Had a “weird road” encounter yesterday while driving home from western North Carolina.
Google Gertie suggested a travel plan that began with Route 129 heading north. Well OK, not exactly a major highway but we’d be picking up interstates later on so no biggie. The first stretch of road to the Tennessee border was…interesting, winding through forest with a lot of sharp curves keeping speed down below 40 mph.
Then it got worse.
For the next 30 miles or so, there was an unending succession of ascents and dives through extreme and S-curves, occasional emerging from the forest primeval through brief commercial stretches which seemed almost entirely devoted to motorcycles and their riders (lots of parked cycles and occasional riders to be seen but little traffic on the road). We twice encountered minitents pitched at the roadsides with someone inside snapping photos of oncoming cars, including us. After about two hours of nausea-inducing twists and turns we finally emerged onto something more resembling a road intended for use by human beings.
Only later did I discover that we’d been on a notorious road given names like “The Dragon” and Tail of the Dragon", a mecca for motorcyclists and sports car drivers, featuring “318 curves in 11 miles” on one stretch. There’s an “extreme sports” website devoted to selling memorabilia and photos of the drivers/victims that they’re constantly snapping pictures of from their little tents.
Once on that road was enough for a lifetime.
Dope thread on The Dragon from several years ago.