Great Smokey Mts

here is a quick pictorial about my recent trip...we stayed in a house one of the riders owns on Lake Santeetiah in North Carolina right on the Tennesee border......here





quiet and peaceful..and the largemouth bass fishing was pretty good just at sunset






the dogwoods in full bloom....






geese with brand new goslings.....







the bikes..............










here are some of our sights along the way....

Fontana lake....







Bald River falls......





Bridal Falls






Tennesee River






my riding partners....we ve been doing this 'guys only' gig for quite some time together....three generations of us.....the guy on the left....my hero and inspiration....a 68 year old semi retired vascular surgeon and prostate cancer survivor who still rides motorcycles and skis and scuba dives with the enthusiasm and skill level of his 35 year old son in law sitting next to him.....




when in Rome....at the end of each day were these mason jars full of 250 proof, backyard made genuine moonshine made by the neighbors...apple in one..peach in the other......wow.....smooth but deadly







the tree of shame....parts from bikes whose riders could not tame the Dragon......







the Dragon gets all the attention here and it certainly is the star of the show......she will eat you up and spit you out if you don't have the riding skills and the nerve to drive her......you have 300+ hairpins to negotiate,one right after the other, in 11 miles...it is mentally exhausting.....but we did 330 miles and only 11 of them were the Dragon....the other 319 miles were lush rolling horse farm roads....winding roads which ran next to rivers and streams......winding roads which climbed ridges and went back down......etc....all the roads were in magnificent shape....this area is not just about the world class motorcycling....it possesses so much natural beauty in the way of hiking and mountain biking...fishing....camping etc that I would go back there in a minute even if it did not involve a motorcycle....and the people were extremely friendly and welcoming everywhere we went..and oh what incredible BBQ could be found!!

I am very glad I finally got to see this beautiful part of our country and will be back for certain

Love it Mike- glad to see there is something left in your old age- LOL
Nice house on the lake tho-

Happy Birthday Mike~looks like your good riding karma followed up with good travel karma today. I read your post last night and did breath a sigh of relief that your ride went well. I also want to give you kudos for having the right riding gear for this trip. So many times people come to GA/NC/TN w/o protective gear. They are so shocked when they see our roads..... We are firm believers in Stich's and feel nekid (that's for you IV) without them.

You covered some awesome ground and I am sure it wouldn't take much to get you back down here You've made me more fully appreciate the fact we can wake up and ride such wonderful road's.

Nice lake house and I see your friend is fully prepared with the Plexis! We need it with all of our bugs....lot's of splat's.

On the other hand...your picture has to be the FIRST OF IT'S KIND...moonshine wise. This Georgia girl just died laughing when I saw the martini glass next to the shine! There is some hope tho with the blurred small looking mason jar someone is holding.... OMG you yankee's just kill us!

Now just stay safe on the boat this summer,

Erma