Off to N Carolina I go

[LR3w8kbrdr]

On my way up to N Carolina to meet my father up there and ride together for the 1st time. Doing Cherohala skyway, Blue Ridge Pkwy, Deals Gap, Cherokee area, whitewater rafting, minor league bball game and the Land Rover Skills Challenge at the Biltmore estate.

For those experienced with that area, any suggested riding routes that are a must, let me know. Thanks

Oh and after seeing Voo's pics of his nanner during his time up there, I'll do my best to keep my nanner out of a ditch/side of mountain

[CHRISTINA]

Um.... please ride safe. Walk it around the corners.

Thank you!

[stevewfl]

have fun, be careful, take some pics

[Stretched01]

Take a trip to the road to nowhere, its a nice curvey road and its a beatiful site up there. I just got back from up there. Blue ridge also. anywhere up there is going to be a beautiful ride

[vfrsam]

the parkway should be the most fun. High speed turn after turn

[LR3w8kbrdr]

Well first mishap lol...always something.

Crossing the Georgia border my low coolant warning popped up on the message center. I found that the bleed valve positioned on the thermostat bypass loop had blown apart! Stupid plastic fitting. Here i am going to Walmart at 2am for a temporary fix to find a brass fitting to connect the two hoses.

Luckily caught it right as it happened.

[stewart64]

stay safe and enjoy will be doing those roads myself in sept sooooooo looking forward to it !!!

and looks like im gonna have a pretty good guide to keep me straight too lol (thanks RCDave)

[djoe81]

Have fun. I have friends that live in murphy nc. Love that whole area.

[sergeantnic]

Take the Cherohala Skyway into Tellico Plains and then hop on 68. Take that to 294 and head east and then take a left on Hiwassee dam access rd. You will ride right over the Dam which is pretty cool.

You can then keep going through the park to Joe Brown Hwy and take that all the way back into Murphy.

That's a pretty long loop and the first portion of Joe Brown Hwy is alot of slow switchbacks.

Another really nice road that alot of folks overlook is Hwy 28 between Almond and Franklin. That road is a ton of fun. You can then head west and hop on Wayah Rd and run that back into Nantahala to make a nice loop.

[RCDAVE]

Yea Wayah road is a fav up there. Lots of banked tight turns with uphill exits. Good wheelies going up hill. The Rover is sweet huh. I guess everything breaks these days

[LR3w8kbrdr]

Well my temporary fix worked on the side of the road, cut up a BIC pen to connect the two hoses and bypass the bleed valve and topped her off w/ coolant and was good to go until i got to a LR dealer. 100k miles and a plastic piece will tend to fail at some point.

What can I say? We ended up riding 864 miles while we were there.

Trip was F'n amazing! Best vacation Ive had here n the states! Unbelievable scenery, spent some quality father son time together (only get to see him twice/yr) and have fully convinced myself that N carolina is where I need to be, me being an outdoors freak. Ive been seriously pondering the idea for a few mos now. Everyone is so nice & friendly up there, Harley, Goldwing riders all wave and chat with you where as here theres obvious cliques. They definitely outnumber the sportbikes up there when I went up.

Of course had to at least experience the Dragon (looks like they had a few mishaps up there when we crossed which involved some ambulances and flat bad haulers to remove mangled bikes) but spent much more time on the other roads (Moonshiner 28, Blue Ridge pkwy, Cherohala, Cherokee/Maggie Valley, Road to nowhere in bryson city). Stopped off at the Wheels of Time museum as well out there. However every time we went through Bryson City on our way back towards Robbinsville, the skies let loose and poured on us. My dad had rain gear but not I.

Would have probably enjoyed it a bit more on a 600 vs the R1 in some of my riding w/ the -1 tooth n the front. I dont have the comfort thing down yet with how much I can throttle it in/out of a corner and on damp roads so i wasnt going or exiting too hard. Definitely felt better on the the higher speed corners vs the hairpins or 20mph corners.

Biltmore estate is unbelievable, whitewater rafting was great too. Asheville is full of hippies/free-spirited crowd I noticed.

But All I can say is WOW! Couldnt have planned a better trip.

Im just starting to sort through all my pics and gopro footage w/ the 6 different angles I captured.

Im jealous of those who do this regularly or have places up there.

[Little R6]

Glad you made it back with a smile on your face, (and no road rash)!!!!

[stevewfl]

[LilRichard]

You can always just vacation up there...

[vfrsam]

You can always just vacation up there...

Yep I got a cabin up there last summer for 7 days for about $600 on the side of a mountain. And only a mile from us19

[JRH954]

Awesome man, glad you had fun. Any roads you liked the best?

[camel]

Damn wish i had seen this. i'm up here now. Would have paid you to bring my bike with you.

Looks like you had an awesome time. these roads are torturing me.

[LR3w8kbrdr]

Heres some pics...

[LR3w8kbrdr]

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