Having conquered the Dragon, now a legend in my own mind, I pulled into Ron and Nancy Johnson’s Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort, a mandatory stop at the southern end. Dragon riding is about turns, leaning, weight change, rhythm and smiling through 318 curves in 11 miles. Sports cars and screaming sportbikes ply the road’s endless curves, so you must pay constant attention. I had ridden it from the North Carolina side, but not the other direction. Suddenly I was at the beginning of the Tail of the Dragon section of U.S. The author’s BMW F 650 GS parked at Foothills Parkway Overlook between Townsend and Chilhowee, Tennessee. The colors along the parkway were overwhelmingly beautiful. The sun came out, allowing me to absorb Mother Nature’s continuous visual treats. Besides fishing, Cherokee has amenities and attractions like the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, a casino, lodging, eateries, a gateway to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway.Ĭhilled and needing hot food and coffee, I pulled into a roadhouse in Townsend and wolfed down a medium-rare strip with eggs, home fries and coffee. The cabin was a luxurious tent, tailormade for a motorcycle journey. In Cherokee, I camped in a KOA cabin along the Raven Fork River for two days of fishing. But what had begun as a raw, misty autumn ride soon developed into an unforgettable fall-color riding spectacle. I wasn’t expecting anything extraordinary riding this portion of Moonshiner 28 after two days of enjoying nothing but amazing riding from where I started in Cherokee, North Carolina. Route 129 in Tennessee and North Carolina - Moonshiner 28 begins at its southern end and is an even better ride in many ways. Everyone has heard of the Tail of the Dragon section of U.S. These exciting moments were in the Cullasaja River Gorge of North Carolina’s State Highway 28, parts of it nicknamed “Moonshiner 28” due to its rich history of use by speeding moonshiners evading the revenuers. Doing so revealed the gorgeous sight of a rock-laced, turbulent waterfall directly in front of me. Photos by the author.Īs I leaned into the corner, a stopped garbage truck appeared just ahead, hugging the stone wall on the right closely enough that I could just squeak by. Zeb and Bob Congdon at The Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort before heading up the Tail of the Dragon.

Tail of the dragon north georgia