Parkway overlook is actually called Rough Butt Bald! HA! (5,300' AMSL)

Didn't really work, but was trying to show the scale of this rock wall that was blasted decades ago to make way for the Blue Ridge Parkway, at Yellow Face Overlook (5,588' AMSL)

.... but maybe this one shows it better? That's me standing at the base. Scaling it looks to be ~50' high ... prob nothing for CA, CO, etc folks:

And here's the vista view from Yellow Face Overlook (5,588' AMSL):

... then all of the sudden clouds started pouring like smoke over the mountain and down onto the Parkway ... super cool looking, really need to see video of it ... no wonder they're the Great Smoky Mountains:

Switzerland Inn in Little Switzerland NC. Very hard to capture how large and wide these vista views are ... really nice. We ate lunch here twice. Think I could eat there every day! Great view while dining:

Snapping pics of my buds snapping pics at Thunder Struck Ridge Overlook (4,780' AMSL):

Just a sunset silhouette I like at the same overlook:

White bike, white trailer, white truck ... starting to sense a theme!

Historic Tapoco Lodge at 14981 Tapoco Rd in Robbinsville NC ... we ate lunch here twice, too, cuz it's good, and it's 2.7 miles from Deal's Gap which is the east end of the Tail of the Dragon:

Pic from Tapoco Lodge toward the bridge right out front of the place ... bikes whiz by pretty often, but it's just far enough that the sound shouldn't bother diners much:

Tapoco even has a nice, long shallow dimension 'carport' type parking area just for bikes (too shallow for cars) ... turned out to be handy since one bud got a flat at or just after we left Deal's Gap, so we patched it here:

Super nice to be able to ride the bikes right up into the trailer each night, set 'em on their side stands, lock the door, go have a few beers, sleep without concern for the bikes ... then wake up and head off in another direction the next day

Day 1 Sun 9/10 Maggie > Blue Ridge Parkway > Cherokee > Gatlinburg > Townsend > Foothills Parkway > Tail of the Dragon > Deal's Gap to stare at the Wall of Shame and ogle all the bikes and cars > Lunch at Tapoco Lodge > 28 aka "Moonshiner" > back to the motel.
Day 2 Mon 9/11 Maggie > Blue Ridge Parkway > Little Switzerland for lunch > 226A aka "The Diamondback" down and back > Blue Ridge Parkway back to the motel.
Day 3 Tue 9/12 Maggie > 209 aka "The Rattler" > Hot Springs for lunch > 209 back to the motel.
Day 4 Wed 9/13 Maggie > Blue Ridge Parkway > Cherokee > Gatlinburg > Townsend > Foothills Parkway > Tail of the Dragon > Lunch at Tapoco Lodge > 28 aka "Moonshiner" > back to the motel.
Day 5 Thu 9/14 Maggie > Blue Ridge Parkway > super-curvy 215 > Blue Ridge Parkway > super-curvy 276 > Blue Ridge Parkway > ultra-curvy 151 > Blue Ridge Parkway > super-curvy 80 aka "Devil's Whip" > 226A aka "The Diamondback" > Little Switzerland for lunch > Blue Ridge Parkway back to the motel.
* Last updated by: extrapolator on 9/25/2023 @ 8:24 PM *
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