The Smoky Mountains: Riding the Tail of the Dragon

Leaving Chattanooga on a cool, clear, and crisp late fall morning is exhilarating.  It is a hour ride to the base of the Smoky Mountains.  We ride thru Cleveland Tennessee on US Highway 64 and stop for lunch in the small town of Ocoee, Tennessee.  Its a great lunch of Fried Catfish and Green Shrimp at Bears Den Barbeque.    I really don't know what fried green shrimp are but they sure are good.

It is then off to the Dragon.  It is a short ride up Highway 411 to US Highway 129; the start of the Tail of the Dragon.   This road has 310 sharp curves over a 11 mile stretch that crosses the Smoky Mountains into North Carolina. We are riding the Dragon from the west to east which will put us in the heart of the Smokies.  We stop at the Harley apparel shop before the start of the Dragon and of course buy the T-shirt.

The ride is incredible with the fall colors in the trees.  We make short work of the 11 miles and stop to get our bearings in Robbinsville, NC to get a soda. We marvel at the fact that we have ridden the Dragon the most crooked road in the United States.  It is a beautiful thing.  For anyone that rides a motorcycle it is a badge of honor.  It is closing in on 5 PM we have a long way to go to get to our destination of Franklin North Carolina.

So we turn down North Carolina Moonshiner 28 off of US Highway 74 as it starts to get dark.   We are taking this winding road slowly because it is prime deer season time on a motorcycle.  So in the next 10 miles before Franklin we have 3 Whitetails cross the road in front of us.  It pays to take our time and ride slow not exceeding 25 MPH during this danger time.

With a deep breath we pull into Franklin North Carolina to get gas at a quick stop.  A UPS driver who was following us came up to discuss the deer.  That's good ride'n he says, you could have reached out and had some venison too!!!  

It is our lucky night we get the last hotel room at the Franklin Comfort Inn.