Yeah, it can be very bad, and dangerous. Lots of vehicles crossing centerline, especially ones that shouldn't be going through there, like RV's, semi's, etc.
There a lot of roads around there that are great and probably less-traveled.
TCG Tour 2021 - Dragon?
- Thread starter Mook
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There a lot of roads around there that are great and probably less-traveled.
This.
I did a tour with 6 Crew ( a Mazda group) back in 2013. We rented two of the cottages. Perfect for a car group. You save a ton of money by cooking your own meals there.
Tons of different roads and routes down there. The dragon is usually not bad during the week. The weekends are slammed. Best to enjoy it on a weekday.
I've been down there over a half a dozen times. Beautiful area and awesome roads everywhere. The 9 hour drive down sucks for sure. But if you don't stop anywhere but for gas it isn't bad. Leave at 3 or 4AM. Plenty of nice cabins in the area to rent, just make sure the roads leading to them are car friendly. Id recommend the Robinsville area for a trip centered around driving. I love the Tapoco Lodge but not sure how group friendly it is. I don't think 2AM parking lot shenanigans would fly there. Ive seen car groups stay at the Quality Inn in Robinsville. Other than that not many big chain hotels. They are all in Maryville or Gatlinburg. I recommend not staying at either of those places. Maryville is just too far from good roads. Ive stayed there before and it sucked driving a hour to get to good roads everyday. Gatlinburg has way too much traffic and is very touristy. Some people like that kinda shit but its not my thing. The Dragon itself is meh IMO. I just don't see the appeal. Its a nice road for sure but more often than not you are stuck behind some minvan, a local driving a farm truck, or a Harley driving under the speed limit. I can do one run out and back and be good. Some people drive the road all day. I just don't get it. Plenty of other amazing roads in the area get out and explore a little.
Edit: Its also easy to fly into ATL and rent a fun car and make the 3 hour drive north. Trip could be a 3 day weekend for sure. Depending if you want 1 or 2 full days of driving in the area. You just need to make the drive down without stopping and dicking around or else it will take an entire day.
Edit: Its also easy to fly into ATL and rent a fun car and make the 3 hour drive north. Trip could be a 3 day weekend for sure. Depending if you want 1 or 2 full days of driving in the area. You just need to make the drive down without stopping and dicking around or else it will take an entire day.
Id also suggest spring time. The last time I went with car bros was mid April. The 60-70 deg weather was a very nice change after Chicago cold all winter. It is also less crowded and lodging was cheaper. Only downside is that is early in the season alot of people still have cars put away because of weather.
Anytime between eary/mid June and early August is going to be miserably hot. Our first time there was early June and it was 95 every day, and since you're in the mountains it can get humid.
If you go anytime in October, it's going to be packed by all the leaf lookers. Late May and September are probably the best times to go there. As everyone said, plan the trip to be there during the week.
The Dragon is cool, but I'd rather ride the Cherohala Skyway, Foothills Parkway, or Rt 28 (Moonshiner). There's plenty of good roads out there.
We initially stayed at the hotel in Robbinsville, but the past few times we got a cabin. It's cheaper for everybody, and you have your own kitchen space to cook. Not eating out 3 meals a day was huge on saving money. Plus if you get a rainy day you're not stuck in some tiny hotel room because there'snot much else to do in the area.
If you need food/drink recommendations let me know
If you go anytime in October, it's going to be packed by all the leaf lookers. Late May and September are probably the best times to go there. As everyone said, plan the trip to be there during the week.
The Dragon is cool, but I'd rather ride the Cherohala Skyway, Foothills Parkway, or Rt 28 (Moonshiner). There's plenty of good roads out there.
We initially stayed at the hotel in Robbinsville, but the past few times we got a cabin. It's cheaper for everybody, and you have your own kitchen space to cook. Not eating out 3 meals a day was huge on saving money. Plus if you get a rainy day you're not stuck in some tiny hotel room because there'snot much else to do in the area.
If you need food/drink recommendations let me know
I am 100% down for a TCG Dragon trip. That being said I don't want to see this as the 2021 TCG Tour. Do both, let the tour be another trip around the lake. The Dragon is a cool destination but not a fun drive to get to. Dragon in the summer, Tour in the fall.
This, because I dont think the 71 would be ideal for the Dragon and sure the fuck not taking my Hoe. I like the lake idea as well
I'd love to be able to do both of these but I start a new job next week and I wont know how easy it'll be for me to take off days here and there....Tour is absolutely going to happen but we need to decide where. I'm fine with Circle, especially as a way of introducing Tour to new people and kind of "rediscovering" the event. But we've also done it twice....
I also really wanna do Tail but as some said, maybe its better as a side trip.
So I'm open to having a site wide discussion on this.
I also really wanna do Tail but as some said, maybe its better as a side trip.
So I'm open to having a site wide discussion on this.
Pretty slim. You can find it almost the entire trip down there, but once you get into the mountains it's scarce. Another problem is distance between gas stations. The dragon is in a pretty remote area. Not a lot out there. You basically have to fill up wherever you could. Almost all of the stations have 93 octane though. The gas station at Deal's Gap has ethanol free 93.
And you won't miss a single HP since that's not what the road is about. You try to use HP down there, you're either going off the mountain or eating the mountain wall.
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