Well I finally made it to Deal's Gap, rode it, loved it, got the t-shirts, took some photos, AND LOVED IT!!
I got a late start Saturday from Wytheville, VA (rain delay) but after getting wet (light rain) a few times on the way we made it to Gatlinburg (sunny by then) by 7PM. We stayed there for the night in a cabin, ran the strip a few times (zoo!) and got plenty of "hey check it out, Hayabusa!!" along the way. Lots of other bikes there but no other Busa's.
Anyhow, we left to find the Gap Sunday AM (sunshine!), took 321 S then the Foothills parkway. After a nice drive and a rather crappy detour we made it to 129 and the start of the Dragon.