Extended trip after Spring Rally

[msimmons]

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There has been some discussion regarding a possible extended trip for the week after the Spring Rally from May 2 to May 9.  I'd like to open a forum for ideas.

A suggestion that came up several times and again at the Super Bowl Brunch was a trip to the "Tail of the Dragon" on the Tennessee/North Carolina border. see: http://www.tailofthedragon.com/index.html & http://www.tailofthedragon.com/dragon.html  for a picture of Miata's at the gap and a nice article.

I would be happy to take charge of the plans for such a trip.  The distance to get there is substantial but could be accomplished in 2 days, leaving from the Spring Rally in Decorah, IA to a midpoint in Indianapolis, IN and completing the trip on day 2.  

see mapquest: http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Decorah&1s=IA&1y=US&1l=43.303299&1g=-91.785599&1v=CITY&2c=Indianapolis&2s=IN&2a=10209+N+Meridian+St&2z=46290-1021&2y=US&2l=39.935091&2g=-86.157805&2v=ADDRESS#b/maps/m:map:4:41.613603:-89.015622::::::1:1:::::::::/l:::Decorah:IA::US:43.303299:-91.785599:city::1:::/l::10209+N+Meridian+St:Indianapolis:IN:46290-1021:US:39.935091:-86.157805:address::1:::/l:::Robbinsville:NC::US:35.3228:-83.807503:city:Graham+County:1:::/io:1:::::f:en_US:M:/bl:/e

We recently went to Wash. DC in January, 2009 and stayed at a very nice Courtyard by Marriott in Indianapolis (actually carmel, IN) which I would highly reccomend @ $89-$109 for the 1 night.  
see: http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/indcm-courtyard-indianapolis-carmel/

There is a Microtel in Robbinsville, NC listing rooms @ $59.00 per night that looks decent. There is a wide variety of other accomodations as well.
see:  http://www.microtelrobbinsville.com/rates.html

Please reply in this Forum if you are interested, or you can email me directly at michael.w.simmons@usps.gov or call me at (cell) 612-385-6244

If anyone would like to suggest another possible weeklong adventure, please, let's hear your ideas.  Other suggestions have included: a Route 66 tour from Chicago west; the backroads along the Mississippi River in Iowa and South; & a return to Eureka Springs, AR.

Since I'm already on the Fall Rally Committee, I would only be able to coordinate a trip after the Spring Rally.  We could also plan a trip after the Fall Rally if someone would like to take charge for that time frame.

Thanks, Mike Simmons

[spd2918]

  I wish I didn't have plans for 5/8 or I'd joint you for a Dragon's Tail run.  I would suggest you stay at one of the reasonable resorts right on the 'tail like the Fontana Dam Resort, North Carolina (http://www.fontanavillage.com/).  Keep in mind that there will be a lot of fast motorcycle traffic and tons of enforcement.  One must stay in the their lane.

The distance to NC can be covered in one day.  I was there last year on my motorcycle and rode home to Superior WI in one day.  It is not for the faint of heart, but can easily be done if you don't mind a full day in the saddle.

The Great River Road would be a fun destination, too.  I am taking my wife down it this summer in my NA (does anyone have a trunk rack I can borrow?).  Those back roads seem to be made for a relaxed top down cruise.  We will hang out in New Orleans for a few days then hot foot it back on the slab.

[BEN]

We would be interested in extending this trip to the Smokies. Since we will probably miss the Fall rally Spring is our only option.

[Dusty]

Lynda has been sitting at the computer and I have been playing with my GPS software and here is a first shot at an itinerary for the Deal's Gap/Tail of the Dragon/Smokey Mountains extended trip after the Spring Rally.
 
Lynda has found several houses in the Gatlinberg/Pigeon Forge area of Tennesee.  This is about 60 miles north of the beginning of the Dragon.  Pigeon Forge is the home of Dollywood so hotel accommodations should be pretty good there as well.  She will be looking at houses with an emphasis on view and sufficient bedrooms/bathrooms to accommodate everyone.  As usual, the first to commit will get the choice accommodations.

If you are serious about going, please let us (JohnNLynda@msn.com or 651-483-1830) know by the end of February, particularly if you are interested in staying in a house in Tennessee.
 
For now Gatlinberg/Pigeon Forge will be our base of operations.
 
Here is a first shot at an itinerary:

• Sunday - Drive to Indianapolis (~450 miles) - This is about what we did on the second day when travelling to Branson.
• Monday - Drive to Pigeon Falls (~400 miles) and check into lodging.
• Tuesday - limited driving to recover from the drive down.  Dollywood anyone?
• Wednesday - Hit the Dragon and Charohalla Parkway and other roads in that area.
• Thursday - Drive through Smokey Mountain National Park into North Carolina.
• Friday - Leave for home allowing 2 or three days to get home depending on preferences.

Since the first two days cover a lot of ground, we may choose to use the Interstates more than usual.  Let us know your preferences for two lane roads (longer days) vs. freeways for the trip down.  Same for the trip home.  Do you want to get back fast (2 long days) or just mosey (3 days).  I think my preference for the trip home is to take it a little easy and stick to two lane roads.

I have copied a Garmin file named DealsGap.gdb to the DriveInfo folder on the website where all of the drive tracks are stored.  You can get there from the "GPS Routes" button on the left side of the club Home page or follow the link below.  This file contains routes extracted from the Tail of the Dragon website and a definitely-not-final route through Indianapolis to Pigeon Falls at:

http://www.miataclubmn.com/DriveInfo 

John Miller

[msimmons]

Tail of the Dragon is a GO!!
As everyone can now see, the Tail of the Dragon/Deals Gap/Great Smoky Mountains Natl. Park is a GO after the Spring Rally.  We appear to have 6 committed(?) Miata's (couples) so far.

Thanks to John & Lynda Miller for all the advance work so far.  Information is already flowing on a separate mailing list currently named blackhills@miataclubmn.com which includes 34 email addresses from the extended trip last year.  I will work with Darrel to maybe change the name of the list to "Extended Trips" or something appropriate since this has become a regular event.  If you'd like to get on that list, send me an email to:  vicepresident@miataclubmn.com and I will add your email address to that list.

All the current information will be sent out in a mass email to the general membership to alert those who may not check this website forum on a regular basis.  Because time is a little short for putting all this together, we are looking for a committment by the end of February for those who would like to stay in a shared house.  For those who prefer a motel, B&B, etc. there is probably a little more time to make those arrangements.

To confirm the schedule in John's post, the dates are: April 30-May 2, 2010 - Spring Rally.  Those going on the extended trip will depart early Sunday morning, May 2, 2010 when everyone else heads home.  That night we will stop in the Indianapolis area (tentatively, a Courtyard by Marriott  in Carmel, IN). After another early departure, we plan to arrive in the Pigeon Forge, TN area on Monday evening, May 3, 2010.  We will have 4 nights there, May 3-6, 2010.  We will depart for the trip home on Friday, May 7, 2010.

Thanks, Mike Simmons

[msimmons]

per Darrel, our Webmaster, the extended trip mailing list has been changed to dragonstail@miataclubmn.com  Every one interested in the trip should be on this mailing list to keep informed of details regarding the trip.  As before, please send me an email if you were not on the blackhills list and I will add your email address.

All those who were on the blackhills list have been automatically moved to the dragonstail list.

Thanks, Mike Simmons

[ironman]

We may want to contact Mountain Miatas of East Tennessee for any information they can give us.

Dave

[msimmons]

Great idea, Dave.  I just looked at their website http://www.mountainmiatas.com/index.html and thought someone had already contacted them.  I see their sponsor is "Twin City Mazda" - a good sign!

[BobWhite95]

http://www.roadstothefuture.com/Cumberland_Gap.html

We may want to include the Cumberland Gap/Pass in our itinerary either coming/going or while we are there.
Looks interesting.  The tunnel is almost 1 mile long in Tennessee and mostly in Kentucky.

There is also a national park there, The Cumberland Gap NP.
http://www.nps.gov/cuga/index.htm

 

[msimmons]

I agree that a trip through the tunnel at Cumberland Gap on the Kentucky/Tennessee border is a great route.  Mike, II & I went through it a couple of years ago.  Possibly, we could pick-up US 25E off of I-75 south of Cincinnati and follow it to US 321 into Gatlinburg, where the houses are.  It doesn't look much farther, but may take too much time on the way down.  John is doing most of the route planning at this time so I will defer to his judgement.  Probably will want to hit it on the way back, though.  Mike

[Dusty]

I have started to plan the route home.  The shortest route from Gatlinburg, TN, to MPLS, MN, is 980 miles, uses interstate highways almost exclusively, and goes through Chicago.  UGH! 

Looks like it's doable to return through Cumberland Gap.  Comparing it to the route that I was working on, it is actually slightly shorter so I think this is a good idea.

[spd2918]

I have started to plan the route home.  The shortest route from Gatlinburg, TN, to MPLS, MN, is 980 miles, uses interstate highways almost exclusively, and goes through Chicago.  UGH! 

To avoid Chicago cut over to Bloomington and then straight north to Madison.  You will skip all the tolls, too (Rockford pulled its last one).

[BobWhite95]

Or we could go straight north to Ludington, Michigan and take the ferry.....

 

[Darrel]

Here is a post from our newest members about the up coming trip to Deals Gap:

Post to the thread regarding a trip to the Dragon May 2-9 that it is closed for major repairs until midsummer. The Knoxville Herald reported Thursday that the planned closure could last until July 31. They are doing major reconstruction due to recent rockfalls and unstable areas.

Thanks to Scott and Rebecca for sending in this information

If this is true it could be a bummer that we cannot drive the dragon, but there are other roads to drive in the area.

[Chris and Sarah]

Here is the map of the construction, from tailofthedragon.com