There are worse ways to start a motorcycle trip than leaving a wedding in the North Georgia mountains and immediately pointing two loaded BMW GSAs toward some of the best pavement in the Southeast.

After attending Kyle and Blake’s wedding at Toccoa Falls, Stephanie and I met up with Jim and Amy in Helen for a two-day prelude before Tame the Dragon officially kicked off. The plan was simple: ride great roads, eat great food, then work our way toward Iron Horse Motorcycle Lodge.

As plans go, it worked out pretty well.

Day 1: Georgia’s Greatest Hits

Monday was essentially a “Best Of North Georgia Motorcycling” compilation album. We hit all the famous names:

• Blood Mountain
• Wolfpen Gap
• Georgia State Route 60
• Richard B. Russell Scenic Highway

Along with a few scenic favorites:

• Cutcane Road
• Aska Road
• Georgia State Route 197 along Lake Burton

Conditions were basically perfect: sunshine, warm temperatures, dry pavement, and just enough traffic to remind us civilization still existed.

Lunch was at Chester Brunnenmeyer’s Bar & Grill, a place we’d wanted to try for years but usually avoid because downtown Blue Ridge can be a chaotic blend of tourists, hills, parking shortages, and questionable U-turn decisions. Turns out the food was absolutely worth the wait.

That evening, Jim and Amy hosted a steak dinner, because apparently they wanted to guarantee we’d need slightly more lean angle the next day. Later, we wandered around a desolate Helen, which felt oddly surreal without the usual tourist crowds.

Day 2: The Long Way to Iron Horse

Tuesday’s logistics were beautifully efficient:

• The ladies hauled the empty trailers straight to Stecoah.
• Jim and I did the exact opposite of that.

We started on wet roads but gradually rode into improving conditions as the day unfolded. By the time we hit North Carolina Highway 28, everything was drying nicely and the pace picked up accordingly.

The route wandered through:

• Highway 197
• Oakey Mountain
• Bridge Creek
• Persimmon Creek
• Devil’s Branch
• Buck Creek

Basically, if a road looked twisty and inconvenient, we probably took it.

Lunch was at Haywood Smokehouse in Franklin. Their brisket deserves recognition from at least one federal agency.

After lunch, we enjoyed a fantastic run north on Highway 28 toward US-74 before finishing the day by inspecting the ongoing paving and construction projects between Iron Horse and Fontana Village Resort. Because apparently even on vacation, motorcycle people can’t resist discussing pavement quality.

By the time we rolled into Iron Horse, the Tame the Dragon crowd was beginning to gather. Handshakes started flying, stories started growing, and another year of questionable decision-making was officially underway.