Im back from US129/Dragon

[Figment]

First thing, I think if youre a car enthusiast and its even remotely possible you should go to this road. This is gonna be a little bit of a story since lots of interesting stuff/thoughts etc.

We arrived at around 4pm so it was a little late in the afternoon, but still plenty of sunlight. At first its just normal gentle curves on US 129 until you actually hit the Dragon's Tail. We came in from the Tennessee side going south. After about a minute on the tail I'm thinking to myself " I cant believe this even exists". Not a lot of things get me excited in life anymore, but I was giddy like a little girl the first run. I finally put my S2000 to use.

It was Honda VFR and Mini Cooper meet/weekend there so tons of them around. I started off behind a group of 3 VFR riders and those guys were good. They were taking the curves at some serious speed really leaning it over. I was keeping up with them pretty well enjoying every second of the intense curves that road has. Unfortunately the trip only lasted around 5 mins until there was a downed tree in the middle of the road with a bunch of people working to move it out of the way. With everyones help we eventually moved it out of the way so cars could move on.

At the tree I turned off the car, go back to turn it on and nothing.... Im thinking fuck me!! Anyways its a mountain so no big deal, just do a rolling start.. While turning around the car didnt quite have the muscle to do it, wierd angle on the slanted road while doing the 3 point turn. However first guy that came by stopped and helped me push it to the right direction. Push started it and away I went.

The guy who helped us whas driving a purple miata and had done some serious work on it, because that thing was moving unless he was driving it balls out. The first run down I caught back up to him and kinda used him as my pace car to keep things exciting, he was moving quick too. We eventually finish up the tail on 129 and head down south 28. That road is awesome in a whole different way. Longer sweeping curves at speed, we are blowing around the things at 60 to 100 mph with then sharper corners having to brake hard for them.

I followed the Miata all the way until south 28 became a 4 lane highway and then looked to my left and saw a beautiful background of mountains. Waved bye to him and went to get some pictures. Tennessee is such a beautiful state and im not even the tree hugger type that would normally say that. Its the whole enviroment. Mountains, lots of canopy roads that are curvy as hell, its paradise.

Disaster did strike us tho that we barely avoided. If you go there stay up on your gas. Everything closes early and towns are far away. We were at the top of the dragon with a little less then a quater of a tank and thought no big deal. Do another run down and stop and Deal's Gap for more gas. Problem is deal's gap closed. Next station down closed on and on. Nearest town was Robinsville. Enter it into the GPS and away we go. Only one problem it didnt take us to the "City" part of Robinsville. We end up about 10 miles west of the main city. We are out of gas and start puttering up to a upscale lodge just barely making it before they were closed. The people saved us since the nearest gas station was 10 miles away. They had about a 2 gallons they gave us. I say gave since they had all their machines down and all we had were credit cards. I still feel bad about not being able to pay, but I really appreciated their help. We went on home after that.

Thoughts in general:

The dragons tail is definately somethings to drive, but all the roads around there are insane. The whole area is great driving with some of the best scenery available.

People are great. I dont know if its just because everyone is on vacation or car enthusiasts are cool, but everyone I came into contact there was great. Had a few beers at a local place with some of the people, the guy who helped me push start my car, the guys I was bsing with at the tree while we moved it, all great people.

I saw 1 cop the whole time. Was a tennessee tropper going up and down the dragon. It was at night too so I dont know how many were actually in the area. On the "dragon" itself I dont really see how its possible to get a ticket unless you are really pushing it hard. Personally I just usually kept the car in second most of the time using engine braking and accelerating out of that gear. I wasnt running it at the max, but I really didnt feel it neccessary to accelerate to the last minute then slam on my brakes. I would say my average speed on there was around 40 mph slowing down for the corners and accelerating out of them. However, I was blowing down South 28 in excess of 100mph at some points that is where you are going to get in trouble, but on the dragon itself I dont see it happening.

People were pretty considerate. If they were running slow they would pull over at the next possible chance and let you pass. My passenger got motion sickness when we were running it at night and we pulled over. The next mini that came along slowed down to see if we ok.

Been a long drive and all I can remember right now. My friend has the pictures and ill post them up when I get them. Nothing to great, just me standing by a us 129 sign and some misc pics of me with some mountains in the background. Not really a whole lot to take pics of besides scenery.

If anyone was going I would suggest this. Take a bunch of your friends or go with the car club and camp. right along the roads in the area on the lake or river whatever if it is, are some camping sites. We saw a group of minis that had pitched tents and had a big bonfire going. I thought thats the way to do it. Drive hard all day and drink with friends at night.

Cliffs:

1. Dragon rocks
2. Profit
3. More profit

[steal]

sounds like a fucking awesome time

no pics at all? post that shit~

edit; you didn't hit up the cherohala skyway while you were down there?

[[H]ard|On]

at the out of gas bit, but nice write up

[Neo-Tokyo]

noice

[RyanU]

good read

[Bluesultan]

i want to go there so bad and this only makes me want to go more

i have a Mazdaspeed6 and i just recently did a drive in the Ann Arbor/Jackson (MI) area with a bunch of other Mazda owners and it was a lot of fun. the roads had tight turns and elevation changes. i didn't even think a road existed like that in MI. i plan on making out to the Dragon's Tail one of these days.

oh, and post if you got them

[steal]

Originally Posted by Bluesultan

i want to go there so bad and this only makes me want to go more

i have a Mazdaspeed6 and i just recently did a drive in the Ann Arbor/Jackson (MI) area with a bunch of other Mazda owners and it was a lot of fun. the roads had tight turns and elevation changes. i didn't even think a road existed like that in MI. i plan on making out to the Dragon's Tail one of these days.

oh, and post if you got them

what fucking road tell me nowwww

[Bluesultan]

Originally Posted by steal

what fucking road tell me nowwww

the route was protected but it's pretty much in an area around N. Territorial and 23.

edit: it was more than one road

[steal]

Originally Posted by Bluesultan

the route was protected but it's pretty much in an area around N. Territorial and 23.

edit: it was more than one road

i live about 5 mins from n. territorial

i probably know which road you're talking about - it's fairly rough though

more info thankssss since all of that area isnt mapped out entirely

[mekilljoydammit]

Fun road that. A month or so back I was in Georgia to help my dad move back, so I took a day trip up. Neals Gap isn't bad either; not as tight but more places to pass legally. On the Dragon itself... trip north there was a guy towing a goddamned boat trailer! Heading back was fun though; was following a guy in a Myers Manx for a while. Someone stuffed their NSX into a cliff though.

[kevets]

That's nothing compared to... DEADMAN'S ROAD!

+ YouTube Video

[Bolix]

Originally Posted by kevets

That's nothing compared to... DEADMAN'S ROAD!
[YOUTUBE]http://youtube.com/watch?v=ySLvePpB1vw[/youtue]

I've only ever seen the last bit of that video, never the full thing.

[vile1]

.dot

[Regime|Life]

Originally Posted by kevets

That's nothing compared to... DEADMAN'S ROAD!
[YOUTUBE]http://youtube.com/watch?v=ySLvePpB1vw[YOUTUBE]

holy shit

[Bowlcut]

as for the nice people....id say about 85% of the people you meet in that general area are that nice of people. not because they are vacationing or are car people, but just cause we call it southern hospitality. we just treat most people right, if you dont make an ass out of yourself you get respect usualy. and we try to help out someone when possible. not like NY or Chicago where people will step over you if you were on the ground.

as for the dragon. i didnt care for it, just kinda pointless sawing back and forth. maybe on a bike or in a mini. but in my nx, which is my autocross car so its setup for tight stuff, it was kinda meh. not my style of road i guess. but i did it to say i did it. i liked the cheroholla skyway and some of the other back roads in there better. deals gap is just kinda pointless