Blue Ridge Parkway (Cherokee End)
If you ride a motorcycle this will interest you:
The US federal government decided to "Tar and Chip" the Blue Ridge Parkway. If you don't know what that is, they spray down hot tar and cover it with stone chips. (VIDEO LINK BELOW). It's rough and the stones come loose. You can't tell if they are loose or not so you always have to ride like you're riding on gravel. It wears out your tires too. I just got my first look at it yesterday. They even have signs up that read "Travel for Motorcycles and Bicycles not recommended".
We always come to Maggie Valley NC every summer to ride and the Parkway is the main attraction. I guess it's been 8 years now. When you ride it. You leave the valley that 80 degrees and hot. then climb into the cool 60's on the parkway. The views and curves are perfect!. BUT,,, No more. This will be our last year. They are working from the Asheville side going toward Cherokee. As of today, they are just south of Hwy 276.
They are killing the parkway for motorcycles and the whole area will suffer. Businesses WILL close. This WAS the ROAD TO RIDE.
They had a rally this weekend in Maggie Valley. You couldn't count the Harley's. Every hamburger joint and pizza place was full.
For the most part nobody seems to care. The locals say "there are other roads" and to a point that's true but the cool temps of the parkway and the views make it irreplaceable. I've got roads at home.
We've personally spent over 4K on a campsite this summer. Add in gas, eating out, grocery's, shopping at the local produce stands, etc. and that adds up! It wouldn't surprise me if we spend 10K in this area this year alone. And that's just me! Motorcycles bring in so much business to this area. That's over. Some may come next year, not knowing. Once they ride the tar and chip road, they'll not return.
We're going to stay and ride this summer as long as we can, staying on the last of the good pavement, watching as the infected pavement narrows our area to nothing. Then we'll be gone. I may even sell our motorhome and quit altogether or maybe Canada next year.
We have looked at buying a summer home here or buying some property to park our motorhome on. We even considered buying property and building a new campground in the area.
Leave it to the US government to screw things up! They even used my money to do it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwFNYIO9Q6U
The US federal government decided to "Tar and Chip" the Blue Ridge Parkway. If you don't know what that is, they spray down hot tar and cover it with stone chips. (VIDEO LINK BELOW). It's rough and the stones come loose. You can't tell if they are loose or not so you always have to ride like you're riding on gravel. It wears out your tires too. I just got my first look at it yesterday. They even have signs up that read "Travel for Motorcycles and Bicycles not recommended".
We always come to Maggie Valley NC every summer to ride and the Parkway is the main attraction. I guess it's been 8 years now. When you ride it. You leave the valley that 80 degrees and hot. then climb into the cool 60's on the parkway. The views and curves are perfect!. BUT,,, No more. This will be our last year. They are working from the Asheville side going toward Cherokee. As of today, they are just south of Hwy 276.
They are killing the parkway for motorcycles and the whole area will suffer. Businesses WILL close. This WAS the ROAD TO RIDE.
They had a rally this weekend in Maggie Valley. You couldn't count the Harley's. Every hamburger joint and pizza place was full.
For the most part nobody seems to care. The locals say "there are other roads" and to a point that's true but the cool temps of the parkway and the views make it irreplaceable. I've got roads at home.
We've personally spent over 4K on a campsite this summer. Add in gas, eating out, grocery's, shopping at the local produce stands, etc. and that adds up! It wouldn't surprise me if we spend 10K in this area this year alone. And that's just me! Motorcycles bring in so much business to this area. That's over. Some may come next year, not knowing. Once they ride the tar and chip road, they'll not return.
We're going to stay and ride this summer as long as we can, staying on the last of the good pavement, watching as the infected pavement narrows our area to nothing. Then we'll be gone. I may even sell our motorhome and quit altogether or maybe Canada next year.
We have looked at buying a summer home here or buying some property to park our motorhome on. We even considered buying property and building a new campground in the area.
Leave it to the US government to screw things up! They even used my money to do it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwFNYIO9Q6U
