On Day 2 of Gary’s Harley Hillbilly Holiday, we experienced 262 miles of Southern hospitality — from Farragut, Tennessee, to Little Switzerland, North Carolina.

We began our day by riding through Greenback, Tennessee — which claims Sarah Murr as its most famous former resident.  Sarah graduated from Greenback High School, so this picture may mean more to her than the rest of you.  We met a few people at the school who actually knew of the Murr family. Small world.

From Greenback, we headed into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. There are spectacular vistas everywhere. Near the highest point in the Smokies, we visited Newfound Gap, which straddles the Tennessee/North Carolina border.

Most of the day, we rode twisty, two-lane roads at elevations between 3,000 and 5,000 feet.

After a gas stop in Cherokee, North Carolina, we entered the Blue Ridge Parkway, a 469-mile road apparently built for motorcycles. It follows the Appalachian Mountain chain, and has seemingly endless views.

The Blue Ridge Parkway takes us from the Great Smokies to the Balsams, the Pisgahs, the Craggies, the Black Mountains and of course the Blue Ridge Mountains.

We will be riding the Parkway the next few days.

To learn more about the Blue Ridge Parkway, click here.

It was a beautiful day … until … It started to rain. F#%#}*ck!!

So, we put on our foul weather gear at Lickstone Ridge Overlook, elevation 5,150 — and got wet for the next three hours.  I assured Ray this would never happen in La Quinta.

Eventually, it cleared up a bit, and we are still drying out as i write this.  We have our fingers crossed for desert-like weather tomorrow.

Oh, forgot to mention food. We ate at the only place you can get food on the Blue Ridge Parkway: the Pisgah Inn. Really, there are no other commercial establishments on the Parkway.  This is a triumph of beauty over capitalism.

I’m pushing for Southern food the rest of the way. Bad for you, but oh-so-good.

Tonight, we are in Little Switzerland, North Carolina, at milepost 335 — just off the Parkway.

What will tomorrow bring?