I had the pleasure of a trip with some friends to Maggie valley. The trip had been planned for several months and was virtually all on back roads.
We started out from Baltimore taking Rt 340 to 211 and back over the mountains to stay at the Stonewall Jackson hotel in Staunton. That was my first time
staying at a hotel with a definite southern charm. We continued (all back roads) to Welch WVA where we stayed overnight and participated in a group ride
and cookout with a local group. From Welch we continued on to Maggie Valley where stayed in a rental house. That was our base of operations for the
next 4 days. Lots of riding with few opportunities for pics as it was a riding trip. Gotta say the secondary roads are all awesome. From Maggie Valley
we headed up through part of TN and into KY for the night. From there we road through the Red River Gorge. Awesome! Including the Nada tunnel
that is carved through the mountain. The tunnel is about 1.5 car width and maybe 10 feet tall. It does have pavement to drive on and is strictly a one
way affair. Really cool and the gorge is a fantastic ride as well as being beautiful. We ended up staying at Corbin KY for the night. The next day was
a long ride to Parkersburg WVA for our last night on the road. That brought us to our final day of riding. We all took Rt 50 keeping in the spirit of secondary
roads. At 219, half of us went north to get home a bit faster via I-68 to Baltimore, the other half continued on 50 to Winchester and home via 340.
All in all a terrific 10 day tour. Temps ranged from the 90's in the lower elevations to the upper 60's on top of the pky. The humidity was with us the
entire trip, so much so that our riding clothes never dried out one day to the next. You guys are going to have fun next month.
Jim
We started out from Baltimore taking Rt 340 to 211 and back over the mountains to stay at the Stonewall Jackson hotel in Staunton. That was my first time
staying at a hotel with a definite southern charm. We continued (all back roads) to Welch WVA where we stayed overnight and participated in a group ride
and cookout with a local group. From Welch we continued on to Maggie Valley where stayed in a rental house. That was our base of operations for the
next 4 days. Lots of riding with few opportunities for pics as it was a riding trip. Gotta say the secondary roads are all awesome. From Maggie Valley
we headed up through part of TN and into KY for the night. From there we road through the Red River Gorge. Awesome! Including the Nada tunnel
that is carved through the mountain. The tunnel is about 1.5 car width and maybe 10 feet tall. It does have pavement to drive on and is strictly a one
way affair. Really cool and the gorge is a fantastic ride as well as being beautiful. We ended up staying at Corbin KY for the night. The next day was
a long ride to Parkersburg WVA for our last night on the road. That brought us to our final day of riding. We all took Rt 50 keeping in the spirit of secondary
roads. At 219, half of us went north to get home a bit faster via I-68 to Baltimore, the other half continued on 50 to Winchester and home via 340.
All in all a terrific 10 day tour. Temps ranged from the 90's in the lower elevations to the upper 60's on top of the pky. The humidity was with us the
entire trip, so much so that our riding clothes never dried out one day to the next. You guys are going to have fun next month.
Jim
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