TOD and surroundings.

[raja777m]

Hello guys,
We had a small trip of 857 miles, over a 51 hour period (weekend trip), started on Friday afternoon, and returned back on Sunday evening.
Myself, Sunil (Linus) and Pranay [(kingxirol) on his Harley], stayed at 74 Deals Gap road.

1. The trip was amazing, tiring, fun, exhausting, scenic, adventurous.
2. We explored new routes



TOD, up/down/up; Chilhowee(72, 360), 39, 315, 30, 64. From Ducktown to Murphy, then Joe brown hwy to Turtletown, Cherohala Skyway, Sweetwater, Hellbender to deals gap cabin.
Regarding Joe Brown Hwy, it was a great road, with awesome twisties, but after some time, the roadway is so bad, my bike lost traction for a second and it gained again.

3. Adventurous trial biking on my FZ6:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9VRmHjmkow
https://youtu.be/XgvRvH8-k8k

4. Good food, Huddle house on Friday and Tellicafe near CS. Prime rib in tellicafe after a long tiring day is filling, had the best mashed potato and gravy in a long time. Thought I would sleep on CS, but the twisties kept me awake
Actually, breakfast at Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort was good, one oatmeal and share your bacon-egg toast or sausage-egg toast/biscuit with one more person. Sausage is chewy, so try to avoid it.









5. Cabin, 74 Deals gap, as you can see the gravel road leading to the house, that is our first hurdle, 75$ per night, accomodates 4-5 people
1 Queen, 2 Singles in one room and 1 full in the other room.
Advantages: it is a house, with kitchen and nice view of lake from far.
Disadvantages:
1. No cell service, no internet, no landline, only cable with a 32" TV.
2. Both nights, no cooling, we slept in 80F.
3. Sunday morning, we ran out of water.
4. Can't go out quickly to get something, due to gravel road and no light at night on the way out.
For a second, I thought, if you want to kill yourself, you stay there, but if you're okay with complete isolation, that is the place. I'm pretty sure you'll face the water problem, and meanwhile she should fix the A/C.
BTW, from the video, where you see white Corvette, there you get a bar or two, Sprint service.

* More pics:
https://www.facebook.com/sunilvallabh/posts/10153456034405876
and here
https://goo.gl/photos/gFSbuSu2ECWkkzYa8

Some videos from the ride.
https://youtu.be/ngq5YTr_7eM
https://youtu.be/835hqdbQbQA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6G1AEeqnb4
https://youtu.be/aU0mGF7cAco
https://youtu.be/3RwvZ4wHuC8
https://youtu.be/Ye0r6XG7kfk
https://youtu.be/Bcwost9TktQ
https://youtu.be/jTVxVY5T9FY
https://youtu.be/w6G1AEeqnb4
https://youtu.be/OdZ3qSLxb_U
https://youtu.be/ji_Guxr3nog
https://youtu.be/T_VB7p0Gqgo
https://youtu.be/jyWbX53GFJw
https://youtu.be/cQUs9kK94YU
https://youtu.be/M_WSOJvRKt4
https://youtu.be/4GAvx-FTAk4
https://youtu.be/sxhlCdXg_jE

A big shoutout to Pranay and Sunil, to make this trip happen. It was great riding with you guys always.

Lessons learned:
1. Get a hydration pack.
2. Try to avoid the Clemson road while returning and make sure we hit moonshiners next time
3. Don't go 210 miles on a single sitting, take a 1-2 mins break, that too when it is in the beginning.
4. Intercom would be great, when we are exploring new roads, so we don't miss out.

 

[raja777m]

For other people who are planning to go to TOD,
Take lodging at Kickstand Lodge. We went there twice last year and it is booked this time, so, we couldn't make it.
It is a fun place to stay, bonfire, BBQ dinner, make your own breakfast, lot of alcohol. You can make S'mores from the bonfire, my fav.

 

[kingxirol]

Great job with the snapshot of a marathon mountain run! :thumbup:

Tail of the Dragon was fun as always. Next time I will have to do it on my FZ6 with you guys. Harley does it's job but I am too broke right now to replace all the under parts that have been scrapped away. We are lucky to live so close to so many nice roads with breathtaking scenery and twisties like nowhere else.

 

[raja777m]

Everything happens for a reason, I swore when I got my job in Charlotte, NC. Then I got this TamedBeast (my FZ6), made me calm down a bit, then met you guys, and now I don't want to leave Charlotte. Last year I learned, people all around the country come to this part of the USA for those wonderful roads. We definitely need to do BRP, along with the Claw of the Dragon.

 

[linus]

Great time with good friends! Thanks for summarizing an epic weekend Raj!