has any one driven the tail of the dragon with there bimmer or beemer. i will be going down there sometime in june on my harley. yes i know its not a beemer but harleys are cool also.
I have met the guy that started it all. Doug Snavely is the original dragon slayer and rides a very modified Goldwing 1000 (soon to have single shock and 1200 engine, maybe with EFI if I can help him with it.) Just be careful of the brain dead morons and the cops. Lots of cops, hugh tickets, confiscated bikes, etc.
I've driven the Tail of the Dragon up and down once. Great drive. 318 turns! I found myself given point-bys to the bikes so we could all have some safe fun.
It's such a shame that the only really good driving roads are all patrolled now. Why make such a good road if nobody can use it?
The Tail of the Dragon is fun to do just so you can say you've done it but I actually prefer the Cherohala Skyway (they call it the Mile High Legend) http://www.cherohala.com/ . It's got a lot more sweepers as opposed to sharp turns, it has less traffic, less trucks, less cops and the scenery is amazing. We did the Cherohala coming back from the Performance Center after picking up the 135. What a great road!! Here's a map of where it is in relation to the Tail...
I believe some of the folks who have attended the Z3 homecoming may have wandered over that way.... did I see some pictures of a certain Mroadster which would indicate your involvement Mr. Johnson?
Some of you may notice my sig line from the movie "Two Lane Blacktop" (great flick for any car types and I recommend it highly). Deal's Gap is some of the road that the movie was shot on. Of course it looks a lot different now than it did in 1971. Here is a link: http://www.tailofthedragon.com/dragon_history_pictures.html The primer-color '55 Chevy in the movie was Harrison Ford's (then painted black) ride in 'American Graffiti' a few years later....
And here is my friend Doug (only met him twide, but I'd be happy to call him a friend): http://www.tailofthedragon.com/dragon_history_story.html Met him on a Goldwing website and he is so friendly. He has dropped by once on a ride, and brought me a bike engine that I got on ebay in his area as a favor a different time. Yep, that is a Goldwing.
Indeed!!! I've driven the Dragon on Labor Day week 2007 and 2008 on the way to "Roadster Homecoming" at BMW Manufacturing in Greer SC. For the 2008 trip, we did the Cherohala and the Dragon. We spent the night at the Tapoco Lodge on the southern end of the Dragon. In the morning, the menfolk left the women to primp and chat at the Lodge. Meanwhile we took a reconnaissance run north. Upon determining there was only one Tennessee Highway Patrol car at the very north end, we had our way with this most unbelievable piece of pavement for the southbound return trip. When they say 318 curves in 11 miles, they aint kidding!! By the time we turned back into the Tapoco Lodge parking lot to pick up the women, you could feel the heat radiating off our tires and brakes from several feet away, our grins wrapped completely around the back of our heads and stayed that way for several days!!. But, the place is pretty choked with car and bike traffic on weekends and as M3Driver mentioned, it is now heavily patrolled by THP and Blount County Sheriff. But if you manage to get a clean run or 2, it is something you will NEVER forget!!!
:jealous The traffic and police presence is what is keeping me from going. Nothing would bum me out more than to drive a very, very long distance and then not be able to do a darned thing because tourists and cops are stinking up the place...
Tapoco Lodge is an interesting place. It was originally built in the 1930's as lodging for the Engineers and Management overseeing the work crews building the nearby Cheoh dam. There is a main building with several rooms, then several "cabins" with 2 ro 3 guest rooms each. The interior of the rooms have period furniture from the 40's or 50's except for the flatscreen LCD TVs and Satellite TV service. They also have a large dining room and a game/casual room & gift shop in the main building. I liked the nostalgia of the place because I am a huge US History buff. But others of our group complained that their rooms weren't as clean as they should have been.
Is the Cheohala Skyway only fun in the daytime? Has anyone out there driven Cherohala Skyway at night? Would it still be as fun, or not? The only time I could try it (in a Road Monkey kind-of-way) would be at 8:00 p.m. on a Sunday night.
I can not see it being fun at night. Fun in the sense of a brisk drive. Winter would have better visibility but I'd be concerned about wildlife.
We also did TOD on Thursday, on the way down to HC08 and stayed at the Topoco Lodge. Rustic, very minimal when compaired to newer establishments but could have been considered romantic, but we were so tired from the drive out from VB my wife and I just fell asleep right away.. Topoco Lodge
That would NOT be a fun drive at night! One of its biggest attractions is the scenery so you would lose that completely. There are a lot of blind turns that are hard enough to judge in the daylight so they would be a pain in the butt in the dark. Plus, if you are not going to hit it until late in the day, you'll probably be tired and focused more on a nice warm bed than on driving a tight, twisty road.
When I drove the tail of the dragon I found the over zealous TN sheriff's dept. waiting for vehicles as they exited the forest into TN. I didn't get any ticket but they claimed I was doing 40 in a 30 when in fact I was doing 40 in a 40. They lost my tourism dollars as a result of their ruse.
