May 2026 – Georgia Mountain Rally Trip

By Joe Tatulli

Bill and I just returned last week (May 5, 2026) from our very nice ride down to the Georgia Mountain Rally in Hiawassee, GA. We left Monday, April 27th for a leisurely but spirited ride down to visit the Georgia mountains, and a few other backroad destinations along the way.

Monday started a little on the wet side but nothing too heavy and the air wasn’t too cool either, but the heated gear was all the rage for most of the trip, especially in the mornings. We headed west on RT6 and then meandered westerly eventually reaching CT RT84 into New York where about noon time things cleared up weather wise. We were on our way to RT6 in northern PA where we ended our day in Camp Hills, PA at the Quality Inn… the good one.

After a restful night day two started with some heavy rain on the highway as we started to head west on RT6 and then south through PA on RT219, RT19 and eventually RT79 through the western corner on MD and into WV for the night in Weston, WV. The Quality Inn (the very bad one) in Weston, PA should be missed at all costs. What a dump, but cheap $$$. We walked over to Gino’s Pizza which was just okay for me. Bill remained disgusted with the fact that there were no decent restaurants anywhere to be found within a 10 mile radius. Fortunately things would get better as we moved south. BTW April 28th (day 2) was my 77th birthday.

Day three (Wednesday, April 29, 2026) started with a cool but sunnier morning as we continued south through WV and westerly into TN and a fun ride on the Foothills Scenic Parkway in the Great Smoky Mountains in eastern TN, where we also encountered many great mountain roads heading southwest towards Hiawassee, GA. Day three ended near Knoxville, TN at an impeccable Days Inn, where we enjoyed a great room with a favorite amenity, i.e., a front door directly out to the parking lot to our bikes. We also had a plan to eat some meat at the Texas Roadhouse that was only a mile or two away from the motel. No more pizza and crappy accommodations for two travelin’ men with money to burn! At least that’s how I would describe Bill.

Day four was sunny and our best day so far but a surprise awaited us both. At one point in the morning, probably after breakfast somewhere along our route Bill was showing me the slide setting on his Garmin GPS. You could choose the severity of the ride by sliding the dot on the rule from easy to very difficult. Bill set it at about three-quarters of the way and said that we might hit a little dirt along the way as we headed south into northern GA via the eastern corner of TN and the western corner of NC… and off we went.

As we tooled along our mountain route (at a 3/4 difficulty rating) we approached what looked like a camera set up on the roadway on a corner. I thought nothing of it. The road started on a downward grade on what felt like a fairly steep descent, and it was very twisty. In fact it got to the point of being ridiculously twisty, with so many switchbacks and hairpin turns I slowed down to a crawl. Then, to my surprise, coming up the hill was a long line of very expensive and super noisy sports cars racing up the hill. There were Ferrari’s, several Porches, a very purple Lamborghini or Lotus, and a couple of customized late model mid-engine Corvettes flying up the hill I was traveling down. Also those camera setups I mentioned were on several of the corners as I went along my way. All the way down I was saying to myself that this road was over the top on the turns. It was almost like a go-cart track. Then when I got to the bottom and saw the sign for Deal’s Gap and a couple of big dragons on the roadside I realized where I was. Yup, it was the Tail of the Dragon. When I got reconnected with Bill in the parking lot he said that he realized what it was near the top. Route 129 was the Tail of the Dragon, and that if he had realized what it was we wouldn’t have even come that way. To be honest the place was populated with a lot of crazy people who seemed more interested in being there than actually riding. Maybe I’m a MOTO snob, but the whole thing reminded me of the sleazier side of Rocky Point on a Friday or Saturday night back home when I was a rebellious teenager back in the day (1960s).

But as life presents it’s moments we went inside the store and bought a couple of dragon stickers and had a candy bar and a soft drink… the usual Diet Coke for Bill and a Redbull for me, and then off we went. Not long after that we made it to Hiawassee for the Rally which we discovered didn’t start until Friday. O well.

At that point, since we had made plans for two events on Friday, and since we both decided to leave on Saturday morning (for different reasons and in different directions) The Georgia Mountain Rally ended up being the best rally I never went to.

After checking into our deluxe accommodations at the hillside Holiday Inn Express we decided to wash the bikes (after three days of rain and dirt) and then to go to HAWG WILD BBQ and CATFISH HOUSE for dinner on Thursday night. Yup…we both ate too much, but Bill got his diet coke for the third night in a row. The brisket was excellent, and the service was great.

Friday morning we hooked up with Maurice Corniche (a former YB and OSBMWR rider) and his buddy Tommy, a local yokle who was riding a beautifully restored and customized 1967 Airhead, for a Maurice led ride on some of his favorite back roads. He called it, “his backyard”. We did about 100 miles all around the Hiawassee area and it was indeed a great riding area. Lots of nice big sweepers with some nice mountain sections that tested my skills to the limit. Maurice and Bill were out of sight up ahead of me and Tommy on multiple occasions enjoying the challenges. To be honest we just don’t have roads like that around here. Even up in the VT and NH mountains, where you get short stretches of mountain twisties, you just can’t compare it to the hours and hours of great roads in the Georgia Mountains and the whole Appalachian range. We stopped at a place called Two Wheels of Suches (see the gallery below) that offers riders clean campsites and free restrooms all year long.

Friday night we planned to have dinner with an old friend, Mike Salvemini, whom I am sure many of you know. The place was Enrico’s Italian Restaurant. I didn’t think you could get great Italian food in Georgia but I was wrong. We enjoyed a fine meal together, and Mike couldn’t have been happier to see us all the way from RI. After dinner we headed back to the hotel to prep for an early departure Saturday morning.

Bill’s plan was to do the 1000 miles home in one day. He left at 4:30AM and was home by 8PM Saturday night. Why rush you ask? The answer: Bees. Bill’s had two colonies of bees arriving on Sunday and he wanted to be home to get them situated in his two new hives for the 2026 season, his second.

I left at about 8:30AM headed east for Newberry, SC (170 miles) to visit my niece Abby and her husband Dan and their five kids. They live on a small farm in rural SC, but are soon to move closer to Columbia (SC) so their boys can be closer to school, work and friends. They fed me and put me up for the night. We talked a lot and catching up was a blast. The last time I had seen Dan was 19 years ago at their wedding in Florida. Sunday morning I hugged everyone goodbye and took off for Forest, VA (300 miles) to visit my son John and his wife (Christine) and my youngest grandchild, Asher, who will be three in July. I spent a couple of days with them doing family stuff and hanging out on their boat at Smith Mountain Lake. A great visit, but too short. Tuesday morning I was on Valentina at 7:15AM and was home at 8PM for my longest day of the trip at 654 miles. I was happy and tired after almost 2,700 miles in eight days of riding.

We had no mechanical or other issues throughout the trip and enjoyed being on the road again for another motorcycle adventure.