Through Some Gaps
Day 1
Cabbages & Dragons
Day 2
A Little Bit of Snow
Dec 11, 2004
A Christmas Festival in the Smokys and a lake bottom road in Tennessee.
Then I shot the gap... I mean tunnel at Cumberland.
Dec 10, 2004
The day started at the Babyland General Hospital and ended in soggy glitz
in Gatlinburg. In between there was the Tail of the Dragon, the Smoky
Mountains, some rain, and some sunshine.
Prelude
A return to northeast Georgia on business gave me a chance to plot another
route home. Being nearby, US-25 naturally came to mind but I'm hoping to
cover its entire length as a trip of its own. But the route is split
between Newport, TN, and Corbin, KY, and, since including both paths in
one outing would be a problem, doing one of them now might make sense. I
decided on 25E because I don't recall ever being on it plus it passes
through the famous Cumberland Gap. Newport is almost directly north of my
starting point in Lavonia, GA, with the Great Smoky Mountains filling most
of the space between the two. I first looked at a fairly direct path
primarily on US-23 and US-441 but a path just a bit to the west caught my
eye. A section of US-129 just north of the North Carolina - Tennessee
border has enough of a reputation, especially with motorcyclist, that it's
been given the name Tail of the Dragon. So that set the route. Enter
Tennessee at Deals Gap, a.k.a. Tail of the Dragon, exit through Cumberland
Gap, and just sort out the right roads to get to and between those two.
For
my last drive home from Georgia, a suggestion from Baby Boomer Bob
mentioned 25W and the airplane gas station it passes. With 25E and not W
selected for the current drive home but seeing that I would be very close
to the station on my drive south, I worked in a brief stop. Got a few
pictures, too. This is a deserving
preservation project that can use your
help.