Dragon's Tail

[HoosierL98GTA]

PeeWee, you must go. Timing is everything. If you're going to go, go in September or October, when the college kids are back in school and most others have already used their vacation days. Here are couple of links from when we went a couple of years ago. The bikes weren't too bad and didn't see any "traffic overseers". And don't worry about the bikes, they won't tear up a car much worse than a deer anyway. (just kidding I own a motorcycle) For the most part you only need to the first two gears. Because once you hit 50 you'll be slowing down as fast as you got there. If you have the patience to watch the 2nd one the speeds pick up a little bit as it straightens out and you can really hear the steering column creaking under the dash as this 3rd gen f body twists, and this is a non-
T-top car. I have to give my wife credit for shooting the video with her digital hand held camera. She did great all the way through and only felt queasy after the 2nd run to go and get a tshirt at the Deals Gap gift shop/restaurant. Unfortunately we had to run it one more time to go home. She's a trooper. If Sue Unit is thinking about going she should at least watch the first video. If you notice, about 3/4 of the way through there are cars parked on the left side, these are professional photographers, one was KillBoy.com. So if you go through go to their website and look through the photos of the date you went, there will probably be a picture, that you can by the download and print when and where you like. It's great to have a still shot of you and the car in action. Don't be confused about the poster's username as I had my son post it for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnOoDLBcFtE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CbB3wEtkGI

[oldsman496]

The road to Cades Cove is awsome PeeWee... try it at night... lotsa tourista on the weekends though... I used to go to gatlinburg regularly... also i believe it is 421 that goes to Bristol.. also a great road, a couple yrs ago it was freshly paved and very smooth......

Tenessee is FULL of great roads... lots a fun in that state. pretty too.

[Orange95Z]

pdub, I agree with Dan (HoosierL98GTA) the tail is great fun driving and watching others.

[peewee]

pdub, I agree with Dan (HoosierL98GTA) the tail is great fun driving and watching others.

Hmmmm.. In Dan's 1st video, I have gotta love the "curve" sign at 2:14. Okay, I think by now I get "it," DOT guys. I reckon all the rest of the curve signs have been knocked down already....

I haven't scared Sue Unit but once in a car that I know of. We had booked a rental cabin not far off of the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC, and I got us lost trying to find it (before GPS). I finally figured out where we were and what I had done to miss it, and I was in a hurry, trying to get there before dark, and dark was coming fast.

It was a short stretch of road about like that in the mountains, and we were going around a left-hand curve just about that sharp, but instead of trees on the outside of the curve, there was a guardrail. And four inches on the other side of the guardrail was a nine-mile drop to some unexplored territory. Sheer cliff, I mean. A good BASE jumping spot.

She squinched up in the passenger's seat, trying to be small, with both hands over her eyes.

[SuperBuickGuy]

"nine mile drop" ummm, you sure aren't prone to much exaggeration Pdub

[peewee]

"nine mile drop" ummm, you sure aren't prone to much exaggeration Pdub

I caught a fish so big one time that the photo weighed 5 pounds. So I couldn't afford to frame it.

But I know he weighed 72 pounds. I know because I saw his scales before he got off of the hook.

[SuperBuickGuy]

One of my favorite quotes. "The guy swore he saw Big Foot, now normally speaking I dismiss such talk as an alcohol fueled campfire story. However, the speaker is a Pastor, so I'm pretty sure he wouldn't lie because there'd be consequences. With that said, he's also a fisherman, therefore he's prone to some exaggeration. What I believe is he saw something hairy in the wilderness."

Patrick McManus

[peewee]

One of my favorite quotes. "The guy swore he saw Big Foot, now normally speaking I dismiss such talk as an alcohol fueled campfire story. However, the speaker is a Pastor, so I'm pretty sure he wouldn't lie because there'd be consequences. With that said, he's also a fisherman, therefore he's prone to some exaggeration. What I believe is he saw something hairy in the wilderness."

Patrick McManus

Patrick was a classic writer. Remember, I rode a bicycle 30,000 miles in total. And I was reading his stuff at the same time back then.

Nothing at the time had ever made me laugh any harder than his description of the bloodthirsty timberwolves that lived up the road from his house, while he was trying to ride his bicycle.

I wonder if they they were really chihuahuas? In truth, they are worse than timberwolves. But his tales sure were funny.

His work inspired me to write, when I wrote. It was so long ago, I thought writing was supposed to be like Moby Dick or something or Grapes of Wrath, the stuff back when we were forced to read something and forced to report on when I was in grade school, or get a failing grade.

Patrick's stuff was a belly laugh, one after another. A whole new world to me, that writing (and reading) doesn't have to be serious. A revelation to me at the time. A game changer.

Yeah, it doesn't have to be serious. Sometimes it should be, but other times it shouldn't. At least it doesn't have to be.

[realsteelfreak]

I have run the road in my Mach1 , me and a friend is suppose to go back and run his 03 Mustang.

[Lon_H]

One of my favorite roads.

A friend and I in his Nova going up the Dragon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjqqmpba9vk