Smokey Mountain Fiasco!

[Steps]

Thought I'd get in a quick Columbus Weekend trip.  Left Pennsylvania Friday after work and headed south.  The plan was to hit Cherokee, NC and return to PA via the Blue Ridge Parkway.



  Camped Friday night and was making excellent time on Saturday until Tennessee... What a mess.  I opted to go through Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, TN, through the Great Smokey Mountain National Park to Cherokee.  After leaving I-40 to Rte 66 S is where my trouble began.  It took me about 2 1/2 hours to go the 20 miles from the interstate to Gatlinburg.  I couldn't believe it.  Bumper-to-Bumper; Stop-and-Go; On-and-On-and-On!  I stopped at the Pigeon Forge Information center to see what was going on and (stupid me), it was all about the leaves (and the holiday weekend).  I'll tell you, when I was a kid I thought it was great that my Dad did 50 "squeezes" each night with one of those hand-grip things.  50!!!  I must have "squeezed" my clutch 5000 times!



  Anyway, after Gatlinburg I hit the Smokeys and things got better.  What a beautiful place.  Traffic wasn't that bad again, until Cherokee.  The Blue Ridge Parkway is absolutely incredible.  Traffic was pretty bad for the first 50-60 miles or so, but after that things tapered off.  All in all, I had a great trip.  Words of advice - stay clear of Gatlingburg until all of the leaves fall off of the trees!

[t_2m]

A for effort.  My first attempt at the Smokies wasn't quite the war yours

seemed to be.  But it wasn't perfect either, by a long shot. It's a beautiful place,  a lot of people think so. The recount of my test, I mean trip, can be read at  

http://www.geocities.com/t_2m/North_Carolina_Adventure.html

If you like "mountain" riding, there are a couple of recounts of Arkansas trips in there, too.  Steve

[skoron]

But, you got to admit that we live in a great area to get the "fall foilage" within an easy day trip.  Weather has been great as well.  Except for today of course.  I swear that when the wind was blowing from the side, I could almost put my knee down going straight ahead.  Reports say the wind was gusting over 60 mph!

[Steps]

Nice site t2!  Good story-telling and wonderful pictures.

[looch]

Hey Steps - nice pic. Was there myself the 2nd week of September - zero traffic. My webiste is down for some odd reason, but you can check back here (http://sites.nexusisp.com/pbenven/BRP_2003/Page1.htm)