I love this photo. The blur of the pavement adds to the look of going fast.

Yesterday, we decided to take a short ride.  After days of leaving early, returning late, and eating supper at 10:00 PM, we thought it would be nice to be back at a decent time.  We left and set out to the Foothills Parkway to US 129 “The Tail of the Dragon” and then went past the Horse Creek campground in the Joyce Kilmer Forest.  After passing through the Joyce Kilmer Forest, we headed out the Cherohala Skyway toward Tellico Plains, Tennessee.  This road is a great road for motorcycles as there is almost no traffic.  The sweeping turns are great and plentiful.  There are pull offs with scenic views it seems almost every mile.  There are some photos from the Skyway on one of our previous posts.  Yesterday, the pace was more relaxed and we made several stops.  Amy was taking photos almost the entire time.  I am so glad I do not buy film anymore.

I like this photo too, probably because of the yellow line. Amy really had to hang off of the bike to capture these.

When we made it to within 14 miles of Tellico Plains, we came to another pull off, but this time there was a US Forest Service truck blocking the roadway just before the pull off.  There was fire truck in the pull off with its emergency lights on.  I told Amy to get ready with the camera, as there was probably a helicopter coming.  It turns out that there had been a motorcycle crash about two miles up the road.  

Video of Helicopter Landing on Cherohala Skyway

We passed the accident, it was a black Yamaha sportbike that looks like it “low sided” in a turn.  The bike was pretty damaged.  We don’t know how the driver turned out, we hope that he is OK.  

We finished riding the Cherohala Skyway and stopped for a drink and an ice cream bar at the gas station in Tellico Plains.  Being from Ohio, we do not get to enjoy Mayfield Dairy ice cream, so I take advantage of being in the south.  I was sitting outside on a bench eating my ice cream and a cool hot rod pulled in.  I told the owner that he had one car that I could love driving.  It looked like they had fun climbing in and out of the car.

We decided that we had so much fun on our ride, that we just turned around and did the exact same route on the way home.  It took a little longer going that route versus going the direct route, but I would ride from Ohio to do this route.

On our way back toward Robbinsville, NC, we came around a turn and saw an animal on the roadway.  We weren’t sure, but it looked like a black dog.  As we approached, it turned sideways and we could see that it was a wild hog and there were four others with it that ran out in front of us.  We did not get to the camera in time to get a photo of them.  By the time we got the camera, all we captured in the photo was trees.

Does this dam look familiar?

This is the dam that appeared in the movie "The Fugitive"

Our “short ride” took us several hours after the wait for the helicopter and the sightseeing, but it was fun.  Later we went to El Sazon in Maryville, TN for supper.  It is a great mexican restaurant that is a favorite of our family.