Looking for good places to drive

[Abaddon]

Anyone know any excellent places to just get out and drive? Some place with curves and excellent scenery? Preferably in the southeastern part of the country.

If you've ever been to Helen, GA, it's an excellent place to drive. Lots of winding roads and tight turns (my Camaro loves this place) and it has a German style village in the mountains. Gatlinburg, TN, has some nice roads, too. They have a small place called Obergatlinburg that hosts nice mountainside cottages and a very small ski slope during the winter months. Another amazing trip is going from Snowshoe, WV, over 250 toward I-81 on the way to Washington, DC. There are many historical sights along the way and the roads are so windy you can look back and see your taillights!

Any other cool roads worth driving? Something you and your car can enjoy? I love making a weekend trip somewhere. A few ideas never hurt.

[joshbrown38]

Re: Looking for good places to drive

I'm in the North West, but the road to my house is one of the winedest road in the state; Highway 1, from Fort Bragg to Legget; Northern California. About 22 miles, will take you 1.5 hours. The road travels along a 100 foot cliff over the pacific. I have spun out a couple times in the rain, but its a great drive!

[Abaddon]

Re: Looking for good places to drive

You spun out in the rain on top of a 100 foot cliff? Hah! I'll bet you couldn't drive a nail up your butt with a jackhammer after that. :)

[joshbrown38]

Re: Looking for good places to drive

I was lucky, where I spun out wasnt near the cliffs. But I drove slower after that. On the first picture you can see the road on the top cliff.

[Everglades W68]

Re: Looking for good places to drive

You have nailed a good region - north eastern Georgia is terrific (Dukes of Hazzard country).

Go all the way down to the end of the continent and drive the overseas highway (US1) from Homestead/Florida City all the way to Key West. The part through Key Largo is nothing great, but after you get to Islamorada, the drive is fantastic. Bridge after dridge through the middle of the ocean. Do it on a sunny day in mid-week (weekend has too much traffic).

[Fireball27]

Re: Looking for good places to drive

You have nailed a good region - north eastern Georgia is terrific (Dukes of Hazzard country).

Go all the way down to the end of the continent and drive the overseas highway (US1) from Homestead/Florida City all the way to Key West. The part through Key Largo is nothing great, but after you get to Islamorada, the drive is fantastic. Bridge after dridge through the middle of the ocean. Do it on a sunny day in mid-week (weekend has too much traffic).

Just wondering.. how do they keep those from falling down in the hurricanes?

[silvachris1]

Re: Looking for good places to drive

If you like Gatlinburg, go hit the Tail of the Dragon (aka Deals Gap), and the Cherohala Skyway. www.tailofthedragon.com will have some good links for ya. Deals Gap alone is only 11 miles long, but has 318 curves. Fun run man.

[silvachris1]

Re: Looking for good places to drive

Just wondering.. how do they keep those from falling down in the hurricanes?

Alot of the bridges there are land bridges..... if you can call them that. The larger ones that go longer distances are concrete, and pretty heavy duty at that. I dunno a whole lot about structural design, but I'd say that they were designed with Cat 4 storms in mind. Out in the middle of the ocean there's really no debris to throw at the bridge, so the only thing they'd be subjected to is horizontal wind load.

I'm sure they have been times that sections of the bridges get damaged. In some sections, there's on older bridge no longer in use, and there are some sections of it missing.

Either way, it's all in the wind load on the cross section of the bridge.

[Abaddon]

Re: Looking for good places to drive

Ah sweet. Tail of the Dragon is within easy driving distance. Looks like I'll be planning a trip soon! I'll bet it's amazing over there in October when the leaves change. I usually go to Brasstown Bald in north Georgia for the changing of the leaves. I've got friends down there so it's a two-fold trip. I'll try to attach a pic I took there last year to this post.

Silva, you live in WV? How close are you to Snowshoe or Beckley? I go skiing there each year. Excellent roads no matter how deep the snow!

[silvachris1]

Re: Looking for good places to drive

Ah sweet. Tail of the Dragon is within easy driving distance. Looks like I'll be planning a trip soon! I'll bet it's amazing over there in October when the leaves change. I usually go to Brasstown Bald in north Georgia for the changing of the leaves. I've got friends down there so it's a two-fold trip. I'll try to attach a pic I took there last year to this post.

Silva, you live in WV? How close are you to Snowshoe or Beckley? I go skiing there each year. Excellent roads no matter how deep the snow!

Take your first trip you make through the Dragon pretty slow. There is some truck traffic, and TN and NC Highway Patrol check the roads every so often. Plus the elevation changes and decreasing radius turns can catch ya off gaurd in a hurry. That road is a blast at the speed limit, but even moreso when you push on it some. You might want to look at crossing the Foothills Parkway, it wasn't curvy or anything like that, but there was some nice scenary. Come in from Pigeon Forge, you'll head past a little place called Townsend, take a left at the Foothills Parkway (you'll prolly pass it the first time). Anyways, you travel right all the way up the ridge of the mountian and drive along it for a pretty long distance before heading back down and dropping off right next to a wide (dammed up) river. Turn left and you're within 2 miles of the start of the Dragon. Check out www.killboy.com for some pictures of cars on the dragon.

On to your question, it depends on where I'm at when you ask the question. During school, I'm about an hour from Snowshoe, but during the summer and breaks, it's another 45-50 minutes away. I've never checked the miles, but I've only been to Snowshoe once. I've been through Beckley a few times, but I can't remember the last time I was actually the one driving through there. If you're in WV, you should go up to Hawks Nest State Park, it's an awesome drive out through there. Then head up to the New River Gorge Bridge, also an awesome site. You should come up for Bridge Day. Like you said, there's alot of nice roads around here, gotta love the mountains.

You ever been to Rod Run in Pigeon Forge? We try to go every year, it's a blast. I was there this year in my car. We cruised through a couple times, but really wanted to head out to the Dragon this year. We just didn't get the chance.

[StiLlsMoKiN875]

Re: Looking for good places to drive

I was at the Dragon just last weekend, Foothills Parkway is awesome too

[Abaddon]

Re: Looking for good places to drive

Never been to Rod Run but I go to Obergatlinburg every year to warm up for ski season. If you can ski there, you can ski anywhere! It's all slush.

I looked at the Tail of the Dragon website and it looks like plenty of people wreck there. Is it a good place to drive if you want to keep your car in one piece?!

There's another excellent place that runs from Nashville, TN, to Natchez, MS, called the Natchez Trace Parkway. It's an exceptional driving experience (akin to the Blue Ridge Parkway but more rustic) but you aren't allowed to drive over 45 MPH. And they mean it. That means it could take you the better part of a day to drive it one way. I've been down it about 45 mins but never made the entire trip. Here's a little look at it: http://www.nps.gov/natr/

[silvachris1]

Re: Looking for good places to drive

Never been to Rod Run but I go to Obergatlinburg every year to warm up for ski season. If you can ski there, you can ski anywhere! It's all slush.

I looked at the Tail of the Dragon website and it looks like plenty of people wreck there. Is it a good place to drive if you want to keep your car in one piece?!

There's another excellent place that runs from Nashville, TN, to Natchez, MS, called the Natchez Trace Parkway. It's an exceptional driving experience (akin to the Blue Ridge Parkway but more rustic) but you aren't allowed to drive over 45 MPH. And they mean it. That means it could take you the better part of a day to drive it one way. I've been down it about 45 mins but never made the entire trip. Here's a little look at it: http://www.nps.gov/natr/

People do wreck there. But 98% of those wrecks are because they are being stupid. The road demands your attention, or it will bite you. We made 4 trips through there last year without incident. There was a Honda S2000 gathering there with around 200 cars or so when we were there. There were no problems that we saw the time we were there.... except for the 4 or 5 people getting tickets. It's a great road, and you'll be fine if you just use common sense and don't push it beyond your own abilities or your tire's limitations. The limit on the Dragon is 35mph I think, but there's info on one of those sites about some confusion and that it might be 55 somewhere, or something like that. Either way, we made it through that road just fine, doubling the speed limit here in a spot or two.

[Abaddon]

Re: Looking for good places to drive

Cool. I'm in. We should have a Camaro cruise there and see how many 'Maro owners show up. If the Honda boys can do it, why not us?

I'll want to get my shocks updated before then, though. Heh

[silvachris1]

Re: Looking for good places to drive

Lol, I tried to get a cruise set up for the weekend we were at Rod Run, but there only 3 other people even seemed interested in doin it. And yeah, get your shocks and maybe springs set up before then.