FT86Club needs to meet and cruise (Tail of the Dragon?)
 

I'm just throwing this out there. We need to organize a big meet-up/cruise in western Tennessee, with emphasis on the Tail of the Dragon. I keep hearing about how awesome it is, and looking at the maps and pictures all I can do is drool.:drool: I live in Arkansas, so I can't just go there on a whim, but it would be less than a full day's drive for me if we were to plan a weekend for it. If we could get some locals to the area to look into this, maybe check on hotel group rates, and whatnot, I could see this becoming a big event. :thumbup:

ps. I posted this also in the Southeast Regional forum section but wanted to put it here also to get some extra exposure. Mods, feel free to move/delete if you feel necessary.

Mini's drive from all over the country/North America to meet for the Tail of the Dragon.

Im going with the Mazda crew this coming Wednesday for 5 days :)

My brother recently moved to NC. I'll be going to visit him in a couple of weeks.

I was looking into making a detour before driving home to hit this up but I realized that I have a 13 hour drive back to CT from where he is and The Tail is 4.5 hours further away to the west.

Still on the fence about this.

Stop in Nashville and we'll join the caravan. :w00t:

There are some great hotels/motels in the area, but camping is also fun.

I'm down, with about 6 months notice haha....just start caravaning from CA and end up with a train of FR-S / BRZ heading east down the 40.

Yeah, I'm thinking next spring might be a good time to get enough notice for everybody and really set up something official.

I think this would be really cool. Im in virginia and would definitely come down if something official was set up

Why the "Tail of the Dragon" you ask? This is why....

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K16YnmJN0fc&feature=player_embedded"]Hell Roads - Tail of the Dragon - YouTube[/ame]

I was just down there in June for a week on my Motorcycle. Stayed at a place called Fontana Village. Really nice place just a few miles from the NC end of the Dragon. They are very well set up to handle car meets, as they do it all the time, and they have reduced rates for these events. I would love to go back. I think this coming October would be a great time of year to go. I check weekly on the pics from the Dragon at killboy.com. Great photos.

They really need to make it a "No Semi through traffic" zone though. Put signs up for the guys that do not know better.

They did very recently, less than 3 months ago. Problem is, GPSes don't care so while drivers who know that area know better, if a drive blindly follows GPS, ignores road signs warning of this, they get stuck on here.

It's a lot better than it used to be. In the week that I was there, there was one 18 wheeler. Also, the locals are very good about getting a motorcycle out in front the truck to warn oncoming drivers/riders.

Sounds fun. I second late fall.

late fall or early spring, either would be fun.

Heck, why not both?

I've ridden that road a lot on motorcycles, and it's really not all its cracked up to be. There's a lot better roads without the PR, Hellbender, Cherohala Skyway (which is a lot more fun without the same traffic).

This road is dangerous, but not because of the twist, but because of the idiots that don't know what they're doing and because it's recently (within the past two years) become very highly patrolled by the TN State Troopers. Before that, tractor trailer rigs could not navigate the corners and often would take up the entire road just on the other side of a blind corner. TN refused to outlaw tractor trailers on the road, but just recently NC did.

Here I am last year on the Dragon.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...TCI/dragon.jpg

The area is a blast, but the Dragon is a pain because of all the tourist.

Yea, I have to agree with that. It's been a while since I've been there for those same reasons. Still I'd be up for a meet in the general area.

Nice bike by the way! Love the color. I'm moer a Honda guy myself but that one is a beauty! Honda really hacked me off moving 'Wing production to Japan from the US.

Absolutely. It's a beautiful area in general. Plenty of fun roads. A weekend gathering would allow people to venture out on any road they choose.

Nope, definitely agree about the meet up spot, and thanks.

I actually dig Honda's and grew up on them (first road bike was a Honda Shadow 500 and then a Honda GB400), my dad, until a couple years ago, rode a GW1600...that thing was a rocket on two wheels. I enjoy whatever bike I have access to at the time and have ridden everything from Yamaha to Triumph, Ducati and just about everything in between lol.