A Tale of a Tail...

Well... she finally managed her revenge...

Eliza Doolittle, our Garman GPS (so named because we have the English accent turned on AND for reason you'll soon understand) has gotten her 'evens' for all the times she has had to "recalculate".

I had a route programmed in after we left the Blue Ridge Parkway that would take us down the Great Smoky Mountain Expressway for a bit, then turn off to head over to Tellico Plains, TN so we could enjoy a BIT of curvy mountain roads.

And as you saw from Sunday and Monday's photos, the drive was beautiful.

But then we started seeing signs like this...

...and this...

I was really getting confused because I didn't remember the curvy roads I planned for being THIS curvy.

And then I saw it...

We were on The Dragon!!

And the only way out was to go right on down "The Tail of the Dragon".  

That stupid GPS reprogrammed itself.  Really!  When I checked the route, it was a new one over the one I had put in.

Oh. My. Goodness.

The Dragon...

Yes, it is that bad!

Which is why it is THE hot spot drive for motorcycle and sports car nuts.  In those 11 miles there are no intersecting roads or driveways.  We're talking Bucket List sort of drive folks.  And it wasn't on MY bucket list...

The Dragon gets someone every single weekend... sometimes the 'bite' is little and sometimes the bite is fatal.

Yes, it's that bad.

Don't believe me?  Here's a few photos from other sources.

Curves and hills and lumps and wiggles.  However, the tarmac is as close to perfect as I've seen on a roadway.

This is a 'curve'.

Car clubs come every weekend for an outing.  One guy said he'd seen 44 Ferrari in one day.

Plus every sort of motorcycle known to mankind... too many driven by questionable riders...

Uh-huh.

(Killboy dot com is a photo company that sets up on the pull outs and shots photos that you can purchase from their web site.  Unfortunately we went along about 20 minutes after they quit or I would have had a photo of us.  They also are often the ones who call 911 and are the first responders to the accidents.  It takes 40 minutes to an hour for medical response to get to the accidents.)

The dude only broke his arm.

Serious question here.  WHY do motorcyclists ride the center line??  There is absolutely no margin for error... as the above shows.

This one broke a few more things, but survived.

Now here is the unbelievable part.  This road was open to semi trucks until Jan 2016.  That is insane!

So I guess I can write in on my Bucket List "drive The Dragon", and check it off at the same time.  Then I'll head over to the "Tail of the Dragon" web site and order my T shirt!

Been there...done that!

Fontana Dam on the Little Tennessee River

As I said yesterday, I knew that cold, cold water had to be coming from a dam.  The trout fisherman we spoke to told us how to get over there.

Fontana Dam

(Since there were excellent information boards, I'm going to let them do the explaining.)

I didn't realize that the TVA system went so far into Kentucky and Mississippi.

You could almost feel the static from the electricity.

Fontana Dam has a very different kind of spillway.  See those two tunnels...

Wow!!  I would love to be there when the spillway is opened!!

Below is a video of the gates being opened.  Watch for about 1:30 minutes, then jump up to 3:30 minutes.  Amazing!

Exploring the Smoky Mountains

After leaving the Blue Ridge Parkway, we cruised on west.  The plans were to go down the Great Smoky Mountain Expressway and then head in for a bit of beautiful mountain driving on the way to Tellico Plains.

There were many beautiful overlooks...even Persia enjoyed looking around.

Can you see yourself in a cabin looking down on this view? 

There were cute shops to explore too.  This was my favorite...

Nice, yes?

Along one point we crossed a high bridge and looked down to see a thick mist across the water...

Of course we turned around to check it out,  The water was so cold!  I knew it had to be coming from a deep dam.  A man who was fishing confirmed my thought.  But more about that tomorrow.

The mists had so many different looks...

Sun light on the mist...

...and a rainbow on the mist!

There were even shadows.  How cool is that?

Himself had fun skipping flat stone's from the boat ramp.

Farther down the road was this old - but still in use - dam (not the one that made the mists).

Getting close to sunset we stopped to enjoy this mountain stream.

Looking for shiny stones for Little Bird,

Pretty.

Love how this stone has the tree root grown around it.

There were a lot of stones to look through.  I found a few perfectly flat ovals that will make fantastic necklace pendants.

It had been a lovely day but night was coming up quick...

Rolling Down the Blue Ridge Parkway

After 3 activity filled days with our friends, it was time to get on the road back to TN.  And there's no better road to go on than the Blue Ridge Parkway!

I love all the pull outs and how each one has a sign or two.

(OK folks... this is how you do a selfie when you don't have a smart phone!)

There were not many people driving that afternoon.

"Bad Fork" overlook - 3350' elevation.

Hominy Valley overlook - elevation 3980.

Buck Spring Gap - elevation 4980.

Buck Spring Gap from the other side of the road.

Rhododendron.

Isn't the bud interesting?

Funnel Top overlook - elevation 4925.

Missed the sign on this one.  It is a huge 'bald', probably granite.

Cruising along enjoying the scenery.

I explored several outcrops like this one.  Beautiful stone!

A wild blueberry bush.  It's just getting started and the blueberries here are at peak!

One of many tunnels along the route.

Pretty, aren't they?

This is our favorite photo op.  We've taken a photo of every auto we have driven on the Parkway.

After we left the Blue Ridge Parkway, our driving adventure continued...