The Great Smoky Mountains has been home to 3 fairly big dual-sport/adventure type rallys that all happen on the same weekend in May.

How do you choose which one to go to?

Well knowing that I only had one night to camp made that decision a bit easier this year.

ADV's Eastern Rendezvous is a catered event that requires you to pre-pay and that would be a bit too extravagant for just one night.

KLR's Tour De Tellico is just a bit too far to bring the thumper for just one night. It just wouldn't give me the time to be able to ride the trails that make make for a fun "thumper ride".

Stromtrooper's Eastern Gathering seemed to fit the bill perfectly for my situation this year. Since I have already met a number of fine folks from both of those other boards and have only had my Strom since September I decided to pitch my tent at the Iron Horse this year.

My plan was to take the "long way" up on Friday and loop back to the house using a different route on Saturday....one that would allow me to stop in at the KLR rally before their group rides departed Sat. AM.

:new_worthless:

The posts that follow will be much less wordy and a bit picture heavy as I tend to favor a few sarcastic captions over paragraphs.

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..... putting the fun in dysfunctional.....

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Although most of my ride would be done solo I was planning to meet up with twistydave, one of the KLR guys, and share a portion of the ride on Friday. In order to make that happen I needed to be on the road fairly early.....but not too early.

My starting time and mileage.


Unfortunately the 1st 75 miles or so of this ride is quite boring...so I guess that it really didn't matter that it looked like this.


As is common along this route at this time of day the fog breaks just as I begin to reach the "good stuff"


Not only do the hills signify the end of 4 lane super-slab....but also the end of pavement too!! Along this route anyway...


My bliss would soon be dampened...not by rain but by gates!


Not to worry, the paved "detour" aint bad and it's not far till I'm back on this.


The ride down Green River was just a blur.


I was on the way to meet somebody at a specific time you know.


A little dirt...a little pavement...


...a little farmland...


...a little more blurry dirt....


..some more farmland...it really IS turning into a beautiful day!!

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Well what do you know....I was on time and in the proper place (how often can I say that?)


The sound of the water made me have to......


It was a beautiful morning Friday the sun was shining, the flowers were blooming and the roads were winding.


Don't let that baby slip off of Horse Shoe Rock!




We opted to NOT test our trial skills any further.


It may be hard to see in this pic but...that hill has been replanted with tiny Christmas Trees.


Dave, why don't you go 1st....just to see how deep that mud is.


No problems getting through here with the Strom on tourances....


I'm not gonna say that I set any speed records though. :rolleyes:


You know this little Wee-Strom aint 1/2 bad in the dirt.....for a street bike.

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The gate is open!! wanna go up to the "log bog"?


you've never heard of the log-bog?...here it is in the middle of a drought...we've had plenty of rain lately.


The clouds always seem to threaten up here.


Ummm..No Dave, turn around! the log-bog is behind you!!


It looks nice and sunny over towards Sugar Creek.


I think that I hear Dave saying "Hurry up!! we've got places to be!!"


Truth is that we were even too scared to go down Broom Rd as it looked kind of snotty up top....so a back tracking we a go.


I aint skeered of no dark clouds...why when I was young... :rolleyes:



So after a pit stop for some appropriate refreshments.....


I soon found myself here.


Dave's bike is kinda loud, for a KLR, so I'm listening.... :ear:


still listening....while I try to make "my girl" feel good with a photo shoot. :rolleyes:


:ear: hmm234 :ear:


Yeah Baby! Work it!


Just tip your tire a little this way......


Still no Dave :eek7: I better head back down to check that he's OK.


One more...if only I could have caught one of the lightening bolts (on film) that were hitting the mountain behind her..(the one we were just on)


Well I'm doubling back down the mountain being careful in case he's still riding up. Then I suddenly see his tracks....but I can't tell if it's only one set of his and mine.
So I turn around and try to slowly follow them hoping he didn't go over the edge somewhere!

I finally find where it looks like he turned around......so I go back down to Moses Creek and still no Dave! but it looks like he tried to write in the dirt...and propped a big stick up on the gate...so I head back to the mini-mart.




Still no Dave? then my phone gets a text! He's OK but just got a text while climbing the mtn that his Mother had fallen so he needed to head home.

Just as I finished sending a reply he pulled in, as he had taken a wrong turn. I was relieved that he was OK ...and it turned out that his Mom is going to be OK too!!

I'm sorry that his ride ended so early...but it was a very nice ride.
(note map not perfect due to google errors)

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Well I would be riding solo again for the rest of the trip. The next leg would start with a bit of rain so no pics of the sweet twisty pavement between Speedwell and Franklin via Elijay......but the shower was short lived and I was soon exploring the country side....


It looked like rain to the North so I headed South.


I wanted to pull up to the pumps for a pic but there were "private" signs at the entrance.


:rolleyes:


I wouldn't really ride on the AT....would you?




google didn't show this route going through from Otto to Standing Indian....but it did!! (I went up to Albert Mt. too)


Although the road heading back North had been recently graded just enough cars and rain had been on it to make it easy riding.


I found some campers playing in an easy water crossing.


Then I got rained on again....I guess I need a waterproof camera too. :rolleyes:

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Please Sir, may we have some more?

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Orange K9 Wee - Givi guards and screen, Zuk hand-guards, Madstad, Rick's fork brace, Shad topcase, Sargent seat, Rox risers, Vessel luggage bracket and sheepskin, Tuono Mirrors, CL-850 bags, Wolo horn, Powerlet.

It never did rain too hard or for too long while I was riding on Friday but I did stop to protect my camera and put on the old frogg toggs before heading up Rainbow Springs. My route took me up that fun FS road to Wayah Rd. (sorry no pics)

Wayah Rd is a fun one too as I'm sure most who attend this rally discover, I however decided to ride over the "forgotten highway" aka FS711. It seems that this road was built to be a scenic highway much like the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Cherohala Skyway complete with overlooks. Somehow it has never received any maintenance work so it is slowly crumbling away...

I pulled the camera out for a few foggy pics on 711.


I need to start playing with the manual settings on this new pocket camera as these were all taken auto and leave quite a bit to be desired.


This road is one that requires your full attention as a corner may look nice and smooth but just out of sight it may become a big gravel hole. lots of loose gravel and potholes and tree limbs and......




My dirty girl


From there I wanted to go back up Winding Stairs and over Tellico Gap before heading up 28 to the Iron Horse....but this is what I found.


It started to rain again as I approached camp and it seems all you Weenies had already taken up all the covered parking. :rolleyes:


The back porch at the Iron Horse....this is where I spent most of the evening sitting in a rocking chair overlooking the creek and campfire chatting away with some new friends.


I really enjoyed meeting some more fellow riders and being able to put a face on some screen names....although my memory is only about as clear as this pic!! A couple more rallys and I'll have it down pat!


I did get up from my rocker a few times and mingle around as there were small groups scattered about.


That's day 1 in the books......stay tuned for day 2!!

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Thanks for sharing the ride pictures. It looks like you had a great ride and saw some beautiful country side.

Saturday morning at the Iron Horse was a foggy one, in fact it was completely socked in.


A few folks were up early but breakfast wasn't gonna be served for a couple of more hours so I started packing and decided to try catch the KLR crowd before they left camp for the day.


Somebody let an ADVer sneak in .....and an Aussie at that...pure trouble I tell ya.


My route to the Cheohala Motorcycle Resort took me over 143 to Robbinsville and it wasn't till after I had crossed the AT at the summit and began my descent that it cleared and became bright and sunny!

Heading up the Cherohala Skyway was absolutely gorgeous Saturday morning.


These are some more of my quick one-handed pics that I'm always taking.


You can't just sit in camp waiting for the fog to lift in this country..you need to go get out from under it!!


This road is a MUST RIDE!


I did take the time to pause at one overlook.


Sunshine is never forever. above 5,000ft I rode right back into the clouds.


But I soon descended right back into the sunshine!


1/2 way across I decided to take the "dirt option"


which now has a couple of short paved sections....


I had to stop and pee....


I like to go that way as it takes me out right past Bald River Falls.


One more stop for breakfast and then on to see who I can catch at the KLR rally.

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..... putting the fun in dysfunctional.....

.....>SmugMug coupon 0E8WP3kJcvvbY save $5 ..........>The Banjo Rides

Is this KLRs Tour De Tellico check in?

Yeah, I checked in on 'em Saturday morning.....


Most of 'em seemed to be just wandering around the parking lot aimlessly...so I joined 'em.

Then trouble rolled in!


What group are you gonna ride with?...gee I dunno?, what were you thinking?


:thumb: It really was good to see lots of familiar faces!


Cherokee Chuck showed me a "shortcut" on the map...




I like shortcuts.


I'm glad that I took the time to "check in" on y'all!

__________________
..... putting the fun in dysfunctional.....

.....>SmugMug coupon 0E8WP3kJcvvbY save $5 ..........>The Banjo Rides