In keeping with the "We Tight" policy of purchasing, I recently won an auction
for cabin rental nights in N. Carolina. The winning bid was $10.51 a night for
off-season, weekday dates. My wife and I picked May 28, 29 and 30 for a little
getaway. The cabin is located by Bakersville, NC up on a mountain. When I found
it on the map I realized that it wasn't all that far from Deal's Gap and the
Tail of the Dragon!!! Whoohoo, side trip!!!
You see, my wife just bought a new Miata and she wanted to take it on the
trip... OK, twist my arm a little harder honey.
My thinking was that the Tail is heavily patrolled on the weekends and would
likely be the same on Memorial Day too so I figured that Tuesday would work the
best. Therefore we had all day Monday to drive around and sightsee. We spent a
lot of time on the Blue Rdge Parkway. It is great for a sportscar or
motorcycle. Checked out Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi.
From there we went to Chimney Rock which took us on NC Hwy 9 to Hwy 74A.
If you ever get the chance to drive these two roads - DO IT !!! Snake signs
every short interval (the warning signs with the squiggly arrow pointing up).
There wasn't enough straight road to get up to any kind of speed. Esses,
decreasing radious turns, hairpins, switchbacks, double switchbacks, triple
switchbacks, moguls, butterflys, and more twists than I can describe... We
never had to go very fast to have a great time on these roads. Didn't see a
single cop anywhere! There weren't any motorcycles hogging the road either...
The Miata did a great job on those roads and my wife never hollered at me at
all. All in all a memorable trip that we'll have to do again.
Kent
1960 Bugeye
1975 Midget - someday auto-x-er
1973 TR-6
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