- All
- Blue Ridge Parkway
- Cherohala Skyway
- Devils Triangle
- Dual Sport and 4wd
- Foothills Parkway
- Gambler NC209- Hot Springs NC
- Moonsiner28
- North Georgia
- Other
- Smoky Mountain Loop
- Tail of the Dragon
Joe Brown Highway
⇐ BACK This full day loop will take you on a mile high mountain road deep in the wilderness, close to a beautiful waterfall, a twisty two-lane back road, across a dam on a scenic lake, and wind around a back country road with rural views. Beginning in Robbinsville, North Carolina take NC 143 to…
Waucheesi Mountain – Dual Sport or 4wd
Two Great Dual Sport/Jeep Roads in the Cherokee National Forest of East Tennessee This route is suitable for adventurous intermediate riders on medium dual sports and experienced riders on large dual sports. We rode our KLX250s, but would have had no problem on our KLR650s or even on the unloaded CaporNord. A friend rode one of…
Ocoee Loop
This 78-mile loop begins and ends in Tellico Plains, Tennessee. Highways include TN 39, TN 315, US 64 and TN 68.
Wagon Train/Stewart Cabin Road – Dual Sport or 4wd
Wagon Train/Stewart Cabin Road Enter this Forest Service gravel road (FR81) at Santeetlah Gap at the beginning of the Cherohala Skyway in North Carolina at 2660 feet elevation. The road winds downhill and crosses Santeetlah Creek at 2234 feet elevation. This 12 mile trek then meanders along the Big Santeetlah Creek for most of the way…
Cherokee Heintooga Loop
Cherokee – Heintooga One-Way Loop, October 30, 2007 It was October 30, the last day of the year that this one-way gravel road loop through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park would be open. Nancy and I had wanted to try it for years but just hadn’t been able to find the time. Now the…
Cades Cove Parsons Branch
Cades Cove Loop is closed to motor vehicles on Wednesday and Saturday mornings until 10:00 a.m. from early May until late September each year to allow bicyclists and pedestrians to enjoy the cove. Otherwise the road is open daily from sunrise until sunset. Parsons Branch Road is closed from November – February, for exact open…
Moonshiner28 Triple Loop
Moonshiner 28 and Other Great Roads 274 mile Triple Loop Leave Early and Take the Entire Day !! This loop begins and ends in Robbinsville and crosses four state lines in its 278 miles of excitement. Warning …. several stretches are technical and I would only recommend them to experienced riders. All of the route…
Western North Carolina Highlights
We took off for a few days in Nancy’s new Mustang GT to explore some of the roads that we have reported on before and we actually found a couple of new ones. We also discovered some great places to eat and some not so great. Our first stop in Asheville was to tour the…
Rock Slide 2010
⇐ BACK June 9, 2010: US 129 reopened !!! Construction and repair of US129 from the March rock slide completed 3 weeks ahead of schedule. THANK YOU TNDOT and Pacific Blasting & Demolition Ltd. May 10, 2010: Contractors are installing anchor bolts to stabilize the slide area. There is an incentive payment if the contractor…
Hot Springs
The Gambler AKA Rattler is a good riding option within an hour or two of the Dragon. If you are concerned about the LEOs on the Tennessee side of the line we suggest that you come to the Dragon, make a couple of passes at low speeds and then head for North Carolina where the…
North Georgia Ruby Run
North Georgia/NC Ruby Run March 2, 2008 Nancy and I got the KLRs out of mothballs. The batteries were weak after several months of sitting in the garage, but they both finally started. The weather had been perfect for a couple of days so we figures we had better take advantage before the next cold…
The Complete Six Gap 2005
The Complete Six Gap 2005 Nancy and I took off for a quick two day tour of the roads in North Georgia on our KLRs. At first we planned to do mostly gravel back roads but then changed our minds and decided to explore some of the paved roads we hadn’t been on in while.…
Devils Triangle 2007
Nancy and I made this run in March of 2007. We spent one night on the road on this 400 mile quick-trip. We called it “The Complete Devils Triangle” as we made several runs back and forth. We rode our KLR 650s which are Wheeler tuned, jetted and piped. They turn-out an amazing 41 hp…
North Carolina Loop
A Great North Carolina Loop – Updated January 2018 Summary From Robbinsville take US 129 north 18 miles Take NC 28 (Moonshiner 28) 10.6 miles south/east to Fontana Dam turn-off Take NC 1245 north 1.2 miles to Fontana Dam, then return to NC 28 Take NC 28 south/east 21 miles to US 19/74 Take US…
Clayton GA & Highlands NC
From Robbinsville take US 129 South to US 19. Take a right and continue South on US 129/19 to Andrews. At Andrews take a left on US 19 Business. Go through town and take a left onto Fairview Road (SR 1515) at the kink. South on Fairview to NC 141. Left on NC 141 to US 64. Take a…
Dragon Cherohala Loop
123 Miles/4 Hours Travel Time Beginning at the US 129/NC 28 intersection in North Carolina where the large metal dragon guards the highway, take US 129 north. The Tail of the Dragon begins in .7 miles at the North Carolina/Tennessee State Line. In the next 11 miles there are 318 curves of vary difficulty. The…
Smoky Mountain Loop
⇐ BACK 141 Miles/5 Hours Travel Time Beginning at the US 129/NC 28 intersection in North Carolina where the large metal dragon guards the highway, take US 129 north. The Tail of the Dragon begins in .7 miles at the North Carolina/Tennessee State Line. In the next 11 miles there are 318 curves of fun.…
Complete US129
DATE: October/November 2005 MOTORCYCLE: 2002 Aprilia Capo Norde, weight 474 pounds, 6.6 gallons fuel 39 pounds, 100 horsepower V-twin 1000 cc ADDED WEIGHT: Two riders plus gear weight 350 pounds, plus hard bags, tank bag, and soft bag on rear platform weighing 115 pounds, electronics 16 pounds. TOTAL WEIGHT FUELED BIKE AND ADD ONS: 994…
Smoky Mountain Dual Sport
Sometimes my job requires great sacrifice such as this dual sport ride across some of the best back roads in America with three female riders chasing me down. It’s not easy having these gals challenging me at every difficult corner and climb. The pressure was on me to give a good show for all male…
In Search of Moonshine
It was a cold January day when Nancy and I decided to take the day off and head to Gatlinburg, Tennessee in search of the various legal moonshines that are sold there. Leaving Robbinsville we head north on NC 143 and crossed Stecoah Gap. We were treated to a fabulous view of the vast Great…
Complete Moonshiner28
US 129 to Walhalla, SC In 2010 and 2015 Nancy and I made complete roadtrip/Run on the Moonshiner 28 from US 129 at the Tail of the Dragon to downtown Walhalla South Carolina. We had almost forgotten how good this road really is. Heading south from US 129 the road has some good twisties along…
Complete Devils Triangle 2014
This 44-mile loop is located northwest of Oak Ridge Tennessee and 24 miles west of Knoxville. It offers some touring excitement not found on many roads including the Tail of the Dragon. It forms a rough triangle consisting of two connecting roads TN 62/TN 330, and TN 116 where all the action is. Heading west…
Complete Diamondback 2010
The Diamondback is located in the area of Little Switzerland and the Blue Ridge Parkway about 50 miles north of Asheville, North Carolina. This 38 mile diamond shaped loop includes NC 226A, US 221, Toms Creek Road, NC 80 AKA the Devils Staircase and the Blue Ridge Parkway. This is a great loop for motorcycles…
The Road to Nowhere ~ Bryson City
The creation of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in the 1920s and 1930s resulted in many homesteaders being evicted from their lands. The construction of Fontana Dam (1942-44) created Fontana Lake which flooded the existing roadway NC288 and many of the small ghost towns along the route. What remained on the north side of…
Back of the Dragon & Claw of the Dragon 2014
Tazewell to Marion, Virginia In September of 2014 Nancy and I headed north into Virginia to explore the Back of the Dragon. A number of people have been asking about it and the trip was a good excuse to take a couple of days off. After several days of web browsing Nancy finally found a…
Tatham Gap Road
Tatham Gap Road from Robbinsville to Andrews, North Carolina has been reopened in August 2015 after three years of repair work. This is a great dual sport/Jeep route and can be driven by cars. It might be a little bumpy in spots, but most vehicles can handle it. We call this nine mile long road…
Biltmore
⇐ BACK A few weeks ago we got a call from our friend and motorcycle writer, Neale Bayly. He wanted us to plan a route and lead a couple of Aprilia exec’s on a backroads adventure from the Historic Biltmore Hotel in Atlanta to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. Neale would be compiling the adventure…
Appalachicola
Nancy and I attended the first annual Tour de Apalachicola, a gathering of KLRs and other dual port adventure riders. Attendees began gathering Thursday at the Indian Springs YMCA Camp located about near Wakulla Springs 15 miles south of downtown Tallahassee Florida . This area looked prime for some backwoods exploring with the 565,000 acre…
Big Bend
DAY ONE, learning how to negotiate in the desert sand: Sunday November 11, 2002, temperature in the mid-50’s at 10am We headed north on Terlingua Ranch road trying to get a feel for the bikes on this washboard shellrock road. We took a right on Marathon Road and headed northeast for the back entrance into…
Big South Fork
We took another couple of days off after the hard working summer of 07. We were still clearing our heads from the Tennesee Highway Patrol fiasco of July, August and September. We decided to explore the Big South Fork area of Tennessee and Kentucy. We had been in the area a number of times, but…
Brew Grass 2011
Western North Carolina Highlights We recently took off for a few days in Nancy’s new Mustang GT to explore some of the roads that we have reported on before and we actually found a couple of new ones. We also discovered some great places to eat and some not so great. Road details coming soon.…
Blue Ridge Parkway
In August of 2010 Nancy and I took a week to explore the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive in depth. We started our trek at the southern end and worked our way north. PART 1 An excellent source for information about the Blue Ridge Parkway and many other routes are the Motorcycle Adventure books…
Blue Ridge Parkway 2005
DAY ONE We left Robbinsville about 4 pm taking an easy drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway from Balsam Gap to Mt. Pisgah . There was very little traffic and a beautiful evening to see the distant scenery. We arrived at Mt. Pisgah Campground at about 7:30 pm and were glad it was sparsely populated…
Charleston 2007
DAY ONE Robbinsville NC to Sumter SC 345 miles We left Robbinsville about 11 am getting the usual late start. We wanted to have lunch at the Bantam Chef in Chesnee, South Carolina, but it would be a late lunch with a good three hours of riding to cover some 192 miles. As we approached…
Cherokee and Heintooga
Cherokee – Heintooga One-Way Loop, October 30, 2007 It was October 30, the last day of the year that this one-way gravel road loop through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park would be open. Nancy and I had wanted to try it for years but just hadn’t been able to find the time. Now the…
Citigo Dual Sport
Two Great Dual Sport/Jeep Roads in the Cherokee National Forest of East Tennessee WAUCHEESI MOUNTAIN This ride is suitable for adventurous intermediate riders on medium dual sports and experienced riders on large duals. We rode our KLX250s, but would have had no problem on our KLR650s or even on the unloaded CaporNord. A friend road…
Fall Color Tour
⇐ BACK Peak colors typically occur during the last two weeks in October, but that is dependent upon fall temperatures and in particular, the first frost date. The color change begins at higher elevations where you see the earliest changes in late September, and continue all the way into mid-November at the lower elevations. The…
Foothills Parkway Loop
⇐ BACK Foothills Parkway/Smoky Mountain Loop The new “missing link” 16 mile section of the Foothills Parkway is now open. This slightly changes our Smoky Mountain Loop Map, but it is for the good. From Little River Road (TN 73) take Wear Gap Road north to Wear Valley, jog right on US321 for 1 mile…