Tail of the Dragon

Kent D

Kent D

Member #040
GCC Member
Location (City)
Glen Carbon
First Name
Kent
Last Name
Dickemann
I went to the Tennessee / North Carolina border area with 7 biker buddies this past weekend and we rode the Dragon and surrounding roads for 3 days. Absolutely beautiful country, great pavement and enough turns to keep you grinning all day long. The Dragon (318 turns in 11 miles) is the carnival ride attraction that brings people in from all over the country but after running it once or twice in a lot of traffic you start to appreciate the other great roads in the area: Moonshiners 28, Cherohala Skyway, and a little road we found out about from the locals, Highway 1310. I would love to be a part of 10 - 15 Cobra parade through the hills. While we were there, a car club of Chrysler Crossfires were crusing the area; pretty tame but I'm sure they thought they were tearing it up. Anyway, maybe something we can put on the calendar for next spring / summer. I'm going back one way or another with my car; too good to pass up. By the way, it is 490 miles each way to Vonore, Tennessee at the edge of the area we would want to run. We found a nice hotel that let us leave our trucks and trailers there for 3 days. No problems.
 
Sounds like a great trip, and also sounds like a weeks vacation :) Gary has been on this, I've seen many threads on FFC about it, looks like a blast. I think if you went on the supercruise (now planned for the spring) you would be about as impressed, Gary was.
 
I was going to go do the Dragon thing this w/e as wife was going to be out of town but plans changed....another time perhaps.
Why did you trailor the bikes Kent??? Why not ride?
Live to Ride, Ride to Live!!!!!!!
 
I'm not big on 81/2 hours of interstate riding; safety and comfort mainly. Then the issue of weather. But I think it would be a good trip in the Cobra. Easy driving all the way there, rolling hills and a lot of scenery thru Kentucky and Tennessee.
So there is no super cruise this fall? It is moved to the spring?
 
Kent, yes, that's the plan. However, there is a guy from Little Rock that is trying to drum up interest and carry the 'torch' for this year to retain the annual moniker. I'm a little financially strapped to be able to go and no one else from here was going. We will try in the spring maybe.

Back to this subject, where did you stay while there and what else is there to do besides the drive? (thinking of the wives here)
 
We stayed at the Grand Vista Hotel in Vonore, Tenn. and used it as our start/stop point. It is new and in a business park with a lot of parking and no worries about security. Once we were on the road we stayed two nights at the Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort at the base of the Dragon. It caters to motorcycles but the Crossfire group stayed there too. It is clean but very basic; bunk beds and very little in the way of creature comforts. The girls would not be impressed.
We rode over to the Iron Horse to check it out. It sits back off the highway (paved road) in a little valley with a creek running through it. Nice lodge, cabins,restaurant, firepit, etc. We would probably stay there if we go back. One thing we didn't realize; this is a dry area. No bars and no place to buy liquor. Very few places serve, including the Iron Horse.
As far as other things to do? I don't think you are going to find much shopping or movies or such. This is rural North Carolina and other than the scenary, dam visits (2 in the area), and waterfalls (Bald Mountain), there isn't a lot to do. One thing to consider is to run this area for a day or two and then take the girls to the Vanderbilt in Ashland. They would be very impressed with that.
 
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