Hello all, I'm going up to the Dragon on Monday to break in some new cars. The people arranging it want to know where a hotel is in the area that's not in the middle of nowhere and has a restaurant/bar within walking distance. I've only done the dragon late one night in a work van and didn't get a chance to stay there. any insite would be appreciated.

Thanks,

I'm sure i'll have great pics to share Tuesday night.

 

We stayed up in Alcoa. Not far from the Dragon. All the modern amenities.

...Les

 

There's a Microtel in Robbinsville (about 20 minutes from the Dragon) that should fit the bill.

 

can you tell me what places are around either of those?

crapplebees?
Outcrack?

are they walking distance?

thanks,

 

At the junction of 129 and 321 in Alcoa there is a Holiday Inn Express, a Mainstay Suites and a Jameson Inn. All in the same block is "oCharlies, "Up the Creek" and "Texas Roadhouse" You can stumble back to your room without much traffic. You can take 321 to Foothills Parkway to the Dragon OR get on 129 through Maryville.

In Townsend there are several hotels and smaller restaurants, no chains to speak of except a Subway. I think Deadbeat Pete's is open again (good Mexican) It is four miles from Townsend to Foothills Parkway. The Parkway takes you to the Dragon right at Chilhowee Lake.

 

If you continue down Hwy. 129 south for about 15 miles past the Dragon, you will run into Hwy. 411 north. Just follow it about 5 miles into Alcoa (Maryville). Maryville is basically a suburb of Knoxville, so you can find just about anything you need. TGI Fridays, Crackerbarrel, Chili's, Ruby Tuesdays, Aubreys, Hooters, etc. are all within a couple miles on 411.

However, if you like Italian food, amazing pizza, super sweet tea, and convenience, I suggest The Gondolier; its only about 2 miles north of Hwy 129 on 411.

 

I'm leaving the house at 5:45am. Wish me luck. Thanks for the advice. I'll have pics to share in a few days.

 

Well I returned from the trip and it was more than i could have imagined. It started down in Greer,SC at the performance Center where we picked up the cars. There were 10 of us driving/having fun and our Mike Renner leading us all on the journey. Our job was to put 1200 miles on these new cars in two days.

We headed toward the mountains from the get go. I don't know my way around those parts so i was just following. I was in one of the two convertables. It was a nice day and since i was last to get to choose that what i got. I didn't mind. I knew we'd be switching cars along the way and more importantly, before we got to the dragon. We went up some wonderful mountain road to the Blueridge parkway and took a few pics. We didn't want to stay on the Parkway because our goal was to put miles on tires. We were limited to 5500 rpm's and 106mph. Having driven a MINI so long this was a huge power change. These cars have 330hp.

We headed back down the mountain to continue our trip to the Dragon. We realized we were getting side tracked with all the photos and what not so we put the pedal down and headed out.

I really wish i knew the names of the roads we were on along the way. some were just a pure pleasure to drive. A shame the leaves hadn't started to change yet. We would have to stop occasionally as the group would get seperated and have to stop and regroup. At one point we gathered around the lead car to see he had taken out a crow that was just to slow in his exit. It took out the whole right side kidney grill.

We continued on with one black eye but who cared were were cruizing around in some of the coolest fastest cars available today. When we arrived at the Dragon I was supprised to see how busy it was on a Monday afternoon. We hung out and took a few pics and waited for traffic to subside. The bikers really wanted to see our cars too. This was my first time on the Dragon in a non-work vehicle. Also in a car worthy of the Dragon and oh how worthy it is. We Made 3 full passes on the Dragon and a few start and stops due to bad traffic. It was a blood pounding rush i will not forget. I'm used to such anticks on the track but this is different. Your unprotected and there are others around you who are even less protected. I pushed the car well within my limits and it responded with absolute attention and raw power. It's a different rush that previous driving experience has given me. I knew just how capable the cars were and how capable I am but there's the X factor. You don't know what's going to be around that next corner. Is there a truck coming or a biker that's fallen, someone in your lane? It felt odd to not be wearing a helmet doing this. The years of track experience were a huge advantage here. The ability to look up and through curves and through cars infront was proving to be a vital second nature.

We finished the Dragon for the last time and decied to head to the hotel. Nice and easy we had been pushing the cars hard and they liked it. An important part of breaking the cars in was to not stay at any speed or rpm for a long period of time. Cruise control is right out.

As someone suggested we did stay in Alcoa, TN that night. Accomodations were as we expected. We really hadn't put a dent in the amount of miles we wanted to lay down so we decided to make an early day of it.

In the cars warmed up and ready to go at 7:30am. We took some back roads out of town to get to the Eastern side of Knoxville on 40. It was a foggy morning and stayed that way into the early afternoon.

I'm a big fan of the "Gap" between NC and TN and what better way to do it than in a hot little new car. We were 11 cars deep and staying just below the breakin mph. Like magic cars and trucks would move over for us. We did of course all have our lights on so we could see each other.

We headed South on 26 in Asheville back towards the cars motherland. Mike had promised us that if we made good time he knew of a very nice diversion he would lead us on. I guess we were making good time because we took the deverstion and oh what fun it was. I'm not sure exactly where we got off of 26 but we ended up in and around the town of Saluda, NC. One huge curvey road leads down and out of town. We did have to park for a few so the dump truck full of rocks could get a few miles ahead of us. I was behind our leader at this point and he is not easy to keep up with by any means. I did my best but i'm sure he let me reel him back in a few times so i didn't push it to hard. No quicker that that road was over there was an entirely different set of switchback country tree covered roads for us to bound around in. We were warned that there are often bikes on these roads and reminded to keep our eyes up.

We arrived back at the Performance Center for an early lunch. We needed to lay down some more miles and decided the coolest way to do it would be to head down to Charleston for a seafood treat. The stop was going to be brief so we gased up snacked and headed out.

The drive to Charleston wasn't nearly as exciting at the mountains but this is the price we have to pay be being allowed to drive these uber-machines for two days. Coming into the downtown area of Charleston was a site to see. The new bridges waiting for us to cross in a single line of speed and harmony. I can only imagine what the on lookers where thinking.

We decided like any good tourist to stop over at Shem Creek for a late seafood lunch. Reds was our destination. With us all seated at the bar the trip was dubbed the 1st anual Mountains to the Sea trip.

Not much to the trip after that. We scrambled back to Greer unable to beat Charleston afternoon traffic rush. Some new friends made and some deep bonds with cars we considered our own even if there were ours just for a few days.

Sorry to be doing my write up a little late. We returned Tuesday night and I was admitted to the hospital Wednesday afternoon for a ruptured appendix it seems i'd been suffering for quite a few days. Well I just got out of the hospital 5 days later and wanted to make this my first priority. Sorry for any misspellings, I'm pretty heavily medicated.

Z4 M coupes.

 

Sounds like you had an awesome couple of days. I'm going to the dragon this weekend and can't wait.

 

Definitely sounds like a blast of a trip.
I like that, "First Annual Mountains to the Sea". Hmm, can you hear the planning wheels turning?
Maybe all those turns that you took at elevated speed aggravated your appendix?
Get to feeling better so that you make that trip again.

See you this weekend Checkmate!

 

I knew when i went on the trip i was sick. I had been for a few days but that's such a once in a lifetime thing i had to put off the Dr's office til the day i returned. Now the Doc says it had most likely bust that friday before. That was just a trip i couldn't let slip away.

 

Are these some photos from last weekend?

 

those are pics from the trip.

 

The first picture is our donut-less donut run to Robbinsville. The Dragon donut store has gone out of business there. Cooper and I are in the purple Mini. This was kind of a shake down run for the blue wagon. It has been in the process of being rebuilt for about 4 years. The little wagon did well but developed brake problems the next day.

I hope you are doing better bluesmini.

 

cooper 99 i can't see those pics. I'm feeling better. it's race week here in charlotte an i'll be out there working all day.