Chicago Region BMW Motorcycle Owners Assoccrbmw

I'm pumped!

I just worked a route to the MOA Rally that takes three days of 5-1/2 to 6-1/4 road time (estimate by Garmin S/W) and includes Deal's Gap and parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway. There's some interstate highway travel too, but each day includes somne twisties, including Rte 421 in Indiana and Kentucky and 89 through the Daniel Boone National Forest on the way to the gap.

I'll be covering this at our May meeting where we'll be covering rally preparations. I'll have GPS files for those who want them as well as printouts for those who use legacy maps.

-hank

I was requested to post this location while at the meeting Thursday night. We stopped here last fall while riding all backroads down to Tellico plains for the Old Skool rally. Lake Cumberland State Park is located in east central Ky about 35 miles north of the Tn state line and appears to be about 200 miles from Johnson City by backroads...of course. Rooms ran $ 99 a night...lodge is beautiful and the views from it even better. Roads heading east/southeast from there are rolling in the begining, getting twistier as you get east. Going straight east will run you through Kentucky coal country, which is very interesting. Going south into Tn then straight east takes you thru some very pretty rollong country. In any event, a worthwhile place to spend an overnight either on your way there or on your way home.

http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/resortparks/lc/

michael florian wrote:

QUOTE:
I was requested to post this location while at the meeting Thursday night. ...

Hi Mike,
Thanks for posting this. The route that I picked out is special to me and Cindy and it is by no means the only good route to get there. It's good to see other options brought up.

Speaking of the route I picked, the files I distributed at the meeting can be downloaded to your computer by right clicking on the following links and selecting "save as ..."

PDF of presentation: http://crbmwoa2007.googlepages.com/2009MOARallyRoutes.pdf

Garmin route file: http://crbmwoa2007.googlepages.com/2009MOARallyRoutes.gdb

thanks,
hank

Hi folks,
I promised an update to the routes and have just uploaded it. You can click on the link for the .GDB file in the earlier post and you will get the updated file.

Garmin route file: http://crbmwoa2007.googlepages.com/2009MOARallyRoutes.gdb

I have not changed the original routes except to prepend '01', '02' etc. to the names so they show up in the intended order on the GPS. I have added some additional routes including some local rides and a route that covers the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive (to the best of my knowledge) from one end to the other.

Whatever route you take - enjoy your trip to the rally!

-hank

hank harta wrote:

QUOTE:
Hi folks,
I promised an update to the routes and have just uploaded it. You can click on the link for the .GDB file in the earlier post and you will get the updated file.

Garmin route file: http://crbmwoa2007.googlepages.com/2009MOARallyRoutes.gdb

I have not changed the original routes except to prepend '01', '02' etc. to the names so they show up in the intended order on the GPS. I have added some additional routes including some local rides and a route that covers the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive (to the best of my knowledge) from one end to the other.

Whatever route you take - enjoy your trip to the rally!

-hank

Hank & CR Friends:

Letting you and others know that we were on BRP coming back from Savannah where I picked up the new (to me) car. We hit the BRP near Asheville and stayed at Mt. Pisgua Inn, which is to die for, but you must prepay your reservation and no refunds. Just go for dinner and a look around if you're in the area...It's a few miles South of Asheville on BRP.

Anyway, North of Asheville on the BRP, there were two long detours that were quite frustrating. They weren't marked very well and the alternate roads were congested with a lot of stop lights. We kept thinking "it can't be this long. Did we miss the entrance back on?" There may be more of these now or they may have moved or gone away. Just letting you know there were repairs in mid-May.

In 100 miles or so of Parkway North from Asheville, we hit maybe 30 miles of detours, got frustrated and got off in favor of other back roads through northern NC and southern Virginia. This was a big disappointment to me because I really like the BRP.

We ended up on decently fun roads ending up in Hazard, KY for the night and took the Daniel Boone Parkway to I-75 next morning. DBP is a pretty nice ride and might be a good way to get to the rally. It's 4 lane, but feels less like an interstate and is very scenic. Might be a little safer for deer and elk in the afternoon than the curvy roads. You won't go all the way to Hazard on DBP, but it's a nice, tranquil sort of ride and the Parkway is fairly smooth too.

One very nice day ride is Southern Virginia in Mt. Rogers Recreational Area, just Northeast of J. City if anyone wants a riding day in lieu of rally activities.

-TB

QUOTE:
Tom Brown wrote:
Hank & CR Friends:

Letting you and others know that we were on BRP coming back from Savannah ...

Anyway, North of Asheville on the BRP, there were two long detours that were quite frustrating. They weren't marked very well and the alternate roads were congested with a lot of stop lights.

...

In 100 miles or so of Parkway North from Asheville, we hit maybe 30 miles of detours ...

Tom,
Many thanks for the heads up on the problems with the BRP. I was thinking of going that way from the MOA to RA rally. Sounds like not such a good idea.

Incidentally, I looked for information on road closures and found this: http://www.nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/roadclosures.htm

They claim:

QUOTE:
Two short sections of the Parkway are closed for construction and repair work this summer. The detours around these areas are well marked and should not add significant time to your travels. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Clearly they don't have the manpower to update their web site.

best,
hank