Vacation (Tn, Va, Ga)

 

Just return from a three weeks vacation in Tn, Va, Ga. The leave wasn't quite ready, but did enjoy what we saw. Took my 855 and my 3790. Both work great. I used the 9790 for my routes and my wife used the 855 to find restaurant and fast food places. The eta time was different by a couple of minutes,but,no problem. First time that my wife ever used the gps. She learned real quick.

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3790LMT; 2595LMT; 3590LMT, 60LMTHD

envy you

For the second year in a row I had to postpone the trip through the Blue Ridge Pkwy to catch the leaves, maybe next year.

Did you make a route of the entire trip beforehand or just went from POI to POI as needed?

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Garmin 38 - Magellan Gold - Garmin Yellow eTrex - Nuvi 260 - Nuvi 2460LMT - Google Nexus 7 - Toyota Entune NAV

Very Nice!

We went to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Blue Ridge Parkway two years ago around this time.

It was warm and sunny one day, we were hiking in shorts and tee shirts, then two days later, the area was hit by a snow storm, roads closed due to several inches of snow. That region is beautiful.

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When you are dead, you don’t know that you are dead. It is only difficult for the others. It is the same when you are stupid.

Vacation

Didn't use custom poi. Just use the poi that came with the gps, didn't have any problem using that one and finding what I wanted.
I am going to try again in 2013 and start either at the end of Oct or the third week of Oct. The leaves were about 25% turning.
It was a nice vacation after all.

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3790LMT; 2595LMT; 3590LMT, 60LMTHD

Pisgah Inn at Mile 408

Has anyone stayed at the Pisgah Inn on the Blue Ridge Parkway? We stayed there on Oct 20 a few years ago right at the peak of colors.

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1490LMT 1450LMT 295w

Tail of the Dragon

Just visited Smokey Mountains National Park (Oct 27-28), and the leaves were near perfection at higher altitudes. There was snow at higher altitudes, especially up on Clingman's Dome.

My route suggestion is:

Enter park from the south, at Cherokee, NC. Follow US 441 through the park, making sure to head up Clingman's Dome road. This climbs to around 6,000 feet, and is gorgeous if the weather is clear.

Saw many Elk and Bear this trip, as activity is said to be above average. The Rangers will be directing traffic when wildlike are near roads, and forbid parking.

Spent the night in Gatlinburg, which is way too "touristy", but reasonably priced. Next morning, re-entered the Park, and drove to Cades Cove.

See map below:

http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/upload/grsmmap1.pdf

This was a parking lot, horribly congested with tourists poking along in first gear.

Retraced my route back to an exit to Townsend, TN. Followed signs to "Foothills Parkwat". This is a great drive, with good views, and light traffic. Followed the parkway to US Hwy 129. Warning: Make sure you fillup in Townsend, if less than 1/2 tank on board.

Continue toward Neals Gap, and road becomes the "Tail of the Dragon".

See Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deals_Gap,_North_Carolina

In a word, this is heaven for motorcycles and sports cars. Leaves were at peak, and scenery is astounding. There are numerous photographers at corners taking photos of YOUR vehicle, and you can search online a day or so later at 129.com. I bought 8 shots of my BMW for $44.80.

After the dragon, I went through Murphy, NC, Blairsville, GA and stopped for a meal in Helen, GA.

Roy Adams
Atlanta

I drove the Blue Ridge Parkway Oct 11-13

I drove up from my house near Columbia, SC to the southern start of the BRP on Oct. 11th, drove on the Parkway October 12th, and finished the BRP and came home the 13th. I planned it in advance as a route in my 885t with my 765t as a backup. I split it out into about 7 hours driving per day. That doesn't allow much in the way of side trips but is not a hard day for me. I created the routes in BaseCamp. I was more worried about having the routes than I needed to be. If you had good POIs for the intersections you need along the BRP, you would be fine. It is essentially a limited access road so once you are on it, it is not hard to stay on it. It does not intersect major highways, however. You need to be careful that the road you think intersects actually does.

My trip went well other than it rained most of these 3 days. Not real hard but enough that a lot of the mountain vistas were too foggy for good pictures. I did hike through the woods to Linville Falls which is worthwhile. It took about 45 minutes but I was moving along pretty well. The trees were changing and it is a scenic ride. I only had the top down on my bimmer about 4 hours total - that was the only bad part. I ended up with almost 150 pictures and about 50 short videos shot as I was driving. I still need to organize them.

I stayed at the Big Lynn in Little Switzerland and the Osceola Mill near Lexington, VA. The former is just OK, the latter was a nice surprise. Both are available to look at on-line. I considered the Pisgah Inn and heard favorable things about it but it was too close to Cherokee, I wanted to make it further the first day.

Jim