I'm going to start the planning of a Deal's Gap trip for next spring. I'm planning this a long time in advance for a couple of reason's. First, I'm not going to run Deal's Gap during the day on a weekend. The Tennessee Valley Authority patrols it too heavily and they just reduced the speed limit so its an easy ticket. Also, traffic on the Gap is too heavy on the weekend to have fun. I want to run the Gap on a Monday since we will have the whole road to ourselves and the TVA won't be handing out tickets as fast as they can write them. There are two other things that I would like to do while everyone is there. Harrah's Casino in Cherokee isn't very far away for some Friday or Saturday night fun. The Natahalla white water rafting center is only 45 mins from the Gap. This could be a great total weekend package, but it would require people to get out of work on a Monday. I'm pretty sure that we would get a group discount at the Rafting Center, but I need to get ideas on which weekend would be best for everyone. I was thinking something in April, but anything in the spring would be good. The earlier we have it the less we have to worry about running over motorcycles, but the river trip might be a little chilly (of course, the Natahalla is ice cold in the middle of summer). Everyone's ideas are welcome. This is just the planning stage to get things moving.