Tail of the Dragon

[TomC]

Sorry your friend got hurt. but I did not take any chances that I could not handle. Were you in the truck with me? NO you were not, my wife was and she said she never felt safer as with me driving and she suffers from anxiety. I NEVER crossed the yellow line nor did I ever tailgate or force anyone off the road. So please if you were not there you have no right to comment on my post. Please go pee somewhere else you are nothing to me and will not ruin my day Kiddo!

It is usually the driver that claims " I did not take any chances that I could not handle" that earns a spot on the map. Don't jinx yourself. I am from a little East of here (Brevard), and there seems to be a prevailing attitude on the western Carolina roads that "it won't happen to me". Please be careful.

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[RecoilOperated]

I bet you grew up in the everyone gets a trophy generation.

That line always kills me. As if it wasn't egocentric baby boomers who invented "everyone's a winner" and pioneered screaming at the little league coach. It's right up their with lampooning millennials for not being able to drive a manual transmission when no one ever bothered to teach them.

 

[dmeyer302]

 

[Bob902]

Look out. A fellow MO driver...... ?

 

[grammat95]

Glad you had fun taking your Ranger down there. The dragon is far more fun on two wheels in my opinion but as long as people are respectful of other drivers/riders I don't care what they bring to the tail. I will say that after a day of riding on the bike, going back through the dragon in my truck just about made me puke my guts out. Twisties in a tremor are not enjoyable.

 

[Danager]

Yea I got my new antenna installed and I thought we could bromance over our long poles. I tagged you, but you never replied.

Reported…

 

[SICKQK]

Fun day today. The Tail of the Dragon is a 11 mile road with 318 curves. It starts out from the southern portion in Deals Gap N.C. and end in Tennessee. It is a wild ride and famous with the motorcycle and sports car club. Well today I took my slightly modified Ranger (FPP tune, Eiebach shocks and struts, 3 inch lift, and Wildpeak tires) and ran it the first time in about 20 minutes which includes getting slower cars out the way which most will do quickly. The run back took 15.5 minutes. WOW what a run! The Ranger performed beautifully. Almost no sway thanks to the Eibachs. the only hold up would be turbo lag which I need to find a way to work with that. Their is now way to manually shift as you need all hands on deck! My wife loved the ride and is willing to run it again with me. Oh and I never once had to pull over for a faster vehicle except the run back for a Vet right before the start. I Forgot to add, I filled the tank right before the runs and filled it afterwards. The Ranger got 13.3 MPG

Very cool, that must have been fun!

I was there about 10 years ago here's one of my photos.

Funny Story about that trip, following my GPS it bought us in at the top of the dragon. My buddy was driving my 2011 F-150 crew cab towing a heavy 16' trailer loaded with 3 motorcycles, tools and gear. It was early and the sun wasn't quite up yet.
That was quite an "experience" navigating all those turns while being pushed downhill by a good sized load. My friend drives for a living so I wasn't completely freaked out but I think I used the word Whoa (using two common definitions of the word) several dozen times. ?

 

[ChrisCARanger]

That line always kills me. As if it wasn't egocentric baby boomers who invented "everyone's a winner" and pioneered screaming at the little league coach. It's right up their with lampooning millennials for not being able to drive a manual transmission when no one ever bothered to teach them.

Millennials couldn't have a conversation without googling, they have nothing but Google. They don't realize people used to do stuff and talk about the things they did. One EMP later they would all be useless.

 

[Jedadiah]

We have a road here out in Prescott - Jerome (89A) which has something like 167 curves in it. There's a lot of really tight hairpin curves and you'll see many crosses where people have died on it. They sell t shirts in town that say something like "I survived 89A" with a picture of it on the front.

This is only part of it from Jerome - Prescott. There are no guardrails on the sides so it's a long way down if you mis calculate your speed.

I've driven this one in a super slow 98 Honda Civic and the Tail of The Dragon in a not much faster 2005 Ford Focus! I used to have family in Prescott and went Whitewater rafting in NC.

 

[9zero1790]

Fun day today. The Tail of the Dragon is a 11 mile road with 318 curves. It starts out from the southern portion in Deals Gap N.C. and end in Tennessee. It is a wild ride and famous with the motorcycle and sports car club. Well today I took my slightly modified Ranger (FPP tune, Eiebach shocks and struts, 3 inch lift, and Wildpeak tires) and ran it the first time in about 20 minutes which includes getting slower cars out the way which most will do quickly. The run back took 15.5 minutes. WOW what a run! The Ranger performed beautifully. Almost no sway thanks to the Eibachs. the only hold up would be turbo lag which I need to find a way to work with that. Their is now way to manually shift as you need all hands on deck! My wife loved the ride and is willing to run it again with me. Oh and I never once had to pull over for a faster vehicle except the run back for a Vet right before the start. I Forgot to add, I filled the tank right before the runs and filled it afterwards. The Ranger got 13.3 MPG

what a road! Those kind of roads make me miss the Mustang. That would be one of those where you could run nearly the entire road below fourth gear and let engine breath and work. man!

 

[Todd Chapin]

I been there a few times as I spend allot of time in the area. I was driving a mustang gt and never got over the speed limit because there were speed traps everywhere. There are much better rosds in the area with less traffic for spirited driving in NC, Tennesse and Georgia.

 

[Mellow]

I've been there a few times but I like to go early in the morning and on a Thursday - maybe Friday - then back to the rest of that area and northern GA for much better riding where you can actually see some scenery.

 

[Mostly Harmless]

We have a road here out in Prescott - Jerome (89A) which has something like 167 curves in it. There's a lot of really tight hairpin curves and you'll see many crosses where people have died on it. They sell t shirts in town that say something like "I survived 89A" with a picture of it on the front.

This is only part of it from Jerome - Prescott. There are no guardrails on the sides so it's a long way down if you mis calculate your speed.

Drove this back in October in a rented Wrangler Renegade, it was raining and a bit slick, gf was getting sick from all the turns, interesting for sure. Didn't know it was a "thing". Wish I known about the burger place back then. Thanks for the info.

 

[billwinkle]

what banana boy missed and I really wished to avoid saying this: If he did the math he would have seen that we averaged just under 40 mph on a 30 mph road. I am also not a risk taker either for myself nor anyone else on the road at any time. Traction control was on the whole time, at the tightest corners my speed would at times drop to 10. I avoided tire squeal as who wants to wear out $1200 worth of tires on 1 trip. I also slowed down when oncoming traffic showed (very slow day on the Dragon). I am approaching 65 next month and would not be so if I was taking bad risks.
My only point was the Ranger when properly equipped can handle more than just off road. I find it to be a very capable truck indeed. And no I will not post videos just to prove myself as those are for my wife and my friends to enjoy.
Remember if you spend too much time in life playing safe you will spend the last part regretting what you missed.

 

[Blue_Ranger]

All the roads in the area are a blast to drive on. I had a Focus ST and we use to make an annual trip to the area. I believe 6 trips total over 5 years. Great time and lots of VERY nice cars to look at/watch.

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