Anyone from TN or VA area

I live in Raleigh, NC but have spent much time riding (mostly two wheels in Western NC and VA as well as eastern TN. Lots of great riding - especially if you enjoy curvey roads.

Skyline Drive in northern VA is stunning, but cost $15 to ride. You can pick up the BRP at Afton Mountain and run it south for free. So, you might consider riding along the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains on RT 232. It is more scenic than twisty and when you get close to Charlottesville you will go by some stunning horse farms. At the lower altitudes you may find the azelas (sp?) or rhodadendren in bloom (sp?).

You might let yourself get lost on the little roads of the Shenandoah Valley all around Staunton (use a DeLorme). The run up US 250 into West Virginia is nice too (actually better in the other direction).

Going further south in VA, consider Burkes Garden - neat geographical depression in the middle of the mountains - some consider it God's thumbprint. Further south some more, you might try a run north on 16 from Hungry Mother State Park up to Tazwell - very twisty with a spectaular view of a bucolic valley just before Tazwell.

There is a neat 17 mile long downhill bicycle ride down white top mountain into Damascus, VA. You rent the bikes, they take you up the hill in a van and you ride down an old railroad grade. Some good photo ops along there.

All the while you are never far from the BRP and it will take you through NC to the Park.

The Smokey Mountain Park will not be too busy in April - during the Summer and Fall it is a zoo. You might enjoy the slow crawl through Cades Cove. You will see deer, perhaps a coyote and even black bear. There will be traffic.

The famous Dragon (US 129) is a little south of the Park and would not be bad during a weekday. It is nuts on the weekend. Extremely curvey.

Highway 28 in that same area (NC) is beautiful.

If you want more details, an e-mail might be in order. I'd be glad to help. By the way, you will need at least a month to do this trip 🙂

Incidentally, for the past several years I've visited Brooklyn, ME for about a week in September. Friends have a place on Eggimoggin Reach and I got into wooden boats at the school there. What a beautiful place.

Thanks for the reply Beagleman,

It sound like you have run a few of these roads. I am not into curves that much, I just don't like to work that hard on the sidecar. I am going to order the DeLorme Atlas for both TN and VA and then I will be better able to see what routes you are talking about.

Our plan is to bring our Desert Fox Toyhauler and use that as a base and do day trips on the rig. Hopefully we can take a month or so.

We are just across the bay from Brooklyn in The Camden area. Actually we came here 35 years ago because I wanted to build wooden boats, I worked in a yard called Penobscot Boat Works in Rockport and later in Lee's Boat Yard in Rockland. They are both long gone but we loved the area and stayed. If you are ever in The Camden area give a shout out.

Kevin White.....No relation to Joel White

Scrinch,

For beauty without intense curves, the Shenanadoah Valley would be terrific. Skyline Drive and the Parkway are a little curvey, but very predictable, honest curves. There really are not many roads in the Smokey Mountain National Park and most of them are either not that tight or very slow - better to see the beauty anyway. In general the roads parallel to the ranges are not nearly as twisty as the ones go perpendicular.

I spent a couple of years of part time work building a Haven 12-1/2 Footer, then a couple of Fiddlehead Covered Canoes (Harry Bryan) followed by a Handy Billy 18 (also by Bryan). Now I am married with a kid on the way, so no more boat building for a while.

Camden is stunning in September (the only time I have seen it). Kevin, you are a lucky dog.