SOUTHEAST RIDE – DAY 4 (DRAGON – TENNESSEE – SMOKEY MOUNTAIN – NORTH CAROLINA)

Monday morning, after saying good bye, Ed headed back to Atlanta.
I had my plan for the Monday, 4th day with the VFR.

I would do a round loop, from Robbinsville thru the Dragon to Maryville (Tennessee), Townsend, then follow the Hwy71 crossing the Smoky Mountain down back to Cherokee, Glenville, Cashiers, Highlands, Franklin and back to the Cabin in Robbinsville.

Amazing fall color that morning:

VRF always amazing, too:

First riding day alone, I can stop anywhere to feel the air, see the things and take photos:

What could be more beautiful? I would never mind keep posting such kind of awesome look:

This hill is on the way to Dragon:

I don’t know what kind of the houses, it looks more like a store:

A nice and clear lake:

What the color:

There were almost no traffic on the Dragon on Monday morning. I really enjoy slaying the Dragon for two times.

First time passed the Tabcat bridge, heading to Tennessee. I saw this dam pretty close:

The cliff beside the dam was nice too:

Lonely road:

The roads from Dragon to Maryville was narrow, but clear, not so many twisties. I had to ride on the freeway for about 15 mins to reach Maryville:

I think I did quite zig-zag route within the Maryville as I wanted to see things around. However, that was not so easy for me to take fotos as there were lots of traffics on the roads.

Left Maryville, I rode on the 73 for around 10miles before getting into the Smoky Mountain area:

Yes, it seemed to be the starting point:

The traffic started to be crowded. There were a lot of cars who go for traveling toward the Smoky Mountain. Easily see the cars stopped at a large pull-off area or overlook area.
However, I did not bother much, as I planned to spend my day easily and I can head back to cabin anytime I wanted.

A nice stream along the road:

It was not easy to park the bike on the soft shoulder, but the place was so nice, so I have tried to find the stone to aid the side stand:

A calm upstream:

But a different look of downstream:

Just took a silent moment, at the middle of the forest, beside the stream and the VFR. I was wishing my family being there with me….

Well, sun was shining, and my family was asleep at home…

Back to the road again:

Fall was all around…

Some milestone:

Nice view from an overlook:

A bit different type of trees:

A bit different look with a crowded tourist campsite:

Yeah, you can stop anytime when riding alone. I have another stop at another overlook:

RWB VFR between the golden fall:

Awesome day for ride:

Continue with the trip. I think I was coming down South on 441:

Then saw this:

Well, save that BRP for the next day.:

Reach Cherokee:

I still feel regret that I did not take time to visit the Indian museum there.
And did not buy any shirt, even with good price:

A busy little town:

We don’t have this in Vietnam:

But we have such kind of power lines:

Passed Cherokee, I keep continuing on 107 down to Glenville and Cashiers.

The roads to Glenville was awesome, a bit small but very few traffic, and lots of twisty:

Arrived Glenville around 3:30PM. I was quite worried because there was still quite long way back to Robbinsville, and I did not know how the road would be:

Glenville Post office:

I stopped for a while. Look at the map, try to figure out the location and the route back to Robinsville from Glenville. I was thinking of riding in the dark on 129 when getting back the cabin. Then I decided to continue with the planned route.
Kept going for a little while, I saw a very nice lake on the right:

That’s the boat rental station:

The bike in the sun:

Quickly got on the bike, to Cashiers in about some miles, then I turn right at Cashiers to 64.
The 64 to Highlands and the 28 to Franklin were really great as well. However I was feeling not really comfortable as the sunlight hit directly to my eyes. It was quite difficult for me at many corners.

It was quite late, darker and darker so I did not take anymore photo, except this:

In Vietnamese, Macon, actually “Ma con” means a “little ghost”. I was reading that in Vietnamese all the way back to Robbinsville. Damn, that night was the first night I stayed alone in the Robbinsville cabin!!

Hit back to the town, had dinner and end the riding day.
I turned all the light inside and outside the cabin that night. Made some plans for the cases of someone knock at the door at the midnight… ect… Damn, that was a long night!