Tour de Smo' 2022

Hey @Chris MacDonald we watched the videos last night. Thanks, awesome job!

Another successful one in the books. Thank you, @Carlos G for everything!

During the course of the weekend, I got BOTH headlight lenses cracked by thrown-up rocks. One happened on Thursday and the other on Friday. I'm very happy that the lights took the hit rather than any paint or fiberglass.

Carlos had swapped to clear lenses, and graciously gave me his fluted ones. Thanks, Carlos.

And that, folks, is what this group is all about.

Carlos is such a resource for that area. Best roads on the east coast and Carlos knows them all. For pure driving the Smokies have no equal. To go anywhere else would require a compromise to the driving experience. There would need to be another factor that would enhance the trip. In the north of Georgia we could also combine the drives with Octoberfest in Helen. If we wanted to do much more chilled drives but add lots of sight seeing and American history we could do Charlottesville Va, an area I know very well. Danny may relocate close to the Marion Va area where there is the Back of the Dragon. I have done these roads twice.  The Back of the Dragon is awesome but is quickly becoming a tourist mecca. And the rest of the roads in that area are not that great without venturing into West Virginia.
In the Smokies I’ve stayed in Asheville, Fontana, Maggie Valley and Brevard. Brevard is the best IMHO. Maybe we can look for a hotel with a better outdoor area. Or maybe we can suggest to the owner, our new driving buddy, to fix up the outdoor area. But regardless, it’s going to be tough to beat Brevard. My wife has actually been to a girls only book club vacation to Brevard. She loved it. And other than marrying me, she has very discerning tastes.

In my humble opinion, I think there are two factors to consider for a yearly event. One, those who have made the trip to Carlisle every year understand the drive and while I am not whining here: the long drive down, driving while there and long drive back is different than Carlisle. I think it is fair to split it up a bit.

I agree that roads are un-matched and we are unlikely to find an equal but I would venture a guess that there are other mountain roads that we could find if we looked. As an example, the Parkway runs 459 miles to the Shenandoah Valley area. There is a lot of miles there to find a possible alternative.

I haven't been to Carlisle, but I was at the inaugural of SMO. I know that SMO is primarily a spirited driving event, I understand that Carlisle is less so.

That’s true, but there are some terrific drives not far from Carlisle.   There are also some terrific drives in the Poconos (RT 209 between I-81 & I-84), up in the Adirondacks, Vermont, New Hampshire Virginia/West Virginia and on and on.   Usually the bikers know where the cool roads are so find some and ask.  You won’t find much in magazines about the cool roads - It’s best to keep it quiet.

I’ve driven the Dragon, the Cherohala, Skyline Drive and others and I agree with Chris - there are lots of cool “Blue Highways” out there….   Those back roads shown in blue on Rand-McNally maps.  All you have to do is find them.   Ask the Bikers!

Logistics have to be considered.  Without a local like Carlos, planning routes and meals is tough.  I am 4+ hours southeast of Brevard, which puts me even farther from any of the other venues and I am still working, so my ability to help in planning is reduced to what I can do online.  At present, only the northern GA (Ron & Maddie) and Charlottesville (Phil) areas have anyone of us in the respective area to do the legwork.  I suggest that, for now at least, we stick to those two areas or Brevard.

I may be trying to speak for Chris, but maybe you're missing his point:

Yes, the Brevard area is a driving/biking Mecca, but so are other areas of the country.  Perhaps we as a group should be looking more into doing a "Tour d' Smo" type of gathering in other parts of the country as well, so that more people can get involved (just like the local PCA guys do).  

I'm sure "Safety Jim" could suggest some weekend rides in the Adirondacks, I could certainly find some in New England, there are lots on the Left Coast, etc.  The only places lacking are the Central states and lots of the South because the roads are so very straight and long (and boring).  

Even South Carolina has really great driving roads but you have to get out of the Low Country and 40 miles from the coast before you can find them.  I've driven blue roads northwest of Columbia and around Aiken and Greenville and they are amazing BUT, they're 4 hours from Charleston and I bet the Low Country clubs seldom get up there.  SC RT 64 from Charleston up to Barnwell is a lot of fun.  Just about any side road north and east of Aiken can be a lot of fun, just pick one and drive it.  Make a day trip of it or stay overnight like in Brevard.  Bring some of your local car club friends.  Talk trash and drink beer at night.

Me?  I'll be driving Mass. blue roads in the west/central parts up into southern Vermont and New Hampshire, mostly with Hot Rod Friends (I've tried, without success, to get 356/550 replica interest going up here).  RT 100 in Vermont from Rutland down to Brattleboro is a LOT like the Cherohala Skyway down South, only tighter and more twistie as it follows the Green Mountains of Ethan Allen Fame - RT 9 north out of Brattleboro is a lot like the Tail of the Dragon, only shorter.  Doing a day-loop up and through the White Mountains in New Hampshire is sublime (and the PCA already has several suggested routes to take).  And I don't have to drive for two days, just to get there.

Maybe we should be looking a little more regionally for more group events a little more often?

Website for finding curvy roads: https://roadcurvature.com/

There aren't many shown here in Michigan. The few shown are short.  It is interesting to see that one is the road course inside the Michigan International Speedway.

That’s a cool site, Mike.  It shows what I already knew - There are a LOT of twisty back roads around me here in Massachusetts!  

It doesn’t seem to be iPad friendly, but I’ll fire it up on my laptop and see if it suggests a few new roads that I haven’t yet found, especially up into the mountains of central New England.

This coming weekend I’ll be doing the “Fishing Village Tour” in the East Bay area of Rhode Island after watching the “Tour d’Elegance” of the Audrain Concours parade through Little Compton.  Should be a lot of fun if it doesn’t rain!  

Thank You!

@Michael McKelvey posted:

Website for finding curvy roads: https://roadcurvature.com/

There aren't many shown here in Michigan. The few shown are short.  It is interesting to see that one is the road course inside the Michigan International Speedway.

I lived there, the only place with less curvy roads is Ohio.

My brother suggested the Finger Lakes of NY but I would assume that would be as unappetizing to some as GA would be for me (drive time only, I love Ron and Maddie). I like that Gordon is speaking for me and I take Lane's point about having a "local" but what I was saying is:

For those of you who made the long drive to Carlisle every year, you hopefully understand that some of us (who work) would prefer a shared load on drive time, where fun isn't reduced much. Somewhere in VA one year and somewhere south (Brevard or GA) would be awesome. Speaking for myself, if the group decided Brevard (or South) every year, I'd still go.

Again, this is only based on required time off and driving. The ride home for 8.5 hours after days of driving was stinky and I ended up speeding a lot on the freeway thanks to you guys! (There is a great story here)

Also speaking for myself, I think if you want to come, you should want to drive fast as Ricky Bobby so eloquently put it. I don't know how well a large group would play for the events after being at a few and we could meet at a Sizzler anywhere if you just wanted to hang out.

We drove the cars hard, hung 'em up wet and then after we could move our arms no further, we burned stuff while we made merry! If that doesn't sound like an amazing time, see you at Carlisle!!

Yeah, I think what Chris is saying is make it just a little more equitable. Move it around some.

One year it could be a long drive and the next a much shorter one to get there and back home.

There are plenty of curvy roads near me, especially in Dutchess, Ulster, and Columbia counties. But the thing about DRIVING events is they are better if they're small. They're also better if people drive 'em like they stole 'em.

Oh, and Gordon, the Adirondacks are pretty far away from Safety Jim in Buffalo. That's almost like saying you live in Cape Cod. The 'Dacks are due north of me. If you want a tour, let me know.

I've done this one every year we've done this one. I'm a Smoky Mountain fanboy.

Being real - it's kinda' whiny to say more than 4 hrs is tough if you're working. I'm still working, and Brevard is 2 days down and 2 days back (assuming we don't add on a post-smo excursion as we have twice now). Realistically, it's about a week off work for most of us.

We could toughen it up and make it two days of HARD driving, rather than two hard and one easy. We could go back to some sort of Bunkhouse Billy lodging and bologna sandwich eats, and make it a boyz-club thing. No matter how cool this is, the wives who come are mostly coming because they love us. It's a big ask, no matter how cool the place.

I know we don't have anybody on the ground - but how is West Virginia? It's more central to a lot of people. Is it more central to the people who want to hammer?

I have no idea.

Gentlemen, and Cory ,

I highly recommend this group consider the Little Switzerland Inn, on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Spruce Pine, NC. https://www.switzerlandinn.com/. It is 50 miles NE of Asheville.

It is a fabulous resort with a great restaurant, plentiful outdoor gathering space, fire pits, etc. I have attended events there with PCA, Audi and Ferrari. In addition, I would be willing to chip in for a portion of Carlos's room, so he could design the routes and be able to stay overnight with the group. Access to great roads, including Grandfather Mountain, Roan Mountain, etc. are nearby.

I'm a Smoky Mountain fanboy also. I'm also a hard driving sumbidge.

We came, we drove, we went home. It was EPIC.

I know I'll go back again. Yup, two days down and two days back. It's a week, easy. It's also expensive at 8mpg. I don't care, it was worth it.

@Former Member posted:

Gentlemen, and Cory ,

I highly recommend this group consider the Little Switzerland Inn, on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Spruce Pine, NC. https://www.switzerlandinn.com/. It is 50 miles NE of Asheville.

It is a fabulous resort with a great restaurant, plentiful outdoor gathering space, fire pits, etc. I have attended events there with PCA, Audi and Ferrari. In addition, I would be willing to chip in for a portion of Carlos's room, so he could design the routes and be able to stay overnight with the group. Access to great roads, including Grandfather Mountain, Roan Mountain, etc. are nearby.

Why don't you do it? Carlos has a job and a family.

Awful nice of you to volunteer somebody else's time.

It also seems like this place is AWFUL close to your home turf. Take the ball and run with it.

"Being real - it's kinda' whiny to say more than 4 hrs is tough if you're working."

You misunderstand me, Stan.  I'm not concerned about 4+ hours to get the to venue, but 4-8 hours drive just to get to several places just to see if we want make one of them a venue is a bit much.  I don't have time to explore all of the potential locations in the Appalachians to see if we want to convene there.

@Lane Anderson posted:

"Being real - it's kinda' whiny to say more than 4 hrs is tough if you're working."

You misunderstand me, Stan.  I'm not concerned about 4+ hours to get the to venue, but 4-8 hours drive just to get to several places just to see if we want make one of them a venue is a bit much.  I don't have time to explore all of the potential locations in the Appalachians to see if we want to convene there.

Gotcha, but I don't think anybody was asking you to. The logistics of putting something together someplace else, unless there's a local on the ground, would be daunting. I think that's one of the reasons we keep going back. That, and the roads are sublime.

Thanks for rallying the group and putting this together all these years,

I think I may just have been kinda salty about breaking my car on Day 1 of what was to be an 11 day trip for us. My knees are killing me, my car is in Indiana, and I screwed up my rental/flights to get back home. This single broken part has stolen a week of my life and thousands of dollars.

Damn it, Stan.  That is sad to hear.  I saw the photo that Marty posted of you examining your rear suspension, but had no idea of the extent of the damage (physical, financial, time, etc.) that it caused you.

Sorry to hear of that.

Stan wrote:  "I know we don't have anybody on the ground - but how is West Virginia? It's more central to a lot of people. Is it more central to the people who want to hammer?"

That would be great for us more northern people, and we could get Dr. Clock to organize everything.

Right, @Alan Merklin ?  I'm sure Connie would love that... 

Florida is out of the question. Really very few good curvy roads. Even the bikers go somewhere else.

@Panhandle Bob posted:

Florida is out of the question. Really very few good curvy roads. Even the bikers go somewhere else.

FL is not a drivers (or riders) State. And you take the chance it might be a foot under water ....

@Bob: IM S6 posted:

Damn it, Stan.  That is sad to hear.  I saw the photo that Marty posted of you examining your rear suspension, but had no idea of the extent of the damage (physical, financial, time, etc.) that it caused you.

Sorry to hear of that.

Life is full of challenges, Bob - and for the last 10 years or so, I've been a one man stimulus program.

The broken part didn't cause me any physical issues - I'm headed in on Monday for my initial consult with the orthopedic surgeon as the first step for a bilateral knee replacement this winter. I've been walking a few miles a day around DC, eating ibuprofen like candy.

Tuesday is the nuclear stress-test to see where we're at with my pump.

The thing with the flights/rental car was caused by trying to lock everything down while in the midst of mirth and merriment in Brevard. I was concerned about not being able to catch a flight out, and in my haste didn't realize that the website switched the airport on me - I was set to return the car to one airport and fly out of another. I figured this out yesterday, and (rightly) determined that switching the car drop-off was easier than the flight, but I hadn't counted on the "customer service professional" in the Asian subcontinent being completely inept. FWIW, the rental Volvo was surprisingly nice.

No matter, we got it done.

So... here I sit at the gate in the correct (but wrong) airport, flight boarding in 2 looooong hours, killing time on the 'ol SOC. When we do hit the ground this evening, I'll need to get into downtown Chi-town via the EL to catch a train to Bloomington, IL, which is 30 mi. up the road from the casa de Stanistan. With luck, we'll be home and tucked in by midnight.

While I was away, right-hand-man-Brad broke a molar and went through a bout with Covid. The Village of Morton sent me a cease and desist email, and business is backed up for a month.

It's all good, but this is why I can't have nice things.

@Stan Galat posted:

The thing with the flights/rental car was caused by trying to lock everything down while in the midst of mirth and merriment in Brevard.

So... here I sit at the gate in the correct (but wrong) airport

Where was the mirth? Was there a side-mirthing that I was excluded from? I was only invited to the merriment.

Which airport did you end of having to go to?

I was mentioning different local roads I often take in Pearl to another (real) Porsche friend from town and he asked if I ever used the "Roads by Porsche" app to find fun routes anywhere.  It already has a ton of routes to drive all over the World, but also seems to have the ability to give you a fun, interesting route from anywhere to anywhere.  Pick a starting point and a final destination (I don't know about waypoints, yet) and let'er rip!

Think of it like "WAZE" for finding curvy roads anywhere.  I'll be playing with it in the coming days, but this might solve your problem of wanting to go somewhere but don't have a local to scout out the routes for you.  Now, you might.....

All this talk about blue roads and roads that are Porsche approved et al. There are a few parameters when I choose a route. Lack of traffic, avoidance of congested areas, minimal traffic lights and most of all, twisty AF. A lot of the roads end up being very narrow and might not have the smoothest surface. Our cars, fake and fun, are small and are perfect for these roads. A couple of people brought modern full sized cars. We're fighting with knives here, not guns, but hey you do you.

Here is a quicky map of the first bit of the Deliverance Run. The roads that would be considered blue, are marked in blue. The orange roads, are the inbetween roads that are usually gray on paper maps, but are a hoot in our cars.

Hopefully it's legible enough to get the jest. You might have to download it to zoom in.

@Chris MacDonald posted:

Where was the mirth? Was there a side-mirthing that I was excluded from? I was only invited to the merriment.

You definitely missed the mirth, Chris. We mirthed while you weren't around.

Everyone mirths while I am not around. I

@Chris MacDonald posted:

Everyone mirths while I am not around. I am annoying.

Fixed it for you.

I used to ride a lot of roads in West Virginia but that was with a motorcycle friend who was from West  Virginia. He knew the roads. I always followed. Would West Virginia be a great place to have a get together?  Hell yes. But who knows the roads?  The Back of the Dragon goes from Marion Va to Tazwell West Virginia. Maybe Marion or Tazwell would be a good starting point. Closer for folks in the northeast or Midwest. Maybe I’ll go to Tazwell WV in the spring and check out the roads. But these roads are away from all civilization. Every run will be a Deliverance run.

We came, we drove, we went home. It was EPIC.

Could not agree more. I might have missed one, been to four. 500 miles each way just to have the chance to thrash the mountains, and also do some mirth. It is a driver's thing. Go as fast as you dare, keep up, drink moonshine.  What's not to like.  And Carlos makes Tour d'Smo work.  We collectively owe him a HUGE vote of thanks. Using the knowledge of a local makes a big difference -- maybe the whole difference.  Whether or not the on-line twisty map things would actually substitute for what Carlos does remains to be seen.   It could be tried, but might be a bust.  And group size ... smaller is better for sure.  I think maybe we stretched it a bit this time, but on balance seemed to go well enough.  I think we only lost one, and that for only 20 mins or so.  I went to a rally in PA in July where they had a huge number of participants, maybe 50.  They made this work by having groups of four head off in bunches at about 10 minute intervals.  Only drawback to this approach seems to be that each group needs a leader who knows the route. Which of course this org. had said leaders.  It worked.

The Marion to W-VA thing sounds interesting.  Also just tool around WV, if we can talk Merklin in to it.  Western NY is also a chance, and Mr Pip could figure out where to run.  Much to ponder over the winter.

Further thoughts: I am keen on the idea to move the venue from one spot to the next, notwithstanding how utterly cool the Brevard/Maggie Valley area is and how wonderful a job Carlos does to host.  As mentioned: that is EPIC!!  A 500 mile radius is about as far as I might care to truck it, and being retired, I'm not too concerned about how long it takes, so will not add that to any constraint.  OTOH, being closer to the DC area would be seen as a plus for me. Travel distance will be an issue for some, or maybe like Stan, this would be seen as vacation, takeing a week off and having a very grand time of it -- excepting of course all that business about breaking the car, renting a car, reservations at the wrong airport, trains, planes, automobiles, busses and maybe even mules, to get back home.  Think of it as an adventure, a time for bonding . . .

Chris: great documentation, well done.  Why am I so dizzy now ??

I'm thinking it was the cones you hit.