When I head down in a few weeks, I will stay in the east at the Blue Ridge Motorcycle Campground and use it as a launching pad for exploring the northeast area much more.
Matthew: why are you staying in Knoxville as opposed to more in the heart of the good roads?
Rescue: While there are tons of other amazing roads than Deals Gap and folks often say everything down there is great, there are some that are clearly worth checking more than others. Here's a short list of some of the better ones:
Foothills Pkwy + Little River Road + NC441 - keeps you out of the tourist mess that is Pigeon Forge - very scenic with lots of great curves and Little River is beautifully twisty.
TN32 - just look at this on a map.
NC281 - also called Canada Rd - a hidden gem and very lightly travelled but with an awesome rhythm to it. Very fast, tight sweepers
NC215/276 - an awesome loop where NC2155 has smoother pavement.
Cherohala Skyway - all time awesome, but careful on this road - it's easy to get carried away with very high speeds due to the faster sweepers and incredible views which can steal your attention
NC28 - an amazing road with several sections in the north that are more quiet and incredibly twisty - very nice near Fontana Dam.
Wayah Rd: follows a river for much of it and very twisty though sometimes not as smooth as the other good ones.
TN68 - south from Tellico Plains has beautiful scenery and fast sweepers
GA60/180 - beautiful scenery as a twisty mountain forest road with great pavement and little traffic.
If you have the time to head a bit north and west, many of these incredible roads can be linked up together to make a full day of twisty madness:
NC 209/212 combo - beautiful road through Hot Springs and beyond
NC197 - awesome
NC80 - aka the Devils Whip and it certainly can be - very twisty and intersects the Blue Ridge Parkway
NC226 - amazing road where the best section is a loop at the bottom, just south of the Blue Ridge Parkway
NC261/TN143 combo - a ride up past Roan Mountain State Park
NC197 - I have yet to go on this one, but it looks great!
If you are the type of person to ride on the forest roads and gravel trails - they open up a whole new experience that IMHO is considerably better than the paved stuff down there.
Safe Trips!