Cruising Around North GA, TN, and NC

[Boxer]

JB44 and I decided to hook up for a ride yesterday, since he was up here in the north country taking a break from the hot Florida heat. I left my place in Woodstock at about 8:30 and headed north. I had about an hour and a half to two hour ride to the meeting place in Mineral Bluff, GA. just south of the Georgia/NC state line. JB had to ride down from Murphy, NC.

When I reached the town of Blue Ridge I swung into a Chevron to fill up with gas and get me a drink. I noticed in the parking lot this fellow with the Goldwing Trike was having a bad day.


He seemed to have adequate help so I moved on. Here I sit with my Gatorade in the shade waiting for JB…HEY look! Is that a camera down there?


JB arrived on schedule.


Our first stop was the 1996 whitewater Olympic venue from the ‘96 Olympics here in Georgia. This is on the Ocoee river situated right along hwy 64 in neither Georgia or NC, but in Tennessee.




Here’s JB pretending to check his watch. He’s actually enjoying the view of the Tennessee River Mermaids down below.


WAIT! Those aren’t river mermaids!


When we left there we rode on down along the river and turned north to go visit the biggest gun store I’ve ever seen, in Benton, TN. No pics here, as I was dumbfounded by the presence of so much hardware in one place. I should have taken a picture of the 50 calibre handgun/cannon we looked! Oh well, that would have only irritated the Europeans.J

It’s about lunch time now so we rode on over to Tellico Plains an ate a sandwich.


After which JB led the way across the Cherohala Skyway. What some beautiful sites…and great riding. Everyone should come here to just ride this road.



By the time we made it into Robbinsville, NC (over on the other side of the Skyway) it was close to 4:00 so we just headed on down to Andrews where we gassed up and rode on home. I got home about 7:00PM, thus ending a superb riding day of close to 400 miles and 10 ½ hours for me. The temps down here below never reached 90, I don’t think, but up above on the Skyway it was considerably cooler. I’d say at least 15 degrees less, or thereabouts. We could not have asked for a more beautiful day to ride.

And yes, for those wondering…I put my can back on for today’s ride to see if the vibrations improved. They did. Not near as bad as last week while riding with the can off. I don’t know what that’s all about, but I suppose I’ll end up lowering the exhaust if I can’t resolve it with the can off.

[DJ Downunder]

Thanks Boxer...it looks like you guys had a great day..and what beautiful weather..thanks for the pctures...

DJ

[chris]

Great pics Phil, looks like a good days ride there! I've been trying the can on again, no vibes difference at all , just wanting to check the mileage with it on/off as the last tankful with it off it dropped to 45mpg which is the lowest I ever got. May well be that I did all my riding around town for that tank tho. Will soon find out!
50 calibre handgun, good grief! Who the hell can hang on to one of those! I recently went stalking in Scotland and a .308 rifle is enough for me, can't imagine pulling the trigger on that cannon.

[Boxer]

Take another look at the 4th pic down. JB is looking out across the Ocoee up at the hill. You probably noticed the river is very dry looking. Over on that hill, which follows the river is a 12 foot diameter underground pipe that carried the river most of the time. On Thursday thru Sunday they release the water into the basin and it covers most of those rocks and becomes rushing whitewater for rafters and kayakers. This stretch was engineered specifically for the olympics and JB said they spent about 2 years prior to '96 working on it.

There is another section farther down river that is a little milder whitewater that people can go down in rafts as groups. On days that the water is not there, you can walk down and swim in the pools or just wade. As the river nymphs are doing in my pics.

[jb44]

Phil,

You sure tell a good story! My favorite kind of day ... easy cruisin', lots of stops, food, great scenery, and good company. A most enjoyable time... looking forward to another one.

... can't figure who that old guy with you is...

jb

[wncbmw]

Nice report Phil. You guys need to give me a shot to hook up with you on one of these excursions!

[rph802]

Man that is some damn gorgoues views you got down there. I am definitely going to start carrying my real camera with me from now.

[taosports]

very nice Phil...thanks for sharing.