Four wheels can be fun too.

[Twist]

Since I have family in N. Georgia I get down there at least once a year and often times I either ride or haul a motorcycle for some fun while there. I grew up in my teens and 20's destroying soft compound rubber tires all over Western NC, Tennessee, and Georgia so every time back now is kinda nostalgic when I'm on the same roads that way back in the 1970's were only called US129 or GA180 from Suches over to Vogel SP. When I'm down there I usually avoid Deals Gap unless I'm with someone that hasn't been there and wants the photos. I personally know two people that were put in the hospital with serious injuries from an idiot that crossed the center line and hit them head on.

I needed to spend a few days with some family there that's under some stress and rather than ride or haul, I decided to take the Miata I bought my wife last year for Mother's Day. Yeah, right, you say. And you wouldn't be wrong since she's driven it only a couple of times in a year. I hooked on to the Blue Ridge Parkway and even though it was 40 degrees when I started, I flipped the top down, pulled the hoodie up, turned on the heated seats, and blasted off.



Over a day and half I drove the complete BRP (except the couple of closed sections for construction) with the top down and I've got the sun burn to prove it. The BRP dumped me off in Tourist Hell (Cherokee NC) and it took me over an hour to get from there over to the Historic Tapoco Lodge for some lunch.



The Tapoco Inn just also happens to be a couple of miles from the Deals Gap Motorcycle "Resort" and, well, I didn't have any photos of the Miata and my ego got the better of me so after lunch I left to do a pass up and down the Tail of the Dragon. And yep, even on a weekday, it is DAMN near undriveable due to parades of Harleys and other knuckleheads rolling through there under the 35 mph limit on the road. I made it about half way up and after the parade of Harleys had passed several pull-offs where they could have let me by, I turned around in one and went back down confirming that this is a really great section of road completely spoiled by its notoriety. I did grab a few of Killboy's photos from the short romp:





I guess the stock suspension on this '21 Miata could maybe use a set of coil-overs and stiffer roll bars:



There are way more roads in the area that are just as good if not better that don't sell t-shirts and photos so I bailed on the Tail and went in search of those for the rest of the afternoon:



I visited family over the weekend and hit it all up again on Monday - the Cherohala Skyway, Deals Gap again (better on Monday morning), and some of my favorite roads on the way back toward Asheville where I jumped on the interstate and pushed through the long grind home. Funny fact, I get almost as good gas mileage in the Miata as I would have on my 1200GS (35 v 39 mpg) and that was driving the Miata like I was trying to destroy the tires and brakes.

[Bucho]

Deals Gap really has been destroyed by notoriety. Its been 10+ years since I have been there and you are right, there many other great roads in the area that are empty.

[Twist]

Deals Gap really has been destroyed by notoriety. Its been 10+ years since I have been there and you are right, there many other great roads in the area that are empty.

I have a friend in Murphy NC that has a pretty busy tire business running out of his home garage. I met a guy there once that comes in for a set of tires about 3x a month who told me he's living in a camper near Robbinsville and spends his days running up and down Deals Gap a dozen or more times a day on his CBR1000R. After he left, my friend and I both had the same thought - it's just a matter of time before he has a bad day up there probably no fault of his own. Sure enough, a couple of weeks later I heard that someone on a Yamaha R6 crossed the centerline and hit him head on leaving him with life threatening injuries. Last I heard he was learning how to walk again.

[frogman1981]

Did you run this car around Loch Raven recently? I was behind a car and driver that resembled this set up.

[Firebolter]

Cherahola PKWY is way more fun that the Gap. Those big sweepers are so nice-I like to ride it up from the Tenn side on the river, good little BBQ place down that was too!

[Twist]

Did you run this car around Loch Raven recently? I was behind a car and driver that resembled this set up.

A friend of mine that has an nearly identical Miata lives there. His had black wheels and interior but was otherwise identical. He just recently sold it.

[frogman1981]

Cool beans. It was identical, from the hat to the paint color. He was having fun in the twisties too.

[Twist]

Cool beans. It was identical, from the hat to the paint color. He was having fun in the twisties too.

Actually my bad, did you mean Lock Haven? Loch Raven is in Baltimore, Loch Haven is near Edgewater. My friend lives in Loch Haven but I also enjoy the twisty roads out in Davidsonville and south of there.

[frogman1981]

Loch Raven, right next to the DAMN dam, along the water. The guy and the car looked just like the pic.