Oh jeez, I forgot to check this thread before leaving. Sorry for not getting back to you Trike but you didn't miss out on much.
On the ride from Miami to Charlotte, the weather was perfect and there was no major traffic. The next 2 days up in the mountains and the third day of me riding bad consisted of cold, pouring rain. My waterproof clothing was discovered to not be waterproof, my phone was killed by the rain, and I was riding blind most of the way. Complete garbage weather but I made the most of it.
From Charlotte to Maggie Valley, I took some random roads up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and then rode the Parkway all the way to Maggie Valley. Lots of fantastic views and horrendous fog. At some points, I literally had 20 ft of viewing distance and my permanently, slightly tinted Transitions Visor didn't make it any better. My eyes started getting used to riding unshielded
On Sunday, I planned on riding the Dragon. After over riding and ending up over an hour southwest of Deals Gap in Andrews, NC, I stopped at a gas station and saw 4 random ADV riders there. I asked them if they knew were the Dragon was, which they knew, and I asked if they were going and they said yes. What a freaking break. From there, the 5 of us, getting lost some more, eventually ended up at the Dragon. Due to it being Nov 2, it was out of season and very, very few things were open. Our lunch consisted of Trail Mix since all the restaurants seemed to have closed already. I found out those 4 guys came from Corpus Christi, TX and were trying to do the Eastern part of the TAT. This is right after that Hurricane hit Mexico so most of the Central and East US was wet. They had heavy ADV bikes and the mud on their trails weren't doing well at all. They just gave up and decided to hit the pavement. I need to find out what they decided to do after we separated.
Deals Gap was completely empty. Literally empty. Not a single motorcycle at the Motel or at Killboy. No, no Killboy photo since no one was there BUT I did get one in front of their advertising sign on the hill
I rode the Dragon both directions, not seeing a single car, but the drenched, leaf covered road had me riding between 10-20 the whole time. I found out during this trip that I much more enjoy the faster, longer curves of the surrounding roads (NC-28 was an amazing ride) than the Dragon or most parts of the Parkway.
I rode through wet gloves (lots of blisters on the throttle hand), wet boots, and 0 navigation but it was worth it.
I have bunches of video and pictures and still need to make a proper ride report but here's one of my favorite pictures from the Parkway.
