Tennesse/Kentucky Recomendations

Me and a friend are talking about meeting up for 4 days or so of riding. He is coming from Connecticut and I am coming from Colorado. He will be on a F650CS and I will be on a Pegaso 650. Because his bike is belt drive we need to stay mostly on pavement.
We were going to go to the Honda Hoot, but I cannot make it that week.
Western TN and Kentucky look nice doing a little googling. We would probably like to ride 300 miles each day. Some of the time will be spent visiting small town, museums, bridges, things like that. I love to work out a 1,000 mile loop.
Would it be worth it to ride east to the circus of Deal's Gap or the Dragon?
Maybe head to Missouri and the ozarks? Explore Kentucky horse country?
I need to sit down with my 10 year archive of Rider Mags and see what I find on the area. I bet it will be hot and humid in July. I like to camp, but I suspect air conditioned motels will be a welcome relief.
Any advice or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Deal's Gap (aka the Tail of the Dragon) is certainly worth putting up with the crowds to get your sticker and teeshirt, but when you're there, there's hundreds of miles of much better roads to ride. Good motorcycle campgrouncs in the area: Blue Ridge Cycle Campground in Cruso and Ironhorse in Stecoah (google is your friend).

No matter where the two of you meet and ride, you should definitely put US 160 in southern MO on your route to get there. The 160 miles from Forsyth to Doniphan makes for a fantastic ride: curvy, hilly, and uncrowded.

I'm sure there are some nice rides in Kentucky, but if you're going as far as Eastern Kentucky, you might as well go the extra distance and come explore southwest Virginia.

BTW, I rented a Pegaso in Madrid a couple of summers ago and rode it about 2000 miles in Spain and Portugal.
Here's a couple of pics:



Have fun,

Thanks for the reply. Cool pictures! How did the Pegaso compare to your KLR and DL?

That trip was before I got the KLR or the DL, so I'm going on memory for comparing. The Pegaso had better suspension than the KLR, but not as much clearance, better clearance than the DL, but not as much motor. But then, I mostly stayed on "roads" except for the occasional foray into a castle ruins on top of a mountain. Did ride a lot of dirt roads though, but nothing the DL couldn't have handled. For that kind of riding, I'd definitely choose the DL -- it's great for any kind of paved roads, and reasonable on good dirt roads. But when the going gets rough, the DL is not as good as the Pegaso and the Pegaso is not as good as the KLR.

east west roads include the Triple Nickel RT555 in SE Ohio and Rt 50 across VA. Then you can take the Blueridge..but only during the week... not on the weekend. Any road close to the BRP is special also... I have a couple of loops inthe area is you ping me off-line. That should keep you busy for a week. john shuck

A couple of points of interest I enjoyed in that area: Last year I was riding from Ohio back to my starting point in Georgia and routed myself to Mammoth Cave in western Kentucky. I did the 2 HR tour through the cave - wear your riding jacket because it is cold in there. Then the next day I stopped at Sweetwater, TN (off I-40 on TN 68) and toured the Lost Sea which includes a boat ride in an underground lake about 400 feet down. From there it's a great ride down TN 68 to Tellico Plains where you can get on the Cherohala Skyway for an outstanding ride over to the Robbinsville, NC and Deals Gap area. Lots of folks find the Skyway more enjoyable than the Tail of the Dragon. Lots of good roads all over that whole area.

In fact if you plan a stop at Tellico Plains you could stay at the Cherohala Motorcycle Resort. Excellent facilities and even better owners.

Yeah, take the advice of these guys and make sure you hit the Cherohala. IMO, it's one of the top five motorcycle roads in the U.S. Perfect. 28 leading south from Deal's Gap is also a fantastic ride. Then again, most of the roads in this area are great. Just pick one and go!!

As far as KY, it depends on what kind of time you need to make. Taking 27 or 127 straight north to south is as decent ride if you just need to make time. There are plenty of roads shooting off of these roads that can make the ride more interesting. KY 90 running through Cumberland Falls State Park is one of my favorites. It's just off of Hwy 27 down near the Tennessee border. From here, you're pretty close to Cherohala and all of those great roads. The State Park also has a nice lodge that I can vouch for.

That's my 2 cents.

I lived in Prestonsburg Kentucky for a couple of years and I used to make quick trips here.....some nice curvy roads to and from, and the "Breaks" are beautiful.

http://www.breakspark.com/index.php?n=1&id=1