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One of the cool things I did on the way back from the NCM was visit the Tail of the Dragon in Southern Tennessee. Our friends Cheryl and Gary Suhay hosted us for a few days and on a Sunday Gary and I traveled to the Dragon and took the course once each way. It’s eleven miles long and consists of over 300 curves, many of which incorporate switchbacks. It’s a favorite of motorcycles—there’s a Harley dealership at one end, not to mention sports and muscle cars of every kind. The bikes tackle it as fast as they can, and here a smaller bike is actually an advantage. They were faster than I was willing to travel in a new vette with a couple hundred miles on her, so I just waved at them behind me and used the first opportunity to pull over out of their way. They were universally polite and beeped me in thanks as they rushed by. Gary says sometimes the bikes throw eggs at the vettes, but we lucked out.
Half way through the run I began to notice huge camera lenses pointed right at me as we negotiated a curve. Several companies take pictures of every vehicle that comes through. They sell them fairly inexpensively on the web (two are below.) Several hundred vehicles a day traverse the site, including the inevitable motor home or two just to slow things down. For a sunny Sunday it actually wasn’t too crowded, for which I was grateful. There are a couple of restaurants at the North Carolina end with a hundred spaces for bikes and two or three for cars, so you can see their orientation. To me it was a Bucket List drive I had heard about for years. Although not very long it’s right up there with the Pacific Coast Highway as something you really ought to do if you have the chance.
Gary was a good passenger. He reluctantly agreed to wear a seat belt and he didn’t throw up or anything.
doing the Bg thing in a cpl weeks, what would be the starting point for TOD to go north ?
It's pretty close to Sevierville, TN, which is itself close to Knoxville. It is an easy day's drive Northwest to BG from that area. Get on I40 to Nashville then I65 to BG is 250 miles or so.
It's pretty close to Sevierville, TN, which is itself close to Knoxville. It is an easy day's drive Northwest to BG from that area. Get on I40 to Nashville then I65 to BG is 250 miles or so.
Wow - the car and the road look great. So does the sun! I bet you couldn't wait to get your car back to Washington with all of our liquid sunshine this year...
Glad you had an enjoyable drive - too bad those roads are so far from here. That said, I am doing the PCH again this summer.
^^^ Cool. The North Cascades Highway is pretty good if you haven't done it. And 101 around Lake Crescent is good if you don't get behind a logging truck!
Last edited by Steve Garrett; 04-26-2017 at 02:21 AM.
I have done the Dragon twice and both times early in the morning since my daughter and I were heading off to start a hike. The good thing about this early morning run (prior to 8:00 A.M.) is there is almost no traffic. But you have to watch for damp road conditions and animals are more likely also. The most recent time (last summer) I had to back off about 2/3 of the way through because my daughter was starting to get a little queasy but I told her in a few years she will be old enough to drive the Z06 and then she can try to make me sick
We made the return trip in the afternoon and I planned to slow down but that wasn't necessary because there was so much traffic everyone was moving slow. This was in the middle of the week and I can only imagine how bad afternoon is on a summer weekend.
Anyone doing this right now should be careful. There are people spreading oil on the road. A couple of motorcyclists have spilled their bikes because of it.
what is the speed limit on the tail and how fast do you go?
If I remember correctly the speed limit is 35, but there are some straight shots where you could hit 70-80+..
From my experience, you don't have to worry about speeding as the ******* Harleys(in groups) will put-put along at 10 under and will refuse to use any on the many pull offs to let the faster cars go by.
I will not return to the TOD as I almost took out two dumb clucks that were riding their bicycles on the road. I was going around a right hand turn(high g's) with an embankment(mountain side of the road) blocking my vision and there were two bicyclist doing 5 MPH with their butts high in the air(pedaling uphill). Fortunately, the next tight turn was to the left and the view was not blocked(valley side of the road) so I could see that there was no oncoming traffic and I was able to hit the brakes hard and swerve to the left into the opposing lane to miss them, while at the same time yelling into my 2-way radio(to the Corvettes behind me) about the bicycles blocking the road.
If I had hit them, it would have been 100% my fault and I would have been in deep **** over it, as they also have every right to be on the road, doing 5 MPH as I have doing 35 MPH. Many of the turns are blind and you have no idea what might be in your lane around the next corner.
Anyone in the vicinity of Arkansas should try their answer to the Tail. Highway 123. I did that one last year in my 370Z with the wife and it was awesome!
Anyone in the vicinity of Arkansas should try their answer to the Tail. Highway 123. I did that one last year in my 370Z with the wife and it was awesome!
I've driven Hwy 23(Pig Trial Scenic Highway) many times but never 123. Where is it?
I did TOD a couple times with the 2014, and it's something everyone should try to do once. I wouldn't have gone back the second time except that my wife made a rare request to go.
In east TN, there are so many roads that equally fun, and a LOT less crowded. The Cherohala Skyway is something I'd recommend over TOD.
04-25-2017, 03:51 PM
Tail of the Dragon
VH
