Late entry: I took a road trip with my family from my home in the Chicago suburbs down to the Smokies. It was in my car, an Accord EX with a manual transmission. It was fun, but I kept thinking: "Man, these roads would be AWESOME on the Silver Wing, I need to get back down here on it."

So I took a break from real life and made it happen. 

Home base was Gatlinburg, TN, which is now just a tourist trap. But there are lots of places to stay, and it is right in the foothills of the Smokies. Here are my favorite pix from the trip:

Ready to hit the road:

This is why they're called the Smoky Mountains:

 An old water-powered grain mill; Civil War era: