Motorcycle Road Trip, DAY 9: Suches, GA to Sweetwater, TN

Ouch!  Waking up on cold gravel is painful!  I gave Lauren my sleep pad last night, so the cold morning was a little rough.

The mountain roads were crazy twisty-turny, and that was first thing in the morning.  We found our way to a little bit more of a main road, and in less than 2 hours, we had gotten to Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort!!

So cool!! It felt like that was the destination of the road trip.  So many cool motorcycles- both racing and touring- and a few shnazzy cars too.  We took some pics, got lunch, people watched for a bit, and then hit it.
Tail of the Dragon!!!

I wouldn't say it was much harder than some of the other mountain roads we had already covered, but the difference was that it lasted for a while longer.  318 curves in 11 miles at approximately 15mph!  It was nerve-wracking and I was hyper-focused.  No room for error.  And we got to the beautiful lake at the bottom!  Wow, made it :)  Felt like I earned a badge or completed a rite of passage.
From there, we knew our directions and flew for about an hour down the main roads.  Lauren was loving the speed and we got up to 100mph at one point.
We arrived at Craighead Caverns/The Lost Sea Adventure, and were put on a tour right away.  This was one of the best caves I'd ever been in.  Huge.  But THEN- we got to the bottom and there was a LAKE!!!  I think the guide said it was about 40acres wide and about 70ft deep in the middle.  There were lights under the water and they illuminated the cave ceiling too.  There were even partially blind/albino rainbow trout in the water!- what?!  The water was rich with mineral, and when you put your hands in and rubbed them together, it felt like moisturizing hand lotion!  This underground lake was Top 3, possible THE TOP, coolest things I've ever seen.  I was floored.  Absolutely incredible.

We got out and it was 5:40pm.  Again, we flew on the motorcycle, noticing how we had been doing back-and-forth between 'peaceful scenery' to 'speed racer'.  We got to Euchee Marina and our 'FLOATING CABIN' with about an hour left before the sunset.  Beautiful.  We're getting desensitised to "wow!" moments here!  This makes me want to get a house boat on a lake.
We drove for gas and groceries, but I must've taken my eye off the nozzle, because gas sprayed over all of us!  Holy shit.  Scary.  We wiped down, and washed clothes and showered at home.  Yikes.  That was one of the very few negative things that happened among the numerous positives of this trip.
We made homemade ragu sauce, pasta, drank a 6-pack of Bell's Oktoberfest, watched Netflix, and passed out.
What a day!