It wasn't until Friday morning that I started noticing that the Miata population of the Tapoco area was building. It started when I noticed a couple new ones in the camp ground as I ate my breakfast. After a meal of cereal, I hopped into the faded red and tore off toward the Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort at the corner of 129 and 28. It was then that I realized the actual scope of this yearly event.
As I pulled into the lot, I noticed there were several Miatae parked with owners chatting amicably, sipping water and soda or enjoying a smoke. I passed all this and proceeded on to my first Dragon run of the morning. I hadn't even made it past the Tennessee state line when I realized how much this road is used on the weekends.
Bikes were out in force, as were the Miatae. I saw literally dozens on my trip across and back through the Dragon. NAs, NBs, NCs abounded. There were plenty from Plain Jane to wildly worked on. Normally Aspirated and Forced Inducted. I was amazed, thrilled, and suddenly felt like the underdressed poor cousin at the fancy shindig. Here I was, half shaven (Hey, I WAS on vacation!) amidst a fleet of shiney, pretty and well cared for Miatas, crusing the twisty mountain roads in a car that started out life in beautiful Red but ended up with me as a muted, splotchy pink.
Yes, I was a bit embarassed. But it did not seem to matter. Yes, I got some knowing smiles, some small laughs, especially on Saturday when my pinkish red was parked amongst the shiney Yellows, Blacks, Merlots, Blues, British Racing Greens and Reds. My dusty motor was like a bad pair of shoes in a store full of Italian Leather. Everyone seemed to have chrome accents, shiney engine bays, powder coated parts here and there, super chargers, turbo chargers and all manner of go fast toys. Needless to say, I came away with a lot of ideas for mine, or for the next one.
I spent some time on Friday wondering around the famed Tapoco Lodge. There were vendors here. The Knobmeister was present with his custom made shift knobs (Damn me and my Automatic!!). The Cool Breeze Scoop guys were present, and I bought a scoop from them. They were even nice enough to install it for me.
Geri of Geri's Bazaar was there with her Yellow pulling a matching yellow motorcycle trailer. I bought a set of her custom made Miata trunk bags to hopefully make packing a little easier next time. I also sat and chatted with her for about 45 minutes and had a great time. She's a wonderful person and worth meeting.
I registered and got a free dash plaque for my car, but I missed out on the T-shirts. By the time I came round to buy a T-Shirt on Saturday, all they had left were small and 2X, and the 2X was like a dress on me... so I ended up with a hat.
The best thing I picked up that weekend, however, was a newly rebuild factory radio and a set of Max-5 headrest speakers from Jeff Anderson. That guy is a genius, I think. First, the Max-5s sound great. Of course, my own headrest speakers were shot, so anything would have made a difference, but the Max-5s sound awesome and pump out a good deal of bass for being so small.
His work on stereos is legendary. It just happened that he had a couple rebuild units with him to sell, and he took a trade in on my tired old one. So I ended up with a new factory radio that had all his special tricks piled on. Audio enhancements for the headrest speakers, some other tweaks he does, and my personal favorite, the AUX input. His AUX input is really cool. Unlike any of the others I have seen, his allows you to listen to the AUX device over top of the FM/AM stereo. SO on trips, I can plug in my CB or my FRS radios, and whenever someone transmits, the audio from that device is played over my stereo, making it a LOT easier to hear what is going on and still be able to listen to good tunes.
That fix also uses the switch knob to move to the AUX only, which allows me to play my iPod without using the iTrip, so the sound quality is MUCH better than it is when played via an FM transmitter. All in all, what I got from Jeff was worth FAR more than the money I paid him. I am glad he is around to do this.
SO with the Dragon being filled with hundreds of bikers, Miatae, locals, and even 6 - 7 cops, I decided to explore a bit around the area. I followed Hellbender 28 all the way back around until I found the road to Robbinsville (thank you GPS!). I drove around Robbinsville a bit then went for a nice 30 mile drive down the Cherohala Skyway. The skyway was amazing. Like the Blue Ridge Parkway, but less traveled. It was beautiful.
I followed 129 from Robbinsville back to Tapoco and on around to 28 again and ran the dragon a couple more times each day and basically spent my weekend exploring.
I made my way to the top of the Fontan Dam, where I visited the dam gift shop and bought some dam souveniers and got some dam literature and some dam history. I got some great dam pictures, and vistied each of the overlooks. I stopped by the marina and went shopping in some local shops and had a ball each day.
The evenings were spent at the General Store / Ice cream shop at Fontana Village where I used free Wi-Fi to keep up with news and to e-mail people to let them know I was still alive. I ate some great BBQ there, enjoyed the ice cream and tasty treats, and had lovely breakfasts out by the river.
All in all, the weekend was wonderful. I met some great and crazy people, saw a LOT of cars, drove nearly 1500 miles all told, and got some amazing pictures and prizes. I also started a hat pin collection that is now starting to creep across the rear deck cover of my Miata. One for each place I visited that weekend, the Dragon, Cherohala Skyway, Cherokee, BRP and Smokey Mountains.
The weekend was capped off by a nearly 10 hour trip home, but that is for the next chapter.
Das Aggregator!