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Cruiser
Posts: 259
Land O Lakes, FL | Just got back Sunday night from a really great 2400 mile trip to the Smokies. Me a good friend went on a 5 day road trip with only 1 real plan, ride the entire length of the Blue Ridge Parkway from start to finish (or in our case finish to start). We left last Tuesday night and rode to DC from Tampa arriving early wednesday the 4th. We thought it would be cool to see the Fireworks in the capital and it was awesome!
After that we headed 70 miles due west to Front Royal and jumped on Skyline Drive to ride all 105 miles of that amazing road. Amazing views and great road to ride on, so well maintained. We crashed for the night and headed out the next day picking up right where we left off starting at mile 469 on the parkway. Not long after getting on we ran into the worst rain I've ever been in, in my life. It rained so hard you couldn't see more than about 10yds ahead with lightning crashing so close you could see orange flashes and thunder that kicked you in the chest. We toughed it out til we found a bridge to hide under off a side road. After about an hour we were back on our way and the weather was great!
The views and vistas were just awesome. In some places it was a bit scary looking right and just a few feet away seeing shear drop offs. One mistake here and it's days before they find you. At a few point you could tell you were riding across the spine of the mountain on the very peaks, just awesome. We actually did almost 400 miles of the parkway in 1 day. There are a few points where it's just trees and corners and we made the most of those, some of those sections we were averaging 50-60 mph just rolling through some of the most awesome curves. The Vision handles like an absolute dream. You just don't realize the kinda corner speed you can carry and not realize your really railing. Even with all that I never touched a floorboard down the entire trip. The last 100 miles of the parkway are simply incredible. You get up to elevations in the 6000' range, actually started getting chilly. After being in DC and registering 105 seeing 68 was weird. But oh my was that section awesome.
After we finished the parkway we headed over for a couple passes through Deals Gap. My buddy had to earn his sticker for his Harley Road Glide. Which btw is also a great bike. I know folks tend to pick on Harley's a lot but his bike did great. We got EXACTLY the same gas mileage, range, everything. We would fill up and i'd put in 5.06 gallons and he'd put in 5.08, it was that way every tank. And contrary to popular belief that thing handles just fine. He was about 12' off my rear on one of our passes through the gap with no trouble at all and we were booking it.
After the gap we headed over the Cherahala Skyway for a nice ride to Tellico Plains and then down 68 (awesome as well) to 575 finally and back into Atlanta. We did 2423 miles with about 42hours of run time on my display, average 42mpg the whole trip with no issues with either bike. I did have a little issue with the cruise on my bike not engaging after the deluge we were in but when it dried out it was working again.
Overall wonderful trip with lots of great memories. Here are some Pics from our adventure:
DC Fireworks:
On our way to Front Royal
Out on Skyline Drive
The Parkway
They say timing is everything, so is location. This was perfect. Sunset in the mountains at 5200' at Glassmine Falls
The Highest Elevation on the roadway 6053', later on I did get to summit one of the mountains at 6292'
The entrance to the parkway where we finished...
Even with all the bikes we saw everywhere we stopped we always had people coming over to check out the bikes, so many people had never even seen a vision or a Victory, everyone had tons of questions and tons of compliments on the bikes. Can't wait to do it again! |
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Tourer
Posts: 373
Lansing, MI |
Nice! A freind and I did the Blue Ridge last year. Sure is beautiful!
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 26
Philly Pa. | yea got to do this one. We are heading to WV in aug. for a notional rally with the club we ride with looking forware to some of the runs they have set up for us.
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 26
Philly Pa. | that would be national rally |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 14
| Just got back myself road the mountains all week long had the time of my life. The vision did great had no problems at all but one ofthe HD did blow a trans |
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Tourer
Posts: 430
| phantomX - thanks for the write up and pics - well done. The picture of the VV and HD side by side, to me was such a strong example of an old design vs contemporary design - what a stark contrast to me. |
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Central Wisconsin | Beautiful area ... nice pics! My wife and I will meet a large group in Pigeon Forge this September for our 4th time ... love the Smokies!
 
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Cruiser
Posts: 50
Illinois | Good for you. Looks like a great trip! That's a great place to ride. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 50
| Enjoyed the write up and the pics, thanks |
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Checked off a bucket list item...
