Hey all,
  I'm gonna start planning a 2 week trip which will end at the smokey mountains in Tennessee. Is May a good time of year to go there?
   Also;

What are the best campgrounds to stay in as I will be camping the whole trip.
 
Good eats and historical places to visit

Best scenic rides

I will be traveling from Austin, Tx and visiting different cities and parks along the way. Is There anything in Memphis worth seeing or visiting? Looks like the crime is really high there.

Any info/help would be greatly appreciated.

Mark

Start by going straight  north'ish', when you get to southern B.C. you'll spend your remaining week and a half saying ' What smoky mountains?' cause you'll be riding deserted twisties till you giggle with glee.  Everytime you stop you'll be surrounded by God's splendour and you'll wonder why you can't drive roads like these every day.

Just kidding.  Have a good trip.  Looking forward to the tips you get from the forum members.

  You might want to plan some alternative routes in / through the Smokies due to the recent road washouts on the Cherohala Skyway & US441 near the Tn/ N.C. state line.  Some areas recieved almost 9 inches of rain last weekend

   
   here's a clip from the Knoxville station: http://www.wbir.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=2099248551001

  and.... http://www.grahamstar.com/articles/2...0449359649.txt

My Wife and I did a motorcycle trip from Nova Scotia to Memphis in August 2007( hot hot hot). Graceland and Sun Studio were the main reasons for the trip , being huge Elvis and Johnny Cash fans.
Tons of good eats and entertainment on Beale St.  Blues City Cafe and B.B. Kings are great place for ribs.
Of course riding " The Dragon " was another highlight as well , but really ,  just riding around the Smokey Mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway were equally amazing.
 We both look forward to doing it again but on our Concours the next time.

tony

They don't call it the Smokey Mountains because the air is clear and the sky blue.  Be prepared for rain and being socked in with fog up in the mountains during the spring months.  Watch the radar and forecast and have alternate routes in mind.  Mad Maps is a good source for routes around the mountains.

Rock Island and Fall Creek Falls have campgrounds (CGs).  They are in middle TN.  But, they aren’t near the super slab.  Be advised, Hwy 30 going to FCFs is curvy and logging trucks as well as automobiles use that road.  If you are slabbing it thru middle TN to east TN on I 40 Center Hill Lake has a CG or two and is accessible from exit 273 IIRC of I 40.  I am most familiar with Ragland Bottoms at Center Hill Lake—the CG there has lots of shade.  There is a KOA in Tellico Junction just off the road that is basically the Cherohala Skyway.  I haven’t stayed in the KOA there but I have visited it with plans for future stays.

May is likely to be a bit on the cool side at elevations above 5,000.  As far as rain goes, sometimes May is not a “really” wet (rain-soaked) Month.  But, IMO one can always expect showers in middle TN in the month of May.

Feel free to send me a PM if you’d like more info. 

The weather in May is excellent at least early May. The humidity starts to build last of May early June. Most of the spring rains are gone by May also.

Avoid Memphis like the plague unless you are carrying and seeing you are a Texan you probably are

.... Is There anything in Memphis worth seeing or visiting? Looks like the crime is really high there.

Any info/help would be greatly appreciated.

Mark

Elvis Pressley's home is interesting to see. It's a 70's time capsule! Tour guides are good. You could tour, and then keep going. If you remain on I-40 going east, Jackson would offer many choices to stay. The next morning you could make a run for eastern TN in about four hours.

Loretta Lynn's ranch is about an hour west of Nashville and has camping. http://www.lorettalynnranch.net/main/?page_id=23

We have a ZRX rally in No. Ga. at the end of May, but I'll be taking the C-14 and camping out.  No. Ga. roads are terrific, but we usually ride into No Car and Tenn also.  If you're interested, shoot me a PM and I'll give you some details.  There's some fog in the mornings but it will be in the low 80s during the day.  Sometimes it rains and sometimes not, but you'll need to bring rain gear and hope you don't have to use it.

Stay away from Gatlinburg and Pidgeon Forge as if it were plague infested.

Stay away from Gatlinburg and Pidgeon Forge as if it were plague infested.

The park suks when it's busy.

Consider staying a little south and visit Barber Motorsports Museum  http://barbermuseum.org/

Stay away from Gatlinburg and Pidgeon Forge as if it were plague infested.

The park suks when it's busy.

Just got to know the time to visit.  Head thru the towns during the early morning or after 6pm. Some of the best views in the park are early in the morning also.

Yes, by mid-day everything turns into a parking lot! There are back roads that flow traffic fairly well.

Oh, if you do visit G'burg, they have their own distillery now & that Lemon-Drop moonshine is fantastic !!

Speaking of ....

I've been through here twice. It is very interesting.

http://www.jackdaniels.com/history/jack-daniel-distillery   

If you like hokey shops with silly rubber tomahawks and hillbilly rain gauges and the like made in China, outlet stores filled with wide eyed blue hairs bussed in to buy big sweatshirts with teddy bears on them that say where they've been, minivans clogging the 4 lane roads trying to get to McDonalds and traffic to put many a big city to shame, sure, go to Gatlinburg/Pidgeon Forge/Cherokee, if not, stay WAY away, like, if you can, don't even ride through it at any time, totally circumvent it. No matter when you go, its truly sad. I would though go to Sieverville, big knife store there.

If you like hokey shops with silly rubber tomahawks and hillbilly rain gauges and the like made in China, outlet stores filled with wide eyed blue hairs bussed in to buy big sweatshirts with teddy bears on them that say where they've been, minivans clogging the 4 lane roads trying to get to McDonalds and traffic to put many a big city to shame, sure, go to Gatlinburg/Pidgeon Forge/Cherokee, if not, stay WAY away, like, if you can, don't even ride through it at any time, totally circumvent it. No matter when you go, its truly sad. I would though go to Sieverville, big knife store there.

 Yes, sadly, G'burg isn't what it used to be.  Even though the wife & I are sad to see what it's become, we still enjoy our yearly (since '76) pilgrimage there for a long weekend. There's 2 or 3 shops that are still owned by the locals (that sell LOCALLY made CRAFTS) that we like to browse through, other than that it is merely a place for us to get a cheap motel room for the real reason we visit the area & that's the National Park. Yes, we've stayed in the surrounding cities but always end up in the burg.
 Unfortunately, I can forsee the day that the park will prevent motor vehicle traffic into certain areas similar to Yellowstone & Yosemite, & if you want to go into those areas, you'll have to do it on a bus or by walking or bicycling. When that happens, I guess we'll just quit travelling there, cause I don't do buses!

I agree Dean, many places we've been to over the years have sadly changed and have become parodies of themselves, I first went through Gatlinburg in 1986, I saw then the handwriting on the wall. Thats why we never tell folks of our secret places that hopefully may never change, wishful thinking for the most part. 

edit: wanted to add that if you go through Deals Gap watch out for THP. North Carolina gets all the $ from the bike tourism to the area so on the NC side you won't get hassled but as soon as you cross over into TN every trooper in the state will be looking for an excuse to write you a ticket until you get to the Foothills Parkway.

True that you wont get hassled on the NC side of the Dragon, but that's becuase the Dragon is only 1/4 mile on the NC side.  LOL!  Some friends of mine got pulled over on 129 heading into Robbinsville.  My philosophy is to not exceed the pace I carry in the curves while in the straights.  Has kept me from getting too many tickets.   

If you like good ribs look for a place either in pigeon forge or gatlingurg called Calhouns. Also would recommend hitting hwy 321 out of gatlingurg to go thru some beautiful backkroads to greeneville,tn. While in the area head to hwy 421(the Snake) that runs from Bristol to Mountain City. 3 mountains and one beautiful valley. I think it is a better ride than the dragon and more scenic. You can stop at the store at the crossroads and get a mean bologna sandwich.