Yeah... It may have been ironic that two weeks after my friend and I planned our vacation, I found out about the Nighthawk Rally... probably more ironic than the good advice that you just didn't take.
Even though there is a whole thread out there... I figure why waste the pics. Here's the trip... I'll try to keep it brief.
Sorry you have to copy and paste the whole link.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=saint+peters%2C+mo&daddr=williamsburg%2C+ky+to:Pineville,+KY+to:N+Davy+Crockett+Pkwy+to:Gatlinburg,+TN+
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We left at 4:30 AM on 6/5.
My buddy Matt and the Katana.
Perhaps the best pack job ever. Who else has packed in a way that it actually created a cup holder.
Entering Kentucky.
We stumbled upon a car show.
Louisville...
You can't hear it, but a choir of angels were singing about my tent too...
Bluegrass bands don't have drummers... they just don't do that.
Indiana was a little more fun than Mo... KY was a little more fun than IN... TN was more fun than KY... NC blew my mind.
Path to the look out point in KY
This guy was about 5 ft. from me.
Had to stop when we saw the sign. (TN)
Apparently there is a year waiting list to camp in the Smoky Mtns... so we got a hotel in Gatlinsburg. It's kinda touristy... Like a desperate Branson, but bigger.
Here's Tom.
That one guy and the one girl from that one movie.
Here's where I ran into a fellow Nighthawk rider... who turned out to live 15 miles or so from my home.
Here I go riding into a mountain.
We crossed over the Smoky Mtns to Cherokee.
Here's a mural.
A tattoo place next to the diner where we ate.
You guys probably remember this.
This one kinda looks like a fake background.
Fancy bear proof trashcans
Met a guy from Canada. This is his Ford. I'd never seen one like this before.
I liked this little cafe at the end of the skyway. They make a decent BLT.
...and the view of the river isn't bad either.
We found a place to camp. I went around asking people for change for a $20 so I could pay for it. I finally found a guy that had change... then his dog bit me. Then I went back to put the box to fill out the form, but someone had taken the pen, so I gave up and stayed for free. Here's the view from the camp site.
The reluctant camp fire.
It got really cold at night, but it was nice waking up to this.
The next day we stopped at the Jack Daniels distillery.
It's common for distilleries to have this mold on everything... or so they told me.
Interesting things about JD. He broke his toe kicking a safe... which lead to his death of Gangrene. His nephew took over just as prohibition went into effect. He kept it registered so he could start production back up when the repealed prohibition, but to this day that county is still a dry county.
...so we drank lemonade.
This is 4 or 5 pics of Lynchburg.
We then drove through Nashville... it was horrible traffic, so we kept going until we were through.
This view from the hotel the next morning.
The last day was just about getting home. This is me beat at Subway.
