Getting ready for another adventure!

[CloverHillCrawler]

The next week is supposed to be beautiful up and down the east coast according to the models on Flowx.

Got approval from my manager to take the time off so I am heading down to Georgia to see some family like I did a couple of years ago on this thread:

https://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/showthread.php?149352-First-long-trip-on-the-F3

This time instead of doing the Skyway, Dragon, MoonShiners Highway, and BRP back home, I will be going to the Claw of the Dragon, and stay in Marion if possible, so that I can do the Back of the Dragon going in and out to the Claw.

Planning out routes now so that I can go on Sunday to Georgia and be up in Marion, Va. by Wednesday, with stops on the way. It's all last minute, but when I saw all of the models lining up for a week of dry weather during the fall, I wanted to take advantage of it.

Keep your eyes peeled out for me! :riding:

 

[ARtraveler]

Sounds like a great adventure. Please post some pictures if possible. :firstplace:

 

[BajaRon]

I took an adventure of my own yesterday. About 180 miles attempting to get from my East Tennessee home to my sister's house near Wilkesboro, NC. It was a fail. The route I normally take was blocked with a Road Closed sign and 2 officers there to enforce it. Not needed in my case. But Google alerted me to this and I had a Plan B. Got about 45 miles into Plan B and ran into another road closure that was not reported by Google maps.

I'm going to give it another try tomorrow by a different route that Google says is open. I'm hoping for better luck this time. But I've had Google fail me before.

I did see a lot of devastation and destruction on yesterday's venture. And I am sure I did not see anywhere near the worst of it. Schools closed. Entire crops washed away, debris high on hillsides well above the river. And, of course, multiple bridges out. I heard somewhere that an estimated 142 bridges were lost. Have no idea if this is accurate. But it wouldn't surprise me either.

 

[GS1]

Wish I could go, did the Tail of the Dragon, Rattler, and others just before the fire and flood; it was an awesome time!

 

[K80Shooter]

The last that I heard, the BRP was closed indefinitely. Check while planning your trip if you are wanting to ride on it any.

 

[CloverHillCrawler]

Yes, I have and I am modifying my trip some. Right now I am cutting out going to Georgia and going to Marion, Va instead. Then over to visit some family in Raleigh, NC.

Between road conditions and me remembering what pressure I put myself under (driving straight through storms everyday) from trying to do too much at once.

Plus it looks like there may be some precipitation towards the end of the week so I reversed my schedule so I hit the claw first during nice weather before I go to Raleigh.

Georgia will have to wait until next year.

 

[CloverHillCrawler]

I took an adventure of my own yesterday. About 180 miles attempting to get from my East Tennessee home to my sister's house near Wilkesboro, NC. It was a fail. The route I normally take was blocked with a Road Closed sign and 2 officers there to enforce it. Not needed in my case. But Google alerted me to this and I had a Plan B. Got about 45 miles into Plan B and ran into another road closure that was not reported by Google maps.

I'm going to give it another try tomorrow by a different route that Google says is open. I'm hoping for better luck this time. But I've had Google fail me before.

I did see a lot of devastation and destruction on yesterday's venture. And I am sure I did not see anywhere near the worst of it. Schools closed. Entire crops washed away, debris high on hillsides well above the river. And, of course, multiple bridges out. I heard somewhere that an estimated 142 bridges were lost. Have no idea if this is accurate. But it wouldn't surprise me either.

I saw something similar to this back in the late 90's, One of the other senior engineers at the hospital that I worked at had a house he and his father built up on Old Rag near Culpepper, Va. They had 16 inches of rain in about 4 hours after having had several days of rain. The hydraulic pressure of the aquifers made all of the springs literally explode out of the mountain, washing away any soil near them. We took my 4-wheel drive truck as far as we could, until we were stopped by FEMA and had to walk the rest of the way in. His house was at 1500 ft of elevation. What had been babbling creeks were now 30-foot gorges. About 500-700 feet down the mountain from where his property was, he just stopped and started crying.

When I asked what was wrong, he pointed to some rocks sticking out of the mud and told me those were the steps he and his dad had made for the house. There was nothing left on his property except a wall of mud and one of those gorges where the creek used to run. It sounds like the same thing happened in NC, but only on a much larger scale.

 

[JayBros]

Saw in an online news clip yesterday the NC Governor said Helene wiped out 1,200 roads in western part of the state. Repairs have been made to many but there are still 500 not open. No mention of BRP.

 

[racoon]

Parkway Closure For All Uses in Closed Areas
Date Posted: 9/29/2024Alert 1, Severity closure, Parkway Closure For All Uses in Closed Areas
The closed Blue Ridge Parkway areas are closed to all uses due to damage from Hurricane Helene. Closures will remain in place until staff can safely assess the park and clear any storm damage. The park will issue updates as they are available.

The Blue Ridge Parkway between mile post 200.1 (Sunbelt Rd.) in Virginia, and mile post 469 at Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Cherokee, NC remains closed as emergency stabilization efforts and damage assessments continue in the wake of significant, and in some areas catastrophic, damage from Hurricane Helene. As of October 15, the parkway between mile post 0 at Shenandoah National Park and mile post 200.1 is open to the public.

https://www.nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/hurricane-helene.htm

 

[CloverHillCrawler]

This may be harder than I thought. Just checked road closure maps & pretty much every back road in SW Va. South of 81 has some type of closure.

The South side of the Dragon's Claw outer loop along 58 is closed due to storm damage. It looks like the Back of the Dragon is still open, so I will still go for that and a trip though Burke's Garden, as it looks really interesting map wise.

I wanted to take some back roads from Marion over to Raleigh, but that doesn't look like it is possible unless I take 77 and 40.

 

[CloverHillCrawler]

Any hotel recommendations for around Marion/Tazwell, Va. that you have stayed at?

Update: NM, Looked around on hotels dot com and found one for monday and tuesday with mountain views.