Put me in the for drinking beer part. The riding? This old guy hasn't been riding enough lately to take on this one. Where are you guys staying the first couple of nights?

Its kind of crazy. Now that I have retired, I have zero free time anymore. Of course, I have picked up a few part time gigs and hobbies along the way. I recently tallied up my week, and I figured I am working 12 days a week right now. I need to go back to working for a living so I can get more riding in!!!

My only advice is to make sure it is all open. Worst comes to worse, you can skip a few sections, and since you have a car, that should not be a big problem. Some sections open fairly late in the Spring, and usually other sections have winter damage to repair. Realize there is some high elevation in that first section, it goes up over 6000 feet. So weather is going to be quite a bit different than Raleigh.

Pisgah Inn should be open, campground is not. Be prepared for minimal/no service on my end. The first place where services are relatively close to the parkway is when you get to Asheville. Before that, everything is remote (except for at Cherokee of course). Cherokee is a mess, kind of Myrtle Beach meets the mountains. Most roads that connect to the parkway can be treacherous this time of year: lots of sand and gravel washouts on the road, minimal/no sight distance, no shoulders, etc. (The Parkway has terrific sight lines.) It takes a while for all the gunk from winter to get washed off the roads. Parkway road surface should be much better.


OK, I love the mountains of NC. You guys are in for a real treat. I've been coming up here since 1990 and knew I would retire here.

If any of the guys haven't seen the Biltmore Estate, you are going really close to it. Might be a nice diversion. My other suggestion was the ride up to Mt Mitchell, but you already know about that one.