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Day 5 was exactly halfway chronologically and geographically
through our adventure. The trip and the day's nexus was the same,
our lunch locale in Cleveland Georgia. Cleveland was both the most
Southern and Western point we would reach. After lunch we began
our climb back to the North and East, eventually arriving in New
York City four and a half days later.
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no clips to be found
here, only worms
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The morning's route was made up of an 80 mile sprint
south from Tellico Plains to Suches, Georgia where the day's highlight,
Route 180, awaited in the Mountains of Northern Georgia. We rose
early and were on our way just as the sun was beginning to burn
the previous night's dew off the farmers fields and rolling hills
that surrounded us. The weather was much better than the previous
day, there was almost no traffic, and the road conditions were fantastic.
The three of us were once again riding in synch, enjoying ourselves
heartily, and generally feeling like there was nowhere else we would
rather be. One of the plastic clips holding my luggage broke, causing
a minor annoyance. We stopped at the only retail establishment around,
a bait shop, but no luck. It didn't matter, nothing could really
deter us from the blast we were having.
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Adam going both ways
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Zac backward and forwards
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Dan coming and going
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As we reached the turn off for Route 180, Zac and
I pulled in to a gas station situated at the intersection. Adam
didn't notice and continued past the turn off. We figured he would
be back shortly so we started to gas up rather than chase him down.
We were right, he realized his mistake and came flying back to the
turn off. Unfortunately he now figured he was behind us so he took
off down 180 trying to catch us up, oblivious to our screams from
the gas station. After doingthe 14 miles of Route 180, he again
realized something was amiss and backtracked once again. He reached
us just as we were pulling out of the gas station with full tanks.
In the end he got to do Route 180 three times, the lucky bastard.
Now all back together we set off to made short work of the twists
and turns of 180. After coming out the other side we decided it
was time for a couple of action shots. We took turns shooting each
other going back and forth around the turn you see in the pics.
We were so fast we caught ourselves heading both directions in one
frame. Errr...well actually Photoshop played a small part in the
pictures you see here. Adam had a slight mishap turning around on
the soft shoulder and toppled over. No damage to him or the fairings,
but his right mirror was toast. Maybe taking action shots here wasn't
such a hot idea after all.
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Brasstown Bald
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Finished showing off, we continued further South
to the Creekside Deli in Cleveland. Despite its name, it's more
of a parking lot side deli, so we just our got sandwiches to go
and began our return journey. We stopped for a picnic at the Dukes
Creek Falls Recreation Area off the B. Russell Scenic Highway. A
great view of Brasstown Bald, the highest mountain in Georgia and
also our next destination, combined with the tasty sandwiches from
the Creekside Deli made for one of the better lunches of the trip.
Here we are sated and ready to go.
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picnic
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picnic
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Though the afternoon started off really well with more
great roads leading from the picnic area to Brasstown Bald, as soon as
we left Georgia and headed into North Carolina, things deteriorated rapidly.
I had erred in my research considerably, with a long stretch of route
64 across South Western North Carolina being utterly boring. The road
had obviously been widened and possibly straightened within the past couple
of years. After enduring the dreaded freeway for over an hour, the road
began to look better as we headed into The Balsam Mountains towards Pisgah
Forest. Unfortunately, it appeared that this area of North Carolina has
become a hugely built up retirement mecca with way more luxury cars, SUVs
and landscaper trucks than the two lane route 64 can reasonably handle.
Having fun on the attractive curves of 64 was frustratingly out of our
reach as we remained stuck behind one driver after another gingerly navigating
the switchbacks. Our disappointment was heightened by the memory of the
morning's blissfully traffic free roads in Northern Georgia. Next time
I'm in the area I will skip route 64 and look for alternates in Northern
Georgia.
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just a wee hut really
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Matt and I go over the next
day's route
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Our evenings lodging, The
Cabins at Seven Foxes in Lake Toxaway, could only be reached by Route
64, so some amount of time on 64 was inevitable, but I could definitely
have done better. We located our cabin and found Matt had already arrived.
It was a joyful reunion indeed until we realized that the cabin was about
six sizes too small for the four of us. I was clearly spacing when I booked
it. Matt graciously offered his mattress to me to set up in the living
room while he took the box spring. Zac and Adam agreed to share the only
other bed, so with that worked out, we set off for dinner. The cabin's
driveway can best be described as a hilly loose gravel pit. It was not
generally ideal for motorcycle parking or maneuvering so one by one, we
trepiditiously made our way out to the main driveway. Having successfully
navigated our way free of all that loose gravel, it was all the funnier
when, for no apparent reason, Zac toppled over taking Matt down with him.
No damage was done so we headed out to dinner at The
October's End. This was a little fancier and more expensive than other
places we had eaten but unfortunately that didn't translate into noticeably
better food. Still, the adjacent falls sure were pretty to look at while
we munched our over priced pasta. Since we would be heading North back
through Asheville tomorrow we decide to hit a dealership so Adam could
replace his broken mirror. After dinner it was back to the cabin where
we planned our route for the next day. As they say, the best laid plans....
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