2018 Tour de Smo'

Did Mike Mckelvey show up?  I know he has my phone number.  I don't have any phone numbers of folks who actually made the trip.  I might be able to make it to the museum today or the drive tomorrow.  I just need times.  Can someone shoot me a text.  Thanks.

Yup, he’s here.  Pieter Van Rossum joined us as well.

Gordon, that's very kind of you.  Perhaps next fall.

Bam.

About time for some reports on the Tour De Smo!

Pics, stories please.

Hopefully, we'll see some of good Go-Pro footage!

A coupla good ol boys hangin on the porch

All OK!

SPYDERS!

BRAAAAP!

Jack Crosby on Thursday night.

Outstanding, Jack!!!!

I want to thank Kelly Frazer for letting me sit shotgun in his beautiful JPS on Friday.  After the Dragon we did a nice leisurely cruise through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  

Just pulled into Hot Springs--we got to our planned stop in Memphis early and decided to keep going so we did the 700 miles from Maggie Valley to Hot Springs counting stops and breakfast at a  Cracker Barrel in 11 1/2  hours.  Curran great at 75-80  mostly @75.

Tired but we get to sleep in our own bed and wake up at home.

Great seeing everyone and thanks to Lane and the other planners who put the SMO event together!

Home as well. Great trip. 

Jack very nice, sounded like "I'd rather live by the side of the road" 

Just made it home as well. It was a great trip and great to meet some fellow SOC"ers that I had not met before.

Tom, how did your roadster travel down to the rattler, did you use the cruise much? 

The cruise worked great.I probably used it for about 500 miles of the 700 mile trip. It was all interstate until I got close to Maggie Valley.

It is a great help to give my foot and leg a rest and allow me to move around in the car a bit.

Jack Crosby posted:

Just pulled into Hot Springs--we got to our planned stop in Memphis early and decided to keep going so we did the 700 miles from Maggie Valley to Hot Springs counting stops and breakfast at a  Cracker Barrel in 11 1/2  hours.  Curran great at 75-80  mostly @75.

Tired but we get to sleep in our own bed and wake up at home.

Great seeing everyone and thanks to Lane and the other planners who put the SMO event together!

 

 

That is haulin' butt, Jack. Glad you had a good time and kool as crap to see you on that banjo for the first time. Nice one. 

This was a fantastic trip!  Mother Nature gave us a break and all three cruise days were fun. A new award was created: the Ride of Shame, for which Tom was talking about creating a trophy to pass on each year cuz, ya know, Speedsters. 🤣

i didn’t take a ton of pictures but I’ll post them when I get home this afternoon.

I'm assuming that the 3 cars that were MIA on Saturday finally made it back?

I believe they were abducted by aliens, Carlos. 😬

Jack Crosby is amazing.

We stopped Sunday night in Georgetown KY.

We wanted to tour the Toyota plant there this morning but the tours were all booked up.  The plant there is the largest Toyota plant in the world.

We got home this afternoon (Monday).

We really enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting new ones.

@Lane Anderson Just as long as no one had to squeal like a pig.

Saturday was awesome.  BRAAAAP!

Carlos G posted:

Saturday was awesome.  BRAAAAP!

Yes. Yes it was. 

Nobody said anything about hearing banjo music (except Thursday night) so I think they’re ok.

By the way, folks, @Carlos G is now designated as The Routefinder, because his Saturday route was pretty much the best any of us had ever experienced.  Never gonna forget Explorer road.

EPILOGUE : (from the weather thread)"Mama Nature looked kindly upon us while in the mountains, provide generally gorgeous weather.  Some folks had rainy trips there, and it was wet on Wednesday in Maggie Valley, but Thursday was nice enough for the Rattler and Friday through Sunday were pretty much perfect."

This was a wonderful trip again and gave away nothing to last year's event despite some rain on the front end.  Some of the best rides on the planet with some of the best folks.  Two wonderful evenings by the fire-pits solving the world's problems.  Yeah it was great.

Next year we'll do something different to keep it fresh.  A couple of things have been discussed including an event over in the north Georgia mountains near Ron's and Maddie's place.  Ron knows a fellow over there who just got a black Beck Spyder and who wants to host us at his winery.  I've been told by a couple of folks that their wine is very good.  Sounds like a plan to me.

We had the occasional glitches in one car or another, and Tom Boney had a failure that grounded his car, but it occurred about 15 minutes from the hotel on the return leg on Saturday, so he missed none of the rides.  As usual, the group stepped up to help out a disabled comrade, with President Stan performing diagnostic functions in the driveway of a very friendly family.  The Mullis ERV was utilized to get Tom's car back to the hotel and then on to Pieter Van Rossum's place later in the evening.  Peit will do the repairs when the parts come in and Tom will fly down and drive it back.  This group helps restore my faith in humanity.

Thanks to everyone who attended.  A special thanks the Commissioner of Entertainment (Jack Crosby) for a wonderful evening of bluegrass on Thursday, and to The Routefinder himself, Gandalf the Wizard (aka Carlos G), for what many of us proclaimed as the best drive ever on Saturday.

Lane Anderson posted:

The Routefinder himself, Gandalf the Wizard (aka Carlos G), for what many of us proclaimed as the best drive ever on Saturday.

I've driven to the west coast twice in the Speedster.

I've been on Terry Nuckels' private loop. I've driven through the Plumas National Forrest on CA80, around Tahoe, over the top, and down to Yosemite on US395. It was awesome.

I've driven US40 across Nevada to get to Carmel by the Sea and down the PCH to Morrow Bay, and across the Mojave Desert to LA.

I've crossed the continental divide on I80 and I70 several times.

The drive Carlos put together on Saturday gives up NOTHING to any of them. Nothing. I'm not going to say it was "better", because every drive is different and there are some fantastic places to drive in this country, and those drives out west still make me ache with appreciation-- but the roads Carlos took us on were the tightest, most technical, most uninterrupted series of hairpin bends I've ever driven. The Dragon was cool. The Rattler was better. Carlos' mind-bending trip from "A" to "B" was stupid-cool. This had nothing to do with looking good-- it put every single car there (and there were some very capable cars) on the absolute limit. It was perfect.

Thanks to everybody who had anything to do with this. May this always and forever remain a driving event. 

Here, here. I think I had a blast trying to read the serial number on your taillights Stan, I got that close. 

I hope you had as much fun chasing me as i did chasing you.

Following Stan on the Rattler was a hoot, but some of that made my other half uncomfortable.

Following Pieter's Envemo on the Dragon was just as much fun.

Nothing matched Carlos' ride on Saturday though. My arms are still tired and it was 3 days ago!

Ron, Maddie, Stan, Jeannie, Carlos, Kelly, Jack and Alice, Leon, Phil, Michael and JP, Rich and Thatsana, and Bones. What a great time. Still can't contemplate the beauty of the roads and vistas.

BRAAAP!

Same here, Danny.  Awesome fun with the best sort of folks.  Tell Michells that I totally understand.  You had me making buttonholes in the seat when I rode with you at Carlisle.  I'm up for a repeat too!

I meant to Type "Michelle", of course.  Sorry about the typo.

Thanks guys. It was great meeting a few new members and getting to hang a little more with a few from last year.

If next year is in Ron and Maddie's back yard, he'll have to take over as Route Meister.

Sounds like you pulled off a real nice one, Carlos. Congrats and large kudos for the effort. 

As an aside, my Son in Law has a nice selection of Italian track bikes. Looks scary to me but pretty impressive stuff. 

Ok folks, I finally uploaded some pictures.

These first one are from everybody's Wednesday arrival.  It was kinda rainy.  In the first, Leon appears to have two heads.  Hmmm...

Above, President Stan extolling the virtues of his magic trailer.  Truly incredible to see in action.

Wednesday night we used the pool house as the fire pits were a bit squishy.

Somehow this beer seemed appropriate.

Ron looking content.

Leon looking content-er.

Why Alice, wherever did you find such a large bottle of hooch?

Wow, is that an Aluminum trailer?  I'm jealous.  That takes a lot of empty beer cans. Those first few photos are reminiscent of the Speedster/Spyder get-togethers I recall at Carlisle. 

Alright folks, it's Thursday and thar's drivin' to do!!!

Ahem, but first Danny needs to clean his car, uh, to make it lighter.  Yeah, that's it.

Piet Van Rossum joined us with his sweet Envemo outlaw.  This was my ride for the day.

Uh, I think El Frazoo's parking skills need some refinement.

And now for some driving on the Rattler.  It figures the the only two road pictures I get are on the less twisty sections.  DOH!

Beautiful downtown Hot Springs, the northern end of the Rattler and our turn-around/lunch place.  I don't think the locals quite new what to think.  Last year there was a fellow selling boiled peanuts in this parking lot.  One of the locals looking at the cars said "Yeah, he's in prison.  He shot his wife, but she's ok."  Alrighty then!

Some showers toward the end of the return leg made it a bit damp again.  Last real rain we saw for the weekend.

And Ron couldn't stand a dirty car.

I sorta forgot to take any pictures on Friday, but that's when folks did the Tail of the Dragon, and when Stan had a little disagreement with his car over the definition of "running properly."  Eventually El Presidente was victorious.

And now for Saturday, the most epic run of all, maybe forever.  Here are the "pre-race" preparations.

The wizard Gandalf rode in on his flying horse, cleverly disguised as a Spyder.

Danny and Carlos discussing the proper design of engine lid vent seals.

And now one of the first stops, an absolutely beautiful spot above the morning clouds.

That, folks, is why they're called the Smokeys.

The President and his lovely First Lady, Jeannie.

And now for stop #2, wherein we pretty much interrupted a wedding in progress with our noisy little cars.

High altitude wedding at 6053 feet.

Just in case you were wondering what it was.

We had lunch in Brevard at one of Carlos' friends BBQ place.  Mmmm...

Carlos' friend Mike joined us for the pre-lunch runs in his 1st gen. Rabbit with a later drivetrain and suspension mods - did pretty darned well with it.

Danny and his lovely lady Michelle.

Me trying to horn in on Danny's lovely lady Michelle.  Unsuccessfully, I might add.

Imagine munching sounds and the occasional "mmmm".

Making sure everything is ready for the afternoon run.

Carlos' friend Mikes' father joined us for lunch and came in this cool Jeep CJ3B.

I love the "Kill your television" bumper sticker.

Yeah, I've driven one of these.  50 is pretty much it.

Sniff!  Bye bye mountains, until next year.