Munchkin
05-04-2006, 08:45 PM
The day began no different than most days in the life of Expediters. . .catching up on some much needed sleep. :zzz: We were awakened by a call from one of the dispatchers at our carrier who was calling with a load offer. We jumped up expecting to hear "the freight is ready now and you need to pick up asap". To our surprise and delight it was a good paying load that didn't pick up until 10am the following morning and we were only 199 miles away. :D
We were in the Knoxville, TN area at the time and needed to head towards Oakwood, GA. Comparing the routing supplied by our Carrier to the road atlas, "ONE" of us determined we could cut about 25 miles off the trip by taking the scenic route through the woods. It was a beautfiul sunny warm Spring day, why not ! Our scenic drive would take us through 3 National Forests in 3 States on a route through the Smoky Mountains. We knew that even though it would save a few miles it would also take us longer to make the trip. . . but what a beautiful ride we anticipated it would be. :)
Within 30 minutes we had reached the foothills of the Smoky Mountains. At that point we kept seeing signs that referenced a dragon. We saw the Dragon Cafe, Dragon Souvenir Shops, and The Dragon Campground. Then it clicked . . . :omg: we are about to enter "The Tail of the Dragon". We looked at each other and at the same time, in stereo, said: "I thought that was in West Virginia". :wtf: We both heard stories about the Tail of the Dragon but none of them were detailed enough to really let us know what we were in store for.
It started off calm enough with some not so intimidating 25 mph country road curves. However, the scenery changed as it quickly progressed into a course of hairpin, horseshoe, and corkscrew twists and turns that normally only exist in a truck drivers nightmare. :eyes: If that wasn't bad enough, the grade raged from 6 - 12% up and down. And if that wasn't bad enough, the Tail of the Dragon happens to be a very popular riding course for motorcycle and sports car enthusiasts of all types. There was no shortage of vehicles attempting to navigate the Dragon in record time. Most of the Honda and Harley riders were progressing with reasonable caution, however, it seemed like most of the crotch rocket riders had some sort of death wish. You could tell from their expressions they believed that we were on their turf and had no business being on the Tail.
We climbed from just a few feet above sea level to over 3,000 ft numerous times always having nothing but a sheer drop on one side or the other. :yikes: A few times "ONE" of us let out a scream when we had to drop off the pavement a bit so we wouldn't cross the double yellow line. We laughed out loud seeing many signs that said "Do Not Pass" and thought "who would risk passing someone on THIS road"? Before we were finished laughing 3 crotch rockets came up behind us and flew past us in the oncoming traffic lanes with just barely enough time to brake as they leaned their bikes practically on the ground zooming around the next turn. Thankfully, there wasn't a vehicle coming in the opposite direction.
Wondering how much more of this scenic tour we had to "enjoy" we looked at the GPS and the display of the route we had just driven looked like the doodlings of a 3 year old. It also showed us that we were only halfway through the Tail. :wacko: That inspired "one" of us to question: "Is this fun or what !? " and the other to comment: "I'm glad this was your idea and not mine!"
When we reached the point of being 3/4 of the way through the Tail one of us started looking a bit pale. :paranoid: It had now been 45 minutes of non-stop twists, turns, ups, downs, leaning right, leaning left, braking hard, accelerating, and hanging on as we rode this real-life Smoky Mountain roller-coaster. The only thing missing was an upside down double loop which we kept anticipating would be around the next curve.
After being slapped around by the Dragons Tail for almost 1 hour, feeling a bit scorched by his laughter, we stopped for a break at the Cherokee Cycle Shop in Andrews, NC. We picked up some well deserved souvenir T-shirts for ourselves and a sticker for Skeeter Hawk that said "This Truck survived The Tail of the Dragon". :p When we walked in the shop the owner commented on our truck and asked: "You didn't come through The Tail with THAT did you?". That was where we learned many interesting facts and details that left us feeling proud we had safely conquered the treacherous "Tail of the Dragon". Though the tail is only 11 miles long, there were 318 curves on it. :eyes:
Click here to see a map of The Tail of the Dragon:
http://tailofthedragon.com/freestuff/map_640.jpg
If you want to read some more interesting facts and see pictures of 18 wheelers that were defeated by the Dragon click here: http://tailofthedragon.com/dragon_trucks.html
We were in the Knoxville, TN area at the time and needed to head towards Oakwood, GA. Comparing the routing supplied by our Carrier to the road atlas, "ONE" of us determined we could cut about 25 miles off the trip by taking the scenic route through the woods. It was a beautfiul sunny warm Spring day, why not ! Our scenic drive would take us through 3 National Forests in 3 States on a route through the Smoky Mountains. We knew that even though it would save a few miles it would also take us longer to make the trip. . . but what a beautiful ride we anticipated it would be. :)
Within 30 minutes we had reached the foothills of the Smoky Mountains. At that point we kept seeing signs that referenced a dragon. We saw the Dragon Cafe, Dragon Souvenir Shops, and The Dragon Campground. Then it clicked . . . :omg: we are about to enter "The Tail of the Dragon". We looked at each other and at the same time, in stereo, said: "I thought that was in West Virginia". :wtf: We both heard stories about the Tail of the Dragon but none of them were detailed enough to really let us know what we were in store for.
It started off calm enough with some not so intimidating 25 mph country road curves. However, the scenery changed as it quickly progressed into a course of hairpin, horseshoe, and corkscrew twists and turns that normally only exist in a truck drivers nightmare. :eyes: If that wasn't bad enough, the grade raged from 6 - 12% up and down. And if that wasn't bad enough, the Tail of the Dragon happens to be a very popular riding course for motorcycle and sports car enthusiasts of all types. There was no shortage of vehicles attempting to navigate the Dragon in record time. Most of the Honda and Harley riders were progressing with reasonable caution, however, it seemed like most of the crotch rocket riders had some sort of death wish. You could tell from their expressions they believed that we were on their turf and had no business being on the Tail.
We climbed from just a few feet above sea level to over 3,000 ft numerous times always having nothing but a sheer drop on one side or the other. :yikes: A few times "ONE" of us let out a scream when we had to drop off the pavement a bit so we wouldn't cross the double yellow line. We laughed out loud seeing many signs that said "Do Not Pass" and thought "who would risk passing someone on THIS road"? Before we were finished laughing 3 crotch rockets came up behind us and flew past us in the oncoming traffic lanes with just barely enough time to brake as they leaned their bikes practically on the ground zooming around the next turn. Thankfully, there wasn't a vehicle coming in the opposite direction.
Wondering how much more of this scenic tour we had to "enjoy" we looked at the GPS and the display of the route we had just driven looked like the doodlings of a 3 year old. It also showed us that we were only halfway through the Tail. :wacko: That inspired "one" of us to question: "Is this fun or what !? " and the other to comment: "I'm glad this was your idea and not mine!"
When we reached the point of being 3/4 of the way through the Tail one of us started looking a bit pale. :paranoid: It had now been 45 minutes of non-stop twists, turns, ups, downs, leaning right, leaning left, braking hard, accelerating, and hanging on as we rode this real-life Smoky Mountain roller-coaster. The only thing missing was an upside down double loop which we kept anticipating would be around the next curve.
After being slapped around by the Dragons Tail for almost 1 hour, feeling a bit scorched by his laughter, we stopped for a break at the Cherokee Cycle Shop in Andrews, NC. We picked up some well deserved souvenir T-shirts for ourselves and a sticker for Skeeter Hawk that said "This Truck survived The Tail of the Dragon". :p When we walked in the shop the owner commented on our truck and asked: "You didn't come through The Tail with THAT did you?". That was where we learned many interesting facts and details that left us feeling proud we had safely conquered the treacherous "Tail of the Dragon". Though the tail is only 11 miles long, there were 318 curves on it. :eyes:
Click here to see a map of The Tail of the Dragon:
http://tailofthedragon.com/freestuff/map_640.jpg
If you want to read some more interesting facts and see pictures of 18 wheelers that were defeated by the Dragon click here: http://tailofthedragon.com/dragon_trucks.html