The reason for our visit to the area around Cherokee was to drive some of the picturesque roads we had ridden in 2009. The Blue Ridge Parkway, The Tail of the Dragon and Smoky Mountains National Park are all within spitting distance of Cherokee. All of these roads are made for motorcycling but alas, we would be doing them in the little red car!

First up was The Tail of the Dragon. This road starts at Deal's Gap in North Carolina. The section known as the dragon is only 11 miles long BUT in that 11 miles there are 318 curves. It is known as America's favourite two-lane touring road. The road is certainly not as challenging to the rider as some of the alpine passes in Europe that we have ridden, but it is enough of a challenge that many riders have come to grief while trying to slay the dragon.


We stopped at Deal's Gap Resort to check out all the bikes, pick up a shirt for Greg and chat to some of the many riders from all over America who were about to take off for their ride on the Dragon's Tail.
The Tree of Shame (covered with broken parts of motorbikes, ripped jackets and smashed helmets) is testimony to the fact that this road is not as easy as it first appears. We drove the length of the Tail of the Dragon ending up in Tennessee. We wished we were on the bike as we rounded every one of the 318 curves but I guess the positive is that we have now been on this road twice - once on the red Triumph Sprint ST and now in the little red car.












We continued on along the Foothills Parkway - stunning - and then travelled rough The Great Smoky Mountains National Park - even more stunning. Our lunch stop was in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We decided to have lunch in the Happy Days Diner, our first diner for the trip. OMG, as I write this at 9 pm, Happy Days has just come on the TV in our hotel room!


Pigeon Forge is a real tourist town with amusement arcades, rides, shopping outlets, restaurants and every motel chain that you could name. We did a little shopping and then moved on, not really our sort of town. Gatlinburg, the next town, was more of the same so we just drove through.

The Blue Ridge Parkway took us to our next stop for the night, Maggie Valley, only about 20 km from Cherokee. We travelled through Maggie Valley yesterday and decided that we would spend a night there as this was the location of Wheels Through Time, a museum we have been keen to visit for many years. We did have to change our travel plans as the museum is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday - right when we had planned to visit. On to Plan B!


Wheels Through Time is home to the world's premier collection of rare American motorcycles and significant cars. It was founded in 1992 by Dale Walksley after he sold his Harley dealership in Illinois. There are over 320 of America's rarest and most significant motorcycles on display. 99% of the machines on display are supposed to be be in running order but we have our doubts about this. We did however see Dale ride an Indian through the museum while we were there and then had a chat to him about how he gazzumped Wayne Carini in the purchase of one of his rare bikes. How you might ask did we know this? Well, we have watched "What's in the Barn?", a bit like American Pickers but about motorbikes.


We spent a little over an hour checking out the bikes before heading out of town.

Our destination for the night was to be Birmingham, Alabama so we had some miles to cover. The drive was ordinary, except for a couple of tanks being transported on the back of trucks - not something you see every day, as our son-in-law Brett Schneider would say.


Thanks to the 1 hour time gain moving from state to state, we arrived in Birmingham and decided to spend 2 hours in the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum; 2 famous motorcycle museums in the one day! Greg owes Kerrie BIG TIME!

Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum was completely different to Wheels Through Time. This museum represents the history of motorsports, immaculately displayed throughout five floors of a huge building. The museum presently houses a collection of over 1350 motorcycles spanning over 100 years of production. There are over 700 bikes on display in the museum and the rest are housed in the basement floor and restoration area.

We were invited by one of the security guards to visit the basement and were gobsmacked by the number of bikes stored there awaiting full restoration, most were under bike covers to preserve them.

The displays there include common street bikes as well as rare racing bikes. As well as the bikes the museum has on display a collection of rare and unique sports cars, the worlds most extensive collection of Lotus racecars is there.

Adjacent to the museum is the motorsports park, a race track where we saw Porsches going through their paces. By the time we had finished in the museum, we were exhausted. It's not often you get the chance to visit two such memorable museums in the one day.

All in all, the last few days have been pretty close to motorcycling magic, well, as close as you can get without actually having your bike to ride!