Tail of the Dragon

Great Pictures!! Looks like a Blast!!!

@Eric (McGruff) Thanks for sharing those great pics of your adventure!

We do the Tour D'Smo, already making plans for next fall. For as good as the TotD was, we drove better roads when I went last year. Check out the thread

Glad you had a good time. Shame you didn’t check in first. As anyone who has spent time in the area will tell you, the dragon is but one of hundreds of good roads in the area.

Links Carlos posted from this years TdS:
https://www.google.com/maps/di...!1m0!1m0!3e0!5m1!1e4

Fir some reason, I can’t get the second route to post. It’s in Carlos’ TdS 2021 post on page 6

I live not that far from the TOD, drove it 3 times one day in my 356 Cabrio while exploring the area. Waiting for warmer weather (it's getting cold here) so we can put the top down and do the TOD run in our new JCW Mini. Driving it is a blast, gotta cool it on the TOD; the twin boost turbo is a beast .

Been there done that on a motorcycle. have to agree though, if you know any locals, there are dozens of local roads just as nice or better with no crazy yahoo center line crossers at every corner.

Or Swift tractor trailers trying to avoid the scales on the interstate.

I would agree that there are many roads in the smokies that are more beautiful and more fun that TOD. But there aren’t any more challenging. In my younger days I would spend entire days at the TOD trying to cut my time on a sport bike. Particularly on a bike it is physically and mentally challenging. At 61 those days are over and the TOD is now way too commercial and busy. Cops are also everywhere.
I’m a Virginia resident and I would recommend anyone who likes the TOD to try the Back of the Dragon (BOD?) that travels from Marion VA to Tazwell WVA. Longer and with more curves but a bit more spaced out. It too is very physically demanding.  The area can’t compete with the smokies but it’s worth the trip if you are close to SW VA. I sound like a commercial but I’m a VA native and I love VA.  More VA suggestions. If you are a history buff and maybe you love good food, beer and wine maybe try Charlottesville. I was in the nearby mountains this morning. Beautiful roads and near Monticello, Montpelier, University of Virginia and many other beautiful historical sites. Again roads can’t compare to the driving experience of the Smokies but if you are interested in more than just the drive it’s a no brainer.

Looks like it was a very good day!

Kind of like the PCH, the Tail of the Dragon (ToD) is a bucket list thing for a car guy - and like the PCH, I wish I had been able to do it before it was hugely popular.

As others have said, it's unbelievably crowded, very heavily patrolled, and a LOT slower than I imagine it was before it became famous. It's an amazing stretch of road, and I can only dream of what it must have been like before packs of accountants on Harleys, RVs, leaf-peepers, and the occasional delivery van all decided it was a destination to be taken in at 3/10s speed. Fast cars or bikes who came a long way to drive an iconic road get behind all that, get frustrated, and do stupid things.

It's super-cool to have the images the photogs stationed on the corners shooting thousands of frames a day can provide for short money (I've got two of them blown up to nearly billboard size in my shop), but it's kinda' like Disney World - I feel like the idea of it exceeds the reality at this point in history. It's just too popular.

That being said, I've got a ToD sticker on my windshield, and a shot I took on the PCH as my phone background, so there's that. You've got to do it once or twice - but having done it I can tell you that there are many, many roads not overly crowded and not overpatrolled in the same area.

"The Rattler" is that kind of road - it's longer, faster, and 10x more fun.

Love them photos. Well worth the outlay and, I'd bet, not something you can get on any of the "better" roads in the area. Well done!

Cherohala Skyway

43-mile National Scenic Byway from Tellico Plains, Tennessee, to Robbinsville, NC

https://cherohala.com/

You know I am not usually a fan of the wide body,  maybe it is because in black it looks too cardashian but your car in red is really nicely set up and the flares fit !  Nice I like it.

I've been down to North Carolina twice with my Spyder. We did the Dragon, we did the Rattler.

IMHO, the Dragon is nice, BUT I was behind a local guy(Piet) and it wasn't a busy day. No policemen were disturbed by us that day, nor the other way round. Got the photos to prove it.(Killboy!)

The Rattler is a fine piece of road, although there are some slightly populated spots you have to watch out for. Definitely LESS busy but fun curves. The destination town of Hot Springs for lunch is an advantage.

I'd love to hit the Cherohala Skyway but that is pretty far west of where we "home-base".

We did the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is similar in spirit to, but perhaps even more scenic than the Cherahola.  That drive takes the longest but is the least technical, and is the one the wives usually join us on.

Blue Ridge has a LOT of 35mph areas. I've actually had a Ranger follow us into a restaurant parking lot and wait until we came out. I guess he was assuming that were going to fracture the speed limit. We split up into two groups. He had to make a choice. They're serious! You don't want a ticket on the Blue Ridge.

It's a beautiful drive but I can't drive 35. Been there in June when the fog was so thick you couldn't see your front tire on the motorcycle.

Seeing the photos makes me really wish I had purchased some when I did TOD.

@Jim Gilbert - Madison, Mississippi posted:

Blue Ridge has a LOT of 35mph areas. I've actually had a Ranger follow us into a restaurant parking lot and wait until we came out. I guess he was assuming that were going to fracture the speed limit. We split up into two groups. He had to make a choice. They're serious! You don't want a ticket on the Blue Ridge.

It's a beautiful drive but I can't drive 35. Been there in June when the fog was so thick you couldn't see your front tire on the motorcycle.

Unlike State and Municipal regulations around the country, there is just one fine for speeding in a NP: $399 in 2002. Don’t know what it is now. And that goes for +5, +10, or anything above it.

@Stan Galat posted:

That being said, I've got a ToD sticker on my windshield, and a shot I took on the PCH as my phone background, so there's that.

Mine is on my paper shredder.
TBH, I have one on my Triumph, too, along with my Iron Butt Assoc. license plate frame.

Lots of good comments and advice in this thread. We managed TotD on Sunday and planned to hit Cherhola on Tuesday (Monday had rain in the forecast, which was accurate) but the Speedster had other plans. The electric fuel pump crapped out about 15 miles from our hotel, in an area without cell service. Thanks to a good Samaritan with a landline, we were able to call for assistance, and managed a ride back to the hotel to get the trailer. I'd thought ahead and brought the generator and winch and had parked on a flat spot, so recovery was simple. Her sister bought a home this summer in Franklin, so we'll be back at least once a year and will have plenty of opportunities to explore all of the twisty roads the region has to offer.

Sorry about your troubles. Check out those pics Carlos posted. Or, better yet, pencil in TdS 2022 and hang out with the hooligans.

I feel your pain, this moment was brought to you by assuming my just-completed rocker replacement had gone awry, when in reality I’d simply run out of gas. But that didn’t occur to me until after I’d pulled my dist cap and valve covers to verify none of my work had gone south.  

I have a ritual with the Spyder: Since my gas gauge doesn’t work, I carry a 2.5 gal gas can with me. Typically, before a drive I’ll empty the contents into the tank (to rotate the old gas) then go refill the can and top off the tank. I failed the tank part, because I wasn’t planning on going that far. I guess there was less than 2.5 gal in my can, because I ran out after about 75 miles.

@Michael McKelvey posted:

Seeing the photos makes me really wish I had purchased some when I did TOD.

You still can. Michelle had some printed a year ago from our 2018 trip.

I think this is you, and your "holding-on-for-dear-life" bride LOL!

killboy.com, 9/28/2018, around noon, under sporty cars. Photos are number 220 to 230 or so.

There's that Michigan plate:

https://www.photoreflect.com/s...mp;po=220&pc=669

And a few minutes later on another curve:

https://www.photoreflect.com/s...mp;po=228&pc=669

So @Michael McKelvey was that your car? And did you order the pictures yet?

At least you didn't tell your wife you were going to Mt. Rushmore like Rich Drewek did LOL!

@DannyP, yes it was my car.  Thanks for the links for the photos.  I wish it had been my Speedster.

I did not order pictures yet. I may yet. I would be more likely to if I was driving the Speedster.

That is interesting news about Rich.  Since my wife was with me, she would soon know we weren't going to Mt. Rushmore.  I would, however, enjoy visiting Mt. Rushmore.

@550 Phil posted:

Cops are also everywhere.

Bumping this back up.  Last time that I did TOD, cops were certainly there but were not radaring/ticketing.  We assumed they were there for safety purposes/accidents, as we were definitely speeding every time we passed one.  Is this no longer the case?  Are they actually giving speeding tickets out on TOD?

cops are there for revenue enhancement..

Heck, I don't even know what the speed limit is on TOD.  It was just go as fast as you could go without straightening out the curves, and never cross the lines.  Oh, and have your passenger wave to the camera man, and then hold on for dear life when its said passenger's (wife) turn to drive.

It's been 3 or so years since I've made it back there, I guess things have changed.

25 mph. And yes, tickets are given out freely, especially on weekends.

And absolutely stay IN YOUR LANE!

Come to think of it, we were there in 2018 also. It was the first weekend in October.

And we were there in 2008, 2009, and 2010.  One of our own got ticketed in 2008.