This is my first Dragon. I've been curious what the ride would be like from just south of Maryville, TN on Route 129 all the way into Fontana Village --- really from the first place you get off 4 lane roads if you're coming from Chicago.

Google Earth lets you "fly" a set of directions so....

I mapped coordinates for the last 38 miles of that route, (which includes the Dragon before it splits off to Route 28), starting from just where Route 129 becomes a two lane road.

I think it's a pretty awesome preview of the roads!! You can see 129 getting more and more curvey, until it hits the river just before Chilhowee Lake. Then it moves inland, runs through the Dragon and finally splits off to Route 28 - which looks like a pretty interesting road in its own right.

For those of you who need looped sound of a Mini Cooper running through the gears as a background soundtrack for the fly-by, you can always get that here.

Here's how to fly the route in six easy steps:


Install Google Earth (www.earth.google.com)

Click on DIRECTIONS

Enter the following coordinates as the start point and end pont:

35 39 11, -84 03 33 (Route 129 After Maryville, TN)
35 26 08, -83 49 10 (Fontana Village, NC)

Click the search button or magnifying glass - results will show in the results pane

At the bottom of the search pane, click on "ROUTE"

Then, at the bottom of the search pane, click the PLAY button

Hint - while it's playing you can select View and Full Screen

(Man do I have too much time on my hands, or what?!)

 

Yep, too much time on your hands. Nice work Ministi2005, I enjoyed the ride.

 

Where is the directions?

 

am i dizzy or what?!

 

BigFun - I'd love to help you but I'm afraid I'm not sure if I understand your question.

 

I've logged on to Earth.Goggle.com and then you say "click on directions" to enter the coordinates but I can't located "directions". At least not on the screen I'm getting.

 

If your screen is like mine "directions" is hard to see. It's on the left side frame near the top, you may need to scroll to the right to see it.

 

28 is known as the 'Little Dragon' and does have some very good curves.

 

And, just to make sure...you've installed Google Earth, yes? You're not talking about just going to the site, right.

 

Fantastic. Now If I knew the cordinates for Indy I could fly to the Dragon in one file. And then run the Dragon in another file!

 

This was a fun exercise! They've kind of evened out the Dragon a bit, though....expect more sharp turns!

 

DrDiff and others -- thanks for the nice PMs I've received on this. It is sort of fun, huh?

Here is a simple exercise on how to find the lattitude and longitude of wherever you're coming from -- then you can "fly" all you want. I should warn you,however, that I tried to "fly" from somewhere in KY to the Dragon and it can take a fair amount of time. It's cool, but it can be time consuming.

1) go to www.maporama.com
2) fill out the location you want to plot
3) recenter the map as necessary to figure out exactly where you want to start
4) Use the longitude and lattitude that doesn't have the ' and " symbols (these are the second set that shows up on Maporama.com)

For example Avon Village in IN is 39.765 , -86.406

You should be able to simply paste that into the starting point of your directions on Google Earth to start your "Route," which you can then fly.

Personally, as an old guy, I think that Google Earth rocks. I find it just amazing that they can pull this data together and present it like they do. What a small world.

Enjoy.

 

Google Earth Rocks! I did the same thing a few weeks ago. It was definitely time consuming, but fun!

 

Killboy's shade tree corner is 35 30 03.13, -83 56 35.38

Plot this first then I ran The Dragon from near Tapoco Lodge to Tabcat Bridge.

Start point: 35 26 35.16, -83 56 12.44

End point: 35 31 35.99, -83 59 35.10


Cherohala Skyway is next...

 

Cool Thanks! But it's Tapoco Lodge

Steve

 

Fixed!

 

Nice job! I think the possibilities are endless here!

 

Got an error on the Install Shield Wizard......(...\\psapi.ddl) Could not Load
I'm assumming Windows ME is not supported, I have an Nvidia Vanta graphics card. Time to try the other PC, I think.

 

Awesome application and great information. Most helpful.
After loading the flying the route in less than 5 mins. on our Windows XP PC...
We have decided who should go and who should not go to the
"2006 - Minis on the Dragon" event. Thanks & Happy Motoring.

 

Awesome application and great information. Most helpful.
After loading the flying the route in less than 5 mins. on our Windows XP PC...
We have decided who should go and who should not go :impatient to the
"2006 - Minis on the Dragon" event. Thanks & Happy Motoring.

 

OK I will bite... Who is going and who should not go?

 

Bump! Getting excited??!