Well I made it back from the Dragon and had a fun time, but it was one bizarre weekend to say the least. The roads were great and the weather outstanding, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Dragon is not a forgiving area to drive even under the best of conditions.

Many people will have tales to tell about their trip so I’m not going to steal there thunder by being the first to post. The one thing I will say is that on Saturday one biker ran off the road about 2 miles in and one died at around mile 5.

It was great to see some old friends and meet many new ones. There were 29 MINIs that showed up and we were buzzing about the area like the Yellow Jackets that were everywhere. I want to thank Ryephile one more time for the new wheels and delivering them to me at the Dragon and hope all you guys made it back without any problems.

A few miscellaneous pictures from the Dragon.

The Crossroads of Time


Dragons-eye view


Koolmini on Hwy 28


My new shoes

 

Very Nice

I live in Atlanta and there are some nice Mountain twities just to the North. All of them have crosses on them where crotch rocket jockies have miscalculated their skills. Since I bought my Mini I have my Harley up for sale. Even though it is not a crotch rocket I still get tempted and the environment is so unforgiving. I broke my neck in a mountain bike accident getting ready for a race in June of 03 and I never want to be in that position again. I could have easily been Christopher Reeves.

 

had a blast (got 4 spent tires to prove it....got in the grove/zone sat morning & then ran out of tires)

i would like to thank my pit crew ("The Dragon ******") for helping me rotate my bad tires to the front & my really bad tires to the back (belts a showing )
i made it home without any incident, the rain caught up to me & slowed me down a bit
i probably would of got a flat if i didn't have a full size spare with me
i will try to post some pic's when i get them back from the devolper

 

Put me down under the "Had a blast!" column. This was my second trip to the area and once again I enjoyed it. It was great to finally put some faces to the names I see around here.

Koolmini isn't the only one with a need for tires.

 

sndwave, nice pic.....too bad you can't tell that i'm in 5th gear doing a 100+ mph

 

Hey, DUDE! I took that piccie!

Clover

 

Yes you did Clo - Sorry

 

I also took the piccie of the MINIs in the fog at Deal's Gap....

Clover

 

:smile: Here are a few more of my Dragon Trip pix:




The Whitfield Punkin Patch in FL near the AL border


Country Lane at Tapoco Lodge


Little Tennessee River from Hwy. 28

And here's a great piccie taken by sndwave:


Guardrail Along the Cherohala Skyway

Clover

 

nice pic......sndwave

 

I CAN'T WAIT!!!! I didn't think I would be going next year, but since I'll be taking ownership of a 05 Cabrio in January I know I'm going !!!

 

WHAT???? YAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!! What great news, David! So..um..specs?

Clover

 

Ya David, tell us about all the goodies you're getting on it.

 

Jess and I had a blast - we'll be back in May at the Party Cabin (even if we have to share a twin bed, ehe). Nice drive home except for some huge traffic jams north of Columbus.

As usual, the weekend went waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too fast... but this was time #3, and I plan on filling that window with Dragon Kill stickers!

 

I heard you had a close call with a guardrail Sarcux. Everything ok?

Heard of a couple other incidents, but everyone is fine and healthy which is the important thing.

 

Heh, yeah, but it was a rock cliff, not a guardrail, heehee. Went around that first S-curve on Rt. 28 coming down from Fontana at about 70 (which I've done before just fine), but didn't realize that the road was still damp from dew. The term Understeer comes in as perfectly appropriate for the situation, we just flew off the road and had an "off-road excursion". Missed the rock cliff by about a foot on Jessica's side (passenger), but I somehow managed to pull it back on the road within a couple seconds. Happened really fast, but seemed to last an eternity. I firmly stand behind Mini's DSC now, though - it saved us.

Minimal damage - knocked another baffle loose in the Magnaflow (already had one to rattle annoyingly a lot) as well as knocking it back some, which I meant to do anyways. The skidplate underneath the mufflers got smashed up, along with a bit of the foil-like heat shielding under the car. I need to get it in the air to change the wheels to the winters anyways, so we'll see from there.

Anyone else have any incidents?

Hats off to the family and friends of the motorcyclist who had the fatal accident, by the way. That whole day had a weird vibe to it. A reminder to everyone to be careful and never drive more than 80%.

 

I heard of 3 other incidents, but I'll let them relate the stories to avoid passing along misinformation. :smile: Will say this, they include 2 cracked wheels, one dented wheel well and the other with possibly a bent wheel.

I heard about the motorcyclist, but not until this thread. There was an incident just north of the Crossroads as well, but don't have any details on that either.

 

And let’s not forget about the truck that crashed in to a car and pushed it over the cliff at the Crossroads of Time on Thursday afternoon. The truck was in the ditch as we drove by and we didn't hear about the car until Friday night at dinner.

 

Sounds like it was a little too active on the Dragon. That road will not let you make a mistake, there is very little room if you do.


On my new Cabrio, it's will be a Chili Red 05 Cooper with all pkgs. Body color interior panels and black seats, chrome line interior and exterior. Can't wait!

 

Wow, guys... This was my first Dragon experience and it was incredible. I'm so happy to have met all of you and I can't wait to see you all again in May. You read that correctly: I will most assuredly be back in May. It's just too much fun!

Some final thoughts on the trip:

Thanks to Minzila for the brats & dogs, and also for the directions to get around that traffic snarl on 71 going home. We never did find out what the story was on that, but I think we'd still be stuck in it if it weren't for your detour. :smile:

Thanks to MINIclo & sndwave for your caring, thoughtful advice and for being some of the coolest people to party at the party cabin (political opinions notwithstanding). Rock on!

Ryephile... you rule. Thanks for helping me get through my Hillbilly Existential Crisis (hee), and I I hope the next time you encounter a straw wrapper there is no knot. We'll be in touch, and you, me & Sarcux will have to do lunch when we're in The Motor City next.

Maximusmini: way to sleep through every alarm known to mankind and still manage to catch up with us in a Cooper that's not an S. That's some wicked driving there, dude. It must be the extra HP you get from those blue LED underbodies... right??

Thanks to KoolMini for being so kool and generous, and for persuading me to ride out to the dam in the dark even though I didn't want to initially. It was completely awesome.

MOTORN: the waitress at the breakfast place says you owe her some Baileys

I'm hoping that everyone got home safe & without incident. I guess it was pretty scary on The Dragon this time as compared to others. I don't have anything else to compare it to, but nearly having MY SIDE of the car sheared off by the side of a mountain... yeah. That's a little frightening. Let's continue to keep ourselves safe & sound & in one piece, k?

I'm sure there's stuff I'm forgetting to add here... but either way I had a really awesome time. I [heart] The Dragon!

 

As if May wasn't already far enough away... this thread has made me oh so very excited for the next Dragon. Sounds like you guys had an amazing time. Welcome back!

 

Of course, if it were my side of the car that crashed... we'd be in the lake.

 

Welcome to NAM, rabbot! YAY!!! You are a great addition to our wacky NAM family! Now....when are you ordering your very own MINI..hmmm?

As for politics...we had an Off Topic Politics forum here on NAM, but it was shut down after becoming a bit too hard for the Mods to handle! All I can say about politics is...there IS an election coming up next week, so I hope everyone will vote for the candidate of their choice. :smile:

BTW...I drove sndwave's BLU MENE out of Fontana Village to the 75. It was SO intense driving through the Dragon, through the foggy, dewy, leaf-strewn 129, that I had to turn the MINI back over to him when we reached the 75, and SLEEP!

But, the extra-cool thing: from Fontana Village, through the Dragon, and all the way to our favorite breakfast dive near the intersection of Hwy. 72, I had a CLEAN run! Meaning that there was not another vehicle behind me or in front of me ALL THE WAY to the cafe! There was only one other vehicle, a pickup, that was driving the other way, near the end of the run. It was fantastic! I was very tense, though, concerned about deer and other animals possibly crossing my path, and I don't see so well in the dark or through the intermittent fog! But, I was able to use the brights and running lights all the way!

Can't wait to get back to the Dragon in May!

Clover

 

This was my first Dragon, and I just cannot wait for the Spring one to come. I was so happy to do the driveabouts that I already made my return reservations for May. I'm gonna have to do some engine mods, and could use some suggestions, as I was just unable to keep up with the pack in most cases. However, all that aside, I cannot tell you how impressed I was with the people I met, as well as the scenery, and of course, the Dragon. All I gotta do now is to survive another cold northern Winter....

 

We had a good time this past weekend! It was nice to meet everyone and put a face with the names.

We did have a little fender bender though . It was on Thursday afternoon on the way to check in at Fontana. It was still a bit wet and caught a guardrail. Minor damage and that can always be fixed, we were both fine.

Clo, you are great! I am sooo happy to have met you! Sndwave, super guy with some really cool new kickers (and thanks for the hug!). Kool, what can I say, you are just tooo KOOL (and I will be getting you a special decal for you to put on in the spring )! Thanks for waiting on us after the fender bender. Pebblecrusher, it was super to have you along for the drives! It was great to meet everyone else too!!

The weekend went by way to fast, we didn't even get down to the party cabin . Maybe next time.


Can