Subject: RE: National Rally
Author: Lannis
Date: Apr 21, 2005, 4:26 AM
Post ID: 1718738450
Tom Christian wrote:
If I were coming from the South, I'd spend most of my time on the "smaller" roads to the west of ridge - various combinations of Hwy 42 & 615, 32 and many others run up from near Bristol most of the way up the western side of the blue ridge. These are well maintained but small twisty two lane roads with far less police presence than other major Hwy's, for those of you so inclined to care :). Sometimes these roads aren't shown on major paper maps, but if you use local maps, software or GPS, they are easy to find. The BRP is beautiful, and Deals Gap and Tail of the Dragon are motorcycling "requirements". However, the BRP has a 35mph speed limit and high traffic volumes throughout the summer - worse in fall. Speeding on the BRP is nothing but an "entertainment tax" - there's no points on your license, if I recall correctly. I generally have more fun on the smaller roads, with the added advantage of being able to stop at a variety of "small town America" diners, gas stations, and drinking establishments along the way. |
Tom -
Good call on the roads, however the speed limit on the Blue Ridge
Parkway for the 325 miles or so from Asheville to Rockfish Gap is a
uniform 45 MPH. North of there for the next 100, it's the "Skyline
Drive" and the speed limit drops to 35 MPH.
BRP speeding tickets are a Federal offence ("Why are you making a
federal case out of this, officer?"), different states handle the
"points" in different ways 'cause it all goes into the Big Database,
including the ones the insurance companies use...the park police are
polite and not everywhere, but if they're on the road that day, they'll
ticket you for 47 in a 45; they're determined not to let the BRP become
another Deal's Gap with shards of fiberglass and plastic lining the
ditches and hanging from the rhodedendrons...
Lannis