Summer vacation plans: Smoky Mountains

This year we're planning a much more sedate motorcycle trip to a relatively populated place: The Smoky Mountains. Well, more than just the Smokies, the surrounding area as well.
View Larger MapWhy there? Why not? It's a pretty place to visit and I've not been there to enjoy the park for more than 20 years now. Ennie's never been there at all.We're going to be taking the motorcycle loaded up with camping gear and touring the general area. Why a motorcycle? That's another post. :-) We're looking to just take a look around there and see what there is to see. Get some good barbecue in North Carolina, drive the Blue Ridge Parkway, hike around a bit, camp. General unwinding for the most part.The plan is to leave Cleveland on June 11th or 12th and head south. If we leave on the 11th we'll just hit a hotel along the way, we'd just be getting a head-start on our way down. In total it's less than 10 hours to get down there in a direct way so we have options galore!This is going to be a very different trip than previous years. In the past there's been days we rode on the bike for 12 hours at a stretch. This year there's going to be a lot more time to smell the roses than years past. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out compared to when we're up against the clock the whole time.We're still in the middle of planning so as we figure out more, I'll let you all know!