I've heard of the "Tail of the dragon" and I have had the opportunty to drive on California Highway 1 along the pacific going towards Monterey but just curious what are some of your favorite drives? Especially in your ultimate driving machine?
Rt 218 is not too long (about 3-5 miles) but it runs between West Point and Cornwall in NY. This road has alot of twisties
Any two lane rural road in Central Penna that follows a stream!!! There are so many of them and most have little traffic.
US RT-2 Taconic/Mohawk Trail from Troy NY to Greenfield Mass. Great hills, curves & scenery through Taconic Hills and Berkshires. Weekends can be prone to non-enthusiasts choking the road. Also NY RT-51 into Ilion NY, just east of Utica. (This would be the area where Mr. & Mrs. Stowell and Mr. Johnson grew up.) The gorge isn't as long or as gnarly as the Dragon, but not too far off. The aforementioned Pennsylvania rule also applies to Vermont, New Hampshire and Adirondak region of NY.
Not as long? The Dragon is only about 12 miles! It is also heavily patrolled by Tennessee Speed Nazis. There are a bunch of equally-fun roads in TN where you stand a lot better chance of getting away with your license unsullied. There are many more enjoyable and less-well-known roads in any relatively mountainous region of the US. Some I can name off the top of my head in the Appalachians include WV 3 and Ohio 555. There are fun roads in the Ozarks and even in some surprising areas of mostly-flat states like Wisconsin where the Green Bay and Lake Michigan glaciers dropped a buncha' stuff in between them in an area known as the Kettle Moraine right around a place we call Road America. I have been pleasantly surprised to find some fun twisties in southern Indiana and Illinois, too. Wherever you're traveling, just look at the map. If it's all laid out in the one-mile squares that the German settlers here were fond of (also NW Ohio, except along the Maumee, the Oklahoma Panhandle, most of Florida), you're not likely to have much fun. But if the map looks like somebody dumped a buncha' nightcrawlers on it, you're all set. Pick one and drive!
my commute So far it's my commute on Marsh Creek Rd in Contra Costa County, CA. It's full of twisties. The twisty part is about 10miles long.
These are a few of my favorite thin---uh, drives California, eh? Take 25 south from Hollister. Watch out for scooterbikes! When it tees out, go left and take 33 down to Taft. Straight, undulating two-lane to see if your speed governor works. (OR SO I'VE HEARD.) My favorite road? Take the Dempster Highway up from Dawson in the Yukon Territory. When it ends at Inuvik, take the Mackenzie River north 120 miles to Tuktoyuktuk. Yes, you will be driving for awhile on a tiny portion of the Beaufort Sea! Do NOT try this in the summer. . . .
I wish I had a favorite drive... there isn't anything worth driving in my part of CT. But, if I had to choose one that I've driven anywhere I've been to, I'd have to +1 the Mohwak Trail that Mr. Supercharger mentioned.
Waitaminnit! This doesn't have to be in the US? In that case, the Amalfi Drive, from Sorrento to Salerno, in southern Italy. Like a 4-hour autocross, only with scenery.
With crazy Italian drivers on scooters with cell phones jammed in their helmets to keep it real interesting!
You don't see much of that outside the cities. At least I didn't a decade ago. What you do have to watch out for is the tourist buses that take up the entire width of the roadway on some of the tightest 180º curves. The other thing I noted was that, although they may seem crazy, for the most part, they know exactly what they're doing. They have a better sense of how large their cars are (thus gaining the ability to handily stuff them into spaces you cannot believe) and what is going on around them than American drivers. They may be driving some slow POS Piaggio 3-wheeler, but they know that. They don't act dumb and they don't do anything to purposely get in your way. I find some of the "best" drivers here in the US (surveys of drivers' knowledge & observance of traffic laws place Wisconsin #1 or #2 in the nation) far more clueless on the road than the average Italian driver.
Driving the Gorge We are actually trying to work "The Gorge" into a Drive and Dine in September. I believe I counted 77 curves in it's 11 miles and very little police coverage. More like the Tail of the Iguana, but fun none the less. I've heard they have added a hot wheels style loop at the bottom of the gorge, but that may have been the beer talking....
In California some of the best roads I've been on have been Hwy 9 and Hwy 1 once you get down past the Monterey/Carmel area. There really are a lot of good roads just sandwiched into central/northern California.
