{"id":2336,"date":"2018-06-06T19:40:36","date_gmt":"2018-06-06T19:40:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/diomederacing.com\/blog\/?p=2336"},"modified":"2018-06-20T19:40:50","modified_gmt":"2018-06-20T19:40:50","slug":"on-my-way-to-the-2017-tiger-ride-in-the-blue-ridge-parkway-motorcycle-campground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diomederacing.com\/blog\/2018\/06\/06\/on-my-way-to-the-2017-tiger-ride-in-the-blue-ridge-parkway-motorcycle-campground\/","title":{"rendered":"On my way to the 2017 Tiger Ride-in @ the Blue Ridge Parkway Motorcycle Campground"},"content":{"rendered":"

The next trip up for me was out to NC for the 2017 Tiger Ride In, at the Blue Ridge Parkway Motorcycle campground.\u00a0 I took a week off for this trip, I had never ridden a motorcycle east of NM, so this was a great reason to do it.\u00a0\u00a0 I took 3 days to ride over there. I could have taken another day, but I really wanted to ride as many roads over there as I could.\u00a0 Who could blame me?\u00a0 The Dragon is famous for its curves.\u00a0 I wanted to see for myself if it was exactly what everyone raves about.<\/p>\n

I stopped off in Lubbock to see Daryl and LaDonna, I\u2019ve been missing them since they left Abq.\u00a0 I even got Daryl to ride with me for a bit the next day.\u00a0 He let me try out his Goldwing.\u00a0 Wow, what a heavy bike, but it was comfy.<\/p>\n

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I stopped off to see Paris on the way, since it was just a short detour.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t easy to find the Eiffel tower.\u00a0 GPS is a blessing and a curse, it never routes you in a really logical manner, and the TomTom often takes me in circles before getting me to where I want to be.<\/p>\n

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The Tower is located right next to a Veteran’s Memorial.\u00a0 One of the prettiest I’ve seen.<\/p>\n

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Next up was Hot Springs National Park.\u00a0 I wanted to make sure I hit any parks that were close to my route.\u00a0 \u00a0 On the way there I was a surprised by the amount of water in all the rivers and lakes.\u00a0 They all looked close to over following their banks.\u00a0 It might just be that it’s been so long since I’ve been around places that get\u00a0 more than 10 inches of rain a year, but still…<\/p>\n

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Hard to tell from this picture, but the level was way over normal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hot Springs National Park, it was hard to tell what was city and what was park.\u00a0 There was a number of bath houses on the main street, that make up most of the park.\u00a0 There was also a nice drive up on to the hill over looking the city.\u00a0 (They called it a mountain… but it was just a hill to me.)<\/p>\n

From the top of a fire observation tower.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
See? Just hills, albeit pretty ones.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The bath houses were interesting.<\/p>\n

I think I’ve seen this idea before, at home depot?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
There’s no way I’d get into one of those.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Interesting art in the Men’s changing room.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Once I left there, it was across Arkansas to Mississippi to jump onto the Nachez Trace\u00a0 Parkway.\u00a0 It was scenic as well as steeped in culture.\u00a0 There was a number of Indian mounds<\/a> along the parkway to visit.<\/p>\n

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Loads of water and green… I’ve missed this living in the desert. On the other hand I love all the sunshine in NM.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next up Tennessee with all of those amazing curve filled roads.\u00a0 Like the Tail of the Dragon.<\/p>\n

Nantahala National Forest picture on my way to Deal’s Gap<\/p>\n

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I picked up a newish rider on the way up, he wasn’t really dressed for the weather and he was really nervous about all the corners.\u00a0 When I stopped for the above picture and started talking to him, he asked if he could continue to follow me.\u00a0 Said, it made riding the corners less frighting.<\/p>\n

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With the rain picking up again, I slowed down some more, also figured that he wouldn’t have to struggle as much to keep up.\u00a0 When we got to Deal’s Gap, I pointed him at some frog toggs, I suggested he might want those if he was going to ride all day.\u00a0 It would help him stay drier and warmer.\u00a0 He thanked me again later for that suggestion at the end of the Dragon where we parted ways after a few more pictures.<\/p>\n

No trip to Deal’s Gap is complete without a picture of this… The Tree of Shame.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Killboy Photos. I had to stop in there too.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Really cool bike. Not so nice guy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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My shadow for a couple of hours.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Was a very nice guy.<\/p>\n

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Fun Curvy road!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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I did some exploring on side roads.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Found this cool campground.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Found a dirt road that ran to the backside of the above dam.<\/p>\n

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I decided to stop and stay the night at a Lodge that I had passed on the way up to Deal’s Gap… What shame I had to ride part of that road again.<\/p>\n

The Tapoco Lodge was really nice too.<\/p>\n

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Got nice little cabin at the top of the hill.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Next day it was off to the Ride In with a fellow Tiger Rider:<\/p>\n

Dave<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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I talked him into a round about way to the campground, that would take us through the Smokey Mountains National Park.\u00a0 Just because, it was\u00a0 a park and I’d never been there before.\u00a0 It was an even wetter day than the day before… He was a great sport about it.\u00a0 Even if we were so wet when we got there that we had to put our riding gear into a dryer to get it dry enough to wear the next day.\u00a0 Yes. It was my idea, that a bunch of the other Tiger Riders jumped all over, after I said I was going to do it, they even beat me to the 4 dryers and I had to wait an hour+ to dry my gear.\u00a0 \u00a0lol.<\/p>\n

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The park was stunning, but it was raining so hard, it wasn’t worth stopping for pictures.\u00a0 You couldn’t really see anything, with all the low clouds.<\/p>\n

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We did have some fun on the Foothills Parkway, when we came across a guy on an R1 who had lowsided coming out of a turn.\u00a0 Lucky for him there was more shoulder on this road than the Dragon.\u00a0 I let them use my InReach to send a msg to their buddy, to come and pick them up, since there wasn’t any cell service.<\/p>\n

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