Drove the Blue Ridge Parkway yesterday . . .

[enfield]

. . . and was less than impressed.  If you just have to do this, get on at Ashville NC and take it north to Roanoke VA.  Then get off and come home.  The rest of the Parkway (and the Skyline Drive farther north) is just repetition - up the hill, down the hill, around the curve, thru the tunnel, overlook here, overlook there.  After 400+ miles, that gets kind of dry.

 

Plus, we ended up in Cherokee NC last nite.  Guess which is the fastest route back to SE Tennessee from the Cherokee area?  Route 129, AKA "The Tail of the Dragon".  After training on the Parkway, we were ready for the Dragon this morning.  :D

[peejman]

129 to SETN?  Wouldn't just staying on 64/74 be faster?   Still... glad you managed to survive the experience. 

[enfield]

According to two completely different GPS's (Garmin and Copilot), 129 to 411 south was the fastest route to my home, most likely because it's so much shorter than taking 74/19 down thru Murphy and out the Ocoee River valley.  Of course, it depends on where you live.

Edited September 2, 2015 by enfield

[TNWNGR]

And a lot of tractor trailer rigs that are to large to travel on 129 end up there because they relied on a GPS instead of a map. That's one really bad stretch of roadway where the other driver, particularly an 18 wheeler is your greatest concern.

[VERO1]

Wait two months and you can add 2 hours to which ever route you pick!

[Sam1]

Route 129, AKA "The Tail of the Dragon".  After training on the Parkway, we were ready for the Dragon this morning.   :D

 

Just have to watch out for those pesky motorcycles that drive over cliffs and block the road there:

 

[Erik88]

Which road is the blue ridge pwk? I've always been unclear on that one.

 

I like the Cherohala Skyway personally.

 

[peejman]

Which road is the blue ridge pwk? I've always been unclear on that one.

I like the Cherohala Skyway personally.

The BRP.... http://brpatravelplanner.nomadmobileguides.com/m/website/index.html

[peejman]

Just have to watch out for those pesky out of town idiots on motorcycles that drive over cliffs and block the road there:

FTFY

[peejman]

And a lot of tractor trailer rigs that are to large to travel on 129 end up there because they relied on a GPS instead of a map. That's one really bad stretch of roadway where the other driver, particularly an 18 wheeler is your greatest concern.

Thankfully there's at least signs on both ends now stating trailer length limits (30 ft max, if I recall) and hairpin turns far enough away that there's an opportunity for a smart driver to turn around. Though it's not particularly well enforced.

[Murgatroy]

Which road is the blue ridge pwk? I've always been unclear on that one.

 

I like the Cherohala Skyway personally.

 

I miss when Robbinsville Road was still gravel... I have an autographed book that Charlie Hall wrote about the Wagon Train and the creation of Robbinsville Road, which is of course now known as The Cherohala Skyway,

 

I also miss when no one else knew about The Tail of the Dragon.

[Murgatroy]

Just have to watch out for those pesky motorcycles that drive over cliffs and block the road there:

 

I bet that hurt. ;)

[TNWNGR]

I bet that hurt. ;)

Thinning out the gene pool is generally unpleasant for the ones who get thinned.

[enfield]

The Unicoi Turnpike is still mostly dirt & gravel. Runs between Coker Creek and a point north of Murphy NC.

[Sam1]

FTFY

That was me, lived nearby and going 15mph when it happened ;)

[Chucktshoes]

And a lot of tractor trailer rigs that are to large to travel on 129 end up there because they relied on a GPS instead of a map. That's one really bad stretch of roadway where the other driver, particularly an 18 wheeler is your greatest concern.

I run the Georgia section of 129 pretty regularly. It isn't quite as bad as the TN portion (which was closed to TT traffic at the beginning of this year if I remember correctly), but it still isn't for the faint of heart when you got a 53' trailer attached to the tractor. I'm kinda disappointed I didn't get a chance to run it before it was closed as a truck route.

[peejman]

The Unicoi Turnpike is still mostly dirt & gravel. Runs between Coker Creek and a point north of Murphy NC.

 

 

Joe Brown Hwy?

[peejman]

That was me, lived nearby and going 15mph when it happened ;)

 

 

Apologies for being an asshole.  But how exactly did you manage that?

[enfield]

Joe Brown Hwy?

That's the one. Joe Brown on the NC side.

[tennesseetiger]

. . . and was less than impressed.  If you just have to do this, get on at Ashville NC and take it north to Roanoke VA.  Then get off and come home.  The rest of the Parkway (and the Skyline Drive farther north) is just repetition - up the hill, down the hill, around the curve, thru the tunnel, overlook here, overlook there.  After 400+ miles, that gets kind of dry.

 

Plus, we ended up in Cherokee NC last nite.  Guess which is the fastest route back to SE Tennessee from the Cherokee area?  Route 129, AKA "The Tail of the Dragon".  After training on the Parkway, we were ready for the Dragon this morning.   :D

I run The Dragon on a fairly regular basis. We've got a camp in Western North Carolina in Fontana close to Fontana Lake so we frequent that area quite a bit. Fastest route from Nashville is to take 129 across so its what we usually do. When I'm in my car its a blast...truck, not so much.

Edited September 3, 2015 by tennesseetiger

[TNWNGR]

That was me, lived nearby and going 15mph when it happened ;)

 

That's an unforgiving road that can bite you in the a** even when your not going fast. You don't have time to look at the scenery or for someone in front of you to be looking at the scenery. It has doglegs and switchbacks that come up on you so suddenly that riders keep going straight right off into ravines. Sometimes its the riders fault, sometimes its not but if your the one who's seriously injured it just sucks.

[bersaguy]

I have a close friend that lives in Robbinsville NC. He is one of my really good bait customers and has bought baits from me for years. I was totally unaware that because of where he lives which is up on the mountain that is almost named after his family that unless you have a PO box in the post office that they only get mail delivery on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays at the resident mail boxes. My friends name is Joey Bridges and the road he lives on is named after a distant relative named Jeff Bridges Road. Most of the roads on that particular mountain are named after a Bridges family member.  Joey watched them do most of the filming of the movie "Deliverance with Burt Reynolds and he said that those folks in the movie where that young boy played dueling Banjo's with that movie star and that old man danced where actual people that live on the mountain on the lower level. He can walk out his back door and look at that rail road bridge that was in the movie. 

 

He has invited me down several times to come and go fishing with him for Small mouth bass on Lake Fontana but I have never went. I wish now 10 years ago when he offered I would have went............................ :up: :up: Below is a picture of Joey and his grandson..

 

 

[URL=http://s218.photobucket.com/user/softbaitmaker/media/Douglas%20Lake%20Trip/Friends%20of%20mine/DSCF0442.jpg.html][/URL]

[Sam1]

Apologies for being an asshole. But how exactly did you manage that?

Switched to Dunlops, kept the same air pressure as I did in Bridgestones which was 3psi in the front more than it should have been. Grabbed too much front brake, washed out, fell over 60' cliff.

Was scrubbing the tires for a track day the next morning and they worked ok while they were warm, but when they cooled off + the extra pressure taught me why people call them dunslips