Weekend Ride To North Georgia

A quick weekend get away. That's all we needed!! We planned to do this for our 27th anniversery, but some other planned engagements changed all that. We also had plans of a few friends to be riding with us. That too changed. So just Beth and I made the trip.
DAY 1
We packed up the T-Bag, strapped it on and headed for Dillard, Georgia at 8:15 am 6/19/09. It was warm, about 75 but nice for riding. Our plan was to get up the road to about Washington, Ga before the heat caught us.
When we stopped in Thompson, Ga for fuel and a break at 9:30 it was already 90 degrees.


The Heritage packed but resting! A stop at Love's Truck Stop.


Beth taking a break and having some Gatoraid. She said the holes in the knees were air vents!

From Thomson at the Love's Truck Stop above, we were off toward Lavonia, Ga our next stop.
In Lavonia we pulled up to the Wendy's because we knew it has some great shade to park under. As we got off the bike we saw a huge number of youths running across from Zaxby's. They crossed the Pizza Hut lot and right into Wendy's ahead of us!
Oh well, there was no reason to go in, so we loaded up and went to Burger King.
No waiting, No crowd and it was just as good. Only no shade to park under!!

From Lavonia to the cabin was like 56 miles or so. We took the Toccoa Bypass around Toccoa. There is a road widening project going on here, there may be delays when passing through here. The bypass carries you to US441/US23. We take this north through Clayton, Ga on through Mountain City into Dillard.
It was only 88 degrees in Dillard as we arrived around 1:30 p.m. That was nice. We turned toward Sky Valley out of Dillard to go to the cabin. It was only 80 degrees at the cabin!!

Just arrived at the cabin.


Another view with the cabin in the background. To the left beyond the front door the hill drops off toward Dillard.

We unpacked the bike and moved in. After empting the 'T-Bag' hanging up clothes and putting other things in their place, it was time to relax a little.
After cooling our heels we took stock of what we had available at the cabin for cooking and such. We figured out a menu for supper, breakfast and lunch the next day.
We got on the bike and headed back to Clayton,Ga to the Wallmart Supercenter.
But when passing through town we spotted a package store and had to stop for something in a package for later in the evening.
At Wallmart we bought our items of food and a neat little cooler that fits in the T Bag. It has a removable hard plastic core.
By now it is pushing 5:30 and was really hot in that parking lot. We were ready to get back to the cabin and the cool air up there!!

The view in the afternoon off the back deck of the cabin.

We enjoyed the quite surroundings at the cabin after putting away the purchased items. We rested awhile then started the grill for the steaks!
Before, during and after supper we had a few drinks and retired for the evening about 10:30 looking forward to the ride we had planned for Saturday.

DAY 2
On Saturday, Beth and I rode into Clayton and headed down Warwoman Road. This road is located between the Days Inn and a BP station. It is a nice ride into the country. Near the end it has a good amount of twisties before you intersect Ga 28.
We turned onto Screamer Drive off of Warwoman Road to go up onto Screamer Mountain. I had seen some ads for cabin rentals and wanted to see some of them.
Let me tell you about a steep little lane. That was one of em for sure. First gear only!!! There are some nice cabins up there this is for sure. You can check them on VRBO.
We left here and headed back to Clayton and then north on US 76. Our plan was to ride the trek we rode the year before when we had all our breakdowns. Just after crossing Lake Burton, we turned onto GA 197. This road twist and turns along the shoreline though it is mostly not visible. It passes the La Prade Marina that is very very nice. It has a resturant, gift shop, service center, docks, etc. Also plenty of parking. This is a good place to stop to cool off and have refreshments.

A few 'old' cars leaving La Prade's Marina as we drove up



I am refreshed and ready to ride!!
After refreshing here for awhile, we loaded up and rode on toward Helen, Georgia. We turned onto Ga 197 and followed it as it continued near Lake Burton's shore. It passes by the Moccasin Creek State Park. We continued on turning right onto Ga 356. This is a nice two lane black top which was scheduled to get a fresh coat of asphalt during the '09 summer.
Ga 356 carrys you to Helen passing by the entrance to Unicoi State Park and the road leading up to Anna Ruby Falls.
Ga 356 has a junction with Ga 17/75 just north of Helen. We turned right electing to not run the bike hot in the stop and go slow traffic of Helen. Helen is a nice stop with plenty of shoppes and eateries. The town has a Bavarian theme.
We rode up and out of town to where the Appalachain Trail crosses the road.
We turned around here and back tracked to Unicoi State park and Anna Ruby Falls Road. They have pinic tables here along the park lake. It was nice and shaded with restrooms close by.
We stopped here to enjoy our packed lunch. There was a large family gathering in a shelter near our table that had MANY chickens on the grill. They smelled so good, it was hard to have just a sandwich and chips!
After lunch and a rest it was time to ride again. We back tracked all the way to Lake Burton but, we turned onto Burton Dam Road this time to return via the other side of the lake. Once back out to US 76 we back tracked all the way to Clayton, stopping at the Ingles Market. Then we rode to the cabin in Dilliard.
After arriving at the cabin, we unloaded the T Bag and got ready to make supper.
Tonights menu...... breakfast for supper including grits, eggs and link sausage.
Once we had it all preped, we enjoyed it as we watched the sunset out of the double doors that lead to the deck.




After cleaning up the supper dishes, we relaxed on the deck for awhile. We talked about the days ride. Beth and I enjoyed several drinks as we thought over the plans for departing on Sunday. The one thing we knew was that we could leave anytime because we had no time limit on departing the cabin. We knew the ride would be about 6 hours so we planned to leave by 11 or 12 noon.
We fired up some candles and placed them around the large garden tub and enjoyed a relaxing bath and drinks.

DAY 3
Sunday about 6:30 am we awoke to thunder. We also realized it was raining too!
We started talking of the possible ride in the rain home. I switched on the weather channel and found that the storm should pass out of our area by 10-10:30. We planned to hold out till then.
We got everything ready to go, T-Bag loaded and ready to strap on. We cleaned up the cabin, a requirement for our cheap rate. The rain ended on time.


The rain soaked deck and grill.

The Heritage just before it got wiped down.

I wiped the bike down then strapped the bag on and loaded the saddlebags. We left at 11:00 just as a little drizzle started again.
The drizzle was short lived and the roadways had dryed for the most part.

We headed for home using the same route we use every time we come up. It is the same route described in all my other mountain ride write ups.
I hope you will check them out and enjoy them all too!!

This is a motorcycle ride in the state of Georgia. This motorcycle route has 7 scenery characteristics and other road conditions to help you plan your road trip. This motorcycle map was created by troy30455 in September. Click here to see other Motorcycle Roads by troy30455