2026 Natchez Trace ride - Day 18 - Cherohala Skyway

Our sunny moment on the Cherohala Skyway

I got up at 6:00, showered, dressed, and made omelets yada yada yada. 

Karen decided yesterday that she wasn't going to ride today, her grandson was giving a talk and she wanted to stream it live. Angela hadn't slept very well and decided she was also going to skip the ride, which left Nannette.  She looked at me with great big puppy dog eyes and I said if she didn't want to ride today that was just fine so she went back to sleep. 

We topped off our motorcycles with coolant, geared up and headed off.  We all made sure our intercoms were turned on.

The neighborhood mail boxes - where I found my tripod on the ground

Today we are riding the Cherohala Skyway.  This is one of four very famous roads in this area. The other three are, The Great Smoky Mountain National Park, The Blue Ridge Parkway,  and The Tail of the Dragon.   We rode the other three over the last week, and this is the final one. 

Yesterday's weather was cloudy and colder with a high likelihood of rain. But today is supposed to be sunny and warm. We woke up to gentle showers, and it persisted as we took off.  There was Heavy cloud cover which kept the temperature around 68°. John and Ron both had on their heated gear and jackets.  I was wearing a long sleeve t-shirt.

We gassed up and had to pay $5 a gallon. These high gas prices are really hitting this whole trip and making it much more expensive. 

We had to ride 20 to 30 miles to reach the Skyway. When John plans these routes he can't always get the Waypoint precisely positioned , and this was one of those times.  The GPS had us twisting and turning through some little town trying to get to the Waypoint before it would give us directions to the Skyway. John kept apologizing but Ron and I were both just laughing and enjoying the ride. 

We finally reached the skyway and I told John I wanted a picture of the sign near the start, but he blew right past it. That's probably because the sign was absolutely covered with stickers so he didn't recognize it. Every hiking group biking group trail runners and any other sort of organization had put their personal sticker on the sign. Had I thought about it I still would have stopped and gotten the picture, it was hilarious.

Dark and dreary as we start the Skyway

More dreary roads

The temperature has risen up to the mid 70s by now , but it was still heavily clouded over. The Skyway quickly started climbing on the temperatures dropped even more. We stopped at a few overlooks but most of the time we couldn't see anything but clouds.

Climbing higher gave more light but still cloudy.  And my finger

We kept climbing until the clouds turned into fog around us . It wasn't terribly thick or heavy so it wasn't dangerous, but it did make things damp . It reminded me of a time we were on the island of Kauai and had written to the end of the road. Looking out over the Paly Coast it was clear and sunny but right above our heads clouds were forming. 

Here, we didn't have the clear and sunny but we did have the cloud streaming by just over our heads. It was kind of interesting how the trees and the clouds formed a tunnel we were riding through. 

Climbing until we reached the clouds, and my finger again

Eerie tunnels through the clouds

I'm not sure how long we were on the skyway before we turned the corner and found ouselves up above the clouds in bright sunshine. We still couldn't see anything around us except for clouds, so we stopped to get a picture since this could be our only chance. 

We backed the bikes up in a row and this time Ron and I did a better job lining up. I pulled out my brand new tripod and quickly set it up. I opened the phone app on my watch which let me preview the picture. Then I tapped the button which gives 3 seconds to get posed. The pictures came out pretty good.  John went over to check out the scenic Vista, then we started getting ready to leave. A group of three 

Harleys pulled into the parking lot and one was playing Mexican music loud enough to drowned out casual conversation.  I wondered if they wanted our spot to take a picture, but just as we started to pull away they quickly started their bikes and rode out ahead of us. I guess they didn't want to be humiliated by trailing Spyders on their Harley's. 

We got a few vistas out through the clouds

Drive by scenic views

Riding around on top of the hills

Masses of wildflowers on some sections

Eventually we descended back into the clouds and there were no Scenic Vistas. But the temperature continued to stay in the low 70s and I was happy. I'll take temperatures like this with the clouds over bright sunny 90s anytime. 

After another 20 minutes the GPS told us to turn left down a small narrow road. We are heading to Bald River Falls.  The road was phenomenal , better than many we've been on this last week. It was narrow and wound around gently. It slowly took us down the side of the mountain, then at the bottom it made a sharp hairpin and started following the river. None of us had any idea what to expect, and when we reached the bridge that runs in front of the falls every one of us let out a gasp.  The Falls were breathtaking. 

The road to Bald River Falls

More of the road to Bald River Falls

It was just so pretty

We went past the falls to the parking area and found a couple spots, then gathered up our cameras and came back. The Falls really were beautiful. They're not massively High, nor do they flow millions of gallons of water, they're just very very pretty. We all took pictures and then just sat watching the falls for a while. 

All of us at the falls

Me at the falls

Back on the Skyway and rapidly descending.  The clouds are clearing

I hope the cloud cover sticks around to keep it cool

The last part of the Skyway was beside a beautiful river

Very nice river

The ride back up to the Skyway was just as nice as the ride down. This little section of Road is really pretty and fun to ride. Once we are on the skyway we only have a few miles before we came out the other end at the town of Tellico Plains. It was a little early for lunch but we were hungry. We picked a Mexican restaurant. I ordered a shrimp taco and a pork tamale. Both were pretty good and the whole meal cost less than $10. 

Over to lunch we talked about the fact that this would be the first ride this whole week where we will have actually ridden the entire plan ride. Usually we get halfway through a ride divert to find lunch and then just ride back to the rental house as fast as possible skipping what remained of the ride. 

We're on a few little back roads for a while but pretty quick we are back on Highway 74 , which is the highway that passes right in front of our rental house. It would take us 2 hours to get home. 

Back roads headed home

More back roads

Crossing from Tennessee back into North Carolina

When we were about an hour from home I told Ron and John to carry on , and I stopped by a grocery store to pick a few things up. Nannette had an upset stomach so I got something for her, then an extra bag of salad tomato cucumber , and for me, frozen peas to put on my salad. 

I got back on the bike and headed for home. About 2 mi shy of home I stopped to gas up the bike so that tomorrow morning I could just get up and go. I also went in and looked through their freezer section and bought a bullet pop. I haven't had one of those in a long time , and I didn't want ice cream. But I really really really want is a Frozen real strawberries Mexican popsicle , but I can almost never find them. 

 95° and it's popsicle time

I got back to the house and started unloading, then began processing  my photos. 

I wanted a really good picture of all of us in front of the house so I pulled out my snazzy new tripod and got everyone outside. That was the first time I noticed that the house had a name. Tranquility Base.  That is what Neil Armstrong named their Landing spot on the first moon landing. 

Great friends after a great week in a great rental home

I worked a bit more on the photos while the others played card games, then we started preparing dinner. Lots of good stuff for salads, leftover pot roast potatoes and carrots, and leftover street tacos. Nobody went hungry. 

Tonight I'm still writing the blog and considering my route home. I will leave first thing in the morning and go back into Great Smoky Mountain National Park to hike up Kuwohi tower. I have wanted to hike up there for a long time. 

John, angela, Ron, and Karen will all ride back to Nashville so that the next day Angela and Karen can fly home. John and Ron will start the arduous 3-day slog back to Phoenix. I do not envy them the long hot days they will ride. 

Nannette will leave about 10:00, drive to Asheville , return the rental car, and fly home at 3:30. 

I will probably take 5 days to get home riding for about 5 or 6 hours each day but avoiding the hottest parts of the day. I will probably also go back by my son Kyle's house and get a hotel with a pool.  They will swim one more time. I get to see them so I'm frequently that it's well worth the extra time. 

Everyone was deep into planning that no one was talking.  That is very notable for this group so I took a picture.

Everyone's head stuck in their phones

Daily Miles: 176

Total Miles: 3808

Total drive time: 88h53m

2026 Natchez Trace ride - Day 17 - Blue Ridge Parkway

Scenic overlooks with cloud cover aren't so scenic

I woke up at 6:00 and got ready for the day. No one was awake. Last night when we went shopping we did not buy a case of water because we were on the motorcycle and we forgot to buy a large bag of peanut covered M&Ms. Don't ask me why but that's the snack of choice.

I decided to take the van and drive into town to pick those things up. It was still Pitch Black and driving that Winding Road was harder than I thought it would be. Especially right hand turns I could see nothing and so really slowed down. It probably took me about 12 minutes to get out this time.

I made it to the store and bought those things as well as a bag of trail Mix.  By the time I made it home the sun was just coming up and almost everyone was awake. But no one had made breakfast because they couldn't remember what we had decided. But several people had already foraged through the leftovers. We were supposed to make French toast but I just scrambled a few eggs. But once I scrambled eggs suddenly everybody was still hungry.

We were packed up and on the bikes by 8:30. Nannette did not sleep well last night and decided to skip today's ride. So I put my backrest back on the bike.

We were on the way to a gas station when Ron asked whether there would be air to fill up his tires. I replied that we didn't need air at the gas station because I had a little air compressor with me. I guess he had spent all yesterday looking for a compressor around the house but hadn't bothered asking.

When we stopped at the gas station I spent a few minutes digging my compressor out of my trunk. It's at the very bottom of everything, then I took it over to John who also needed to air up his tires. I went back to gas up my bike and by the time I was done they were ready to go.

We rode about 20 miles to get to the start of Blue Ridge Parkway. We stopped and got pictures by the sign then started up the road.   Blue Ridge is much like the Natchez Trace that we rode last week. It's purpose-built for sightseeing with scenic turnouts every couple of miles and sometimes more often than that.

Southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway

Picturesque roadway

Drive by overlook

A few people took their heated gear off because it was starting to warm up , but they kept the rest of their jackets on . I took my mesh jacket off because I was stifled . It was about 72° and felt wonderful .

We did a few more scenic pull-outs and I did several just quick Dash in snap a picture with the 360 camera and then back on the road.  The clouds really started together as we climbed even higher, and eventually there was no point to taking a Scenic turnout because you couldn't see anything. 

Took my coat off because I was overheating.  They still have on heated gear

Much better without the coat

We stopped at the first couple of Scenic outlooks then skipped a few and did another one skipped and did them almost haphazardly. The road was steadily climbing up into the mountains and the clouds began together. Rain was in the forecast for the afternoon so we kept our eye on the skies.

I love when the canopy closes over the top and casts green light on everything

More drive by overlooks

Clouds added interesting shapes.  You can see the road way below us.

Ron has a rule that someone must be in pictures, so he's pointing to something for Karen's photo

Still no rain and still feels great

We reached the turnoff for Waterrock Knob viewpoint and rode to the parking lot. There are five or six cars and a couple of motorcycles. There was a thin fog across the area and no views visible through all the clouds.  We went into the gift shop but found nothing worth buying.

As we were getting back onto the bikes, we heard the rumble of motorcycles approaching. The first few motorcycles came in looped all the way around and started parking back close to the exit. Motorcycles kept coming and coming and filling spots until the whole Loop of the parking lot was packed with motorcycles. It took almost 5 minutes.

We backed out of our spots and started to leave the parking lot , somehow I wound up in the lead. Ron stopped and was asking people what the group was . It took him two or three people before he finally got an answer. This was a tour group from a motorcycle Festival. The leader said he had 60 bikes with him.  None of us were envious of the massive group and we got out of there quick.

When he reached the tallest point on the Blue Ridge we pulled our bikes in front of the sign to get a picture. John was disgusted with Ron and I because our bikes were not very straight. I used John's monopole to take the picture. I always get a bit nervous having my phone way up in the air on that dinky little tripod base but it worked.  I should have taken more time and reviewed the photos.  If I'd just moved to the other side of my bike would have left the sign clear.

Highest point on Blue Ridge Parkway

We continue driving and try to couple of scenic overlooks I managed to get a few decent pictures but the clouds were still pretty heavy. Then it started to very lightly sprinkle. It's always a Gamble whether to stop and put on rain gear or keep riding until you're forced to put it on.

The temperature started to drop rapidly as the clouds got thicker and the sprinkles got heavier. Eventually I said I needed to stop just to put my mesh jacket back on. Karen did put her rain jacket on but nobody else was ready to surrender to the weather yet.  I forgot to put my waterproof camera back around my neck, so there were no more photos.

We kept watching the oncoming traffic to see if they had their windshield wipers on or if their cars were soaking wet or if motorcycle riders had rain gear on. So far everything looked dry even though the roads were wet and we are still getting sprinkles.

It was getting to be lunch time so John decided to take us off the Blue Ridge and head to a nearby town where we can find something to eat. We rode about 20 miles when suddenly the rain just poured down on us, no warning. Ron started repeatedly saying "oh my heck" because he couldn't see. I flipped my visor down but kept it slightly cracked open to prevent fogging. John said it was just a drizzle and we'd get through it quick and kept riding.

We rode in the rain for about 5 minutes and it did eventually peter out and stop. I didn't really feel all that wet though.

We eventually made it to town and found parking spots for all our bikes.  We also found a restaurant on Main Street. Both couples split a sandwich, and I got a Korean barbecue Bowl. The food is pretty good if a little bit expensive.  While walking back to the bikes, we heard marching band music.  The local high school band was setup in about 4 areas and were taking turns playing to raise funds.

Back at the bikes, John said hi to the guy getting into the truck next to him.  That led to him saying he was going home to watch football, then John made the ultra mistake of asking who he was rooting for.  30 minutes later we finally got away.  We just put the rental house into the GPS and headed for home. It kept looking like it was going to rain but it never did.

I haven't really talked about my struggle to get a tripod. My old one broke a month ago and my friend Mike ordered one for me to be delivered in Baton Rouge, but that one never did show up. He then ordered one to come here to Bryson City, but rather than delivering it to the house they sent via postal service and Mike got a note that it had been placed in a US Postal locker.  We don't have access to the postal lockers. But today as we are riding from the highway into the house, I thought I really should stop at the lockers just to see if there wasn't some way to get the tripod.

The neighborhood has a really nice looking hit for their mailboxes with a roof and flowers. I stopped out front and when I walked inside there on the ground sat my tripod. The house we are renting doesn't have a mailbox and so the Postal Service just left the tripod sitting on the ground.  For the last two days no one has walked off with it. Everyone was amazed including Mike.

Tripod left on the ground by the mail man

It's a little bigger than I would have liked, but it is way fancier than anything I've ever had. Really solid and will hold my camera much better than anything I've ever had before. I spent a couple hours making sure I understood all the various features and how they work. 

Folded up, the tripod fits well in my trunk

Only one segment extended and it's taller than my old tripod

I actually took a 30 minute nap today. This constant travel is definitely wearing me down. I shouldn't have done it but I looked up how far I am from home. Nearly 1500 miles and 22 hours. All that starts on Monday.

Because Nannette skipped today's ride, she put a chuck roast into the Crock-Pot. Then we added potatoes and carrots we baked some rolls pulled out the salad and I made some brown gravy. Dinner was really good but I ate too much and need another nap.

I had written much of the blog and was sitting chatting when John asked if I had a flashlight.  Of course I do.  John said his bike has occasionally been warning him of overheating and he wanted to check his coolant level.  He spent a while looking at his overflow tank but couldn't see the level in it.  So I decided to check mine and likewise couldn't see the level, nor could Ron.  We checked with AI and decided to go buy some pre-mix antifreeze in town.  Ron and John called advance auto while I grabbed the keys to the rental van.  They did have the right antifreeze and they would be open another 30 minutes so we headed off.  We got the antifreeze and a screw on funnel to put it in the bike.  But by the time we got back it was late and we decided to deal with it in the morning.

I'm definitely starting to include less details in the blog to make them shorter and easier to write. Probably the last day is just going to be three pictures and a few captions. 

Daily Miles: 145

Total Miles: 3632

Total drive time: 84h06m

2026 Natchez Trace ride - Day 16 - Great Smokey Mountain

Riding in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park

I woke up at 6:00 and quickly got dressed. It was very dark outside so I dug a camera out of my fanny pack and headed out to the bike. Last night I took much of the bike apart get it the headlights. I changed them both out then put it back together enough to to start the engine and make sure the headlights work. Then I was so hot and tired I stopped for the night, but now I need to put it all back together. 

I took my time while putting it all together. There have been too many times I get everything put back and I have spare parts , but not this time!! 

I was all finished just as the sky was getting light. I look hopefully to the east but all I saw was clouds and fog. No pretty sunrise for me. 

I hopped on the bike turned it around and rode up the hill. I turned left and had a deeper into the neighborhood. I went about 10 minutes just Meandering listening for problems trying to feel whether anything was loose or rattling everything seems good so I turned around and headed back. 

I got all my stuff put away including my new tools. I figured out where to put them on the bike so they would be ready when I next needed them.  Then I went in and got all my writing stuff ready and took it out on the bike. That will save me time later when I'm rushing trying to get out the door. 

By this time a few people are awake. I figured scrambled eggs was the easiest thing so I started cracking eggs into a bowl , cut a pack of bacon in the quarters and started that frying , then scrambled the eggs.  By the time I was done with all that everyone was awake and ready to eat. 

Getting ready for our ride

Foggy highway riding to start the day

Clouds starting to rise and break up

We are loaded and ready to go not long after 8:30. You stopped for gas and it's going till we reach the town of Cherokee we rode North and into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We stopped for a short break and went into the visitor center. They had a nice tropical map of the park we spent a while looking at it, then we wanted her back out, got on the bikes and started the ride. 

Like other days, it's redundant say it was beautiful because all the roads around here are beautiful. There wasn't much traffic and we kept our speeds down around 35 or 40. It was still in the 70s and everyone but Nan and I had on heated gear. 

Entering Great Smokey Mountain

Stopping at a scenic overlook

Beautiful views

All of us at the overlook

We stopped a few times to let cars pass. This National Park is actually a through way. It lets all the traffic from the south get up to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Fork and vice versa. Some of the cars are in quite a hurry. 

The road started climbing, and we started to catch glimpses through the trees of the beautiful views. Finally there was a Scenic pull out and we stopped to get some pictures. We used John's tripod to get photos. 

Also stopped at the next pull out, but just a quick stop. There were stops about every quarter mile after that for quite a ways. We didn't bother stopping at them all.  Several times man didn't even get off the bike, she would just stand up a little higher and say yep that's pretty and sit back down. 

Quick drive through a scenic overlook

I had purchased a driving tour to go with the park.  The app is called action tour guide, and the audio tour cost $15. It's the same app I was using last week when I toured Shiloh and Vicksburg. As you're driving through the park different spots on the road will trigger an audio description. It was a little hard being on the intercom and also trying to listen to the tour but we did hear some interesting facts and relay them to the rest of the group. 

The tour told us a lot about the people who originally organized to create the park. It also told us a lot about the Cherokee people who used to inhabit the area. It told us there traditions and stories about how things got created. 

View from Newfound Gap

After we cross the top of the pass we are now getting views out to the west of the mountains. Our audio guide told us about the 2016 fires that burned through the park and all the way into Gatlinburg. You could still see some scars from the fire, but nothing like out in the West. The hills were already densely forested again. You could see a few bear trees sticking up here or there, but other than that you would know it was burned just 10 years ago. 

View toward Gatlinburg and the 2016 fire

One of the tunnels, my loud airhorn made quite the noise in here

More views to the North

We're eventually reached the other end of the park and The Visitor Center there . We stopped for a quick break and decided that it was late enough to get some lunch. I was still a little mentally confused about locations, but I picked a restaurant that said it was only 2 miles away.. John picked another one that said it was close as well but when we started heading there it wound up taking almost 15 minutes to get there. It turns out John had picked one in Pigeon Forge which is actually on the far side of Gatlinburg. 

But it doesn't matter because Pigeon Forge the home of Dolly Parton and with her recent death we all wanted to go see the town anyway. There were some Billboards commemorating her.  There also seemed to be a big car show going on. There were classic cars parked up and down both sides of the street. We didn't spend much time looking at the cars because it was too hot. 

We stopped at the barbecue place.  Nan and I split a plate of brisket burnt hands. 2 days ago Nan got the same thing and we both loved it. This wasn't quite as good.  We also got a banana pudding and it was pretty good too. 

Angela started rubbing her head and said she had a migraine coming on.  She took some Tylenol and drank some Dr Pepper but it didn't help. Eventually they decided they were just going to head back to the house rather than ride up  Cades Cove. 

We started riding back towards home.  I asked Nan if she wanted to go home or if she wanted to keep touring. She was open to doing more touring so long as that also meant we can stop by a casino for a little while. So we announced over the intercom that we were going to drop off and look around a bit more. 

Riding up Cades Cove

A beautiful creek running up Cades Cove

We didn't go all the way up Cades Cove because it was getting hot. But I started scrolling through the audio to her and playing the stories. Who pretty well finished all the stories about the time we were back to the main road. 

Not long after we turned south on the main road the temperature started decreasing again as we climbed. It felt really good. We stopped two or three times but more serious and one time we stopped for about 15 minutes just to stretch our legs. We did not bother stopping at the top, and often our stops we just to pull out line up a nice picture and then move on. Anytime car started to back up behind us I'd pull off and let them pass. 

Twin Peak (I think) where the 2016 fire began

Stopped to take stretch our legs and rest a bit

Drive by viewing

More drive by viewing

We got back to the visitor center to use the bathroom and buy a cold bottle of water.  The temperature was back up to 94 degrees and the sun was beating down on us making it feel much hotter.

We stopped by a grocery store to pick up a few things on the way back.  Salad, eggs, tomato, and Fat Boy ice cream sandwiches.

Dinner was mostly leftovers.  Chicken tacos and salad.  The salad was great after so many heavy lunches.  I haven't had my ice cream sandwich yet, I'm using it as a bribe to myself to get the blog done.

Daily Miles: 152

Total Miles: 3487

Total drive time: 79h27m