Tail of the Dragon

[woodworker]

My son on his Street Bob, me on my Victory on Tail of the Dragon, 318 curves in 11 miles, and other scooters through the years. Life is good. The Tail is an awesome ride. There is no straight stretch and you are leaning one way or the other the entire ride. It was a blast.

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[TJC]

Your bike is a work of art! And The Tail of the Dragon is a fun stretch of road.

I went up there annually for 10-15 years with my convertible. Great ride! Back in the late 80's to early 90's it was more fun. Then the increased crowds and accidents led to a crackdown by local authorities, the speed limit dropped dramatically, and was strictly enforced - day and night. I stopped going by 2005 and have only drove through once since.

I used to stay at the Tapoco lodge. There is a nice deep swimming hole upstream from the lodge about a 1/4 mile. On a steamy hot summer day the cold water is refreshing. I knew the owners pretty well.

An interesting tidbit is that the lodge AC system was cooled by cold water from a well located 100's of feet up hill. It filled a large storage tank, then gravity did the rest. That chilled water flowed through a set of central AC coils, then emptied into the Cheoah River behind the lodge.

ALCOA built the place to house workers who built the 4 dams in the area. After that It was used as an executive retreat for years. In fact there were two of the complexes, the other is only reachable now by water... since the reservoirs filled.

Another tidbit... Harrison Ford's character jumped off the nearby Cheoah Dam in the movie "The Fugitive".

All four dams stair step down the western slope of the Smoky Mountains. I've kayaked most of them. The water in all 4 reservoirs is deep and always cold.

 

[woodworker]

Your bike is a work of art! And The Tail of the Dragon is a fun stretch of road.

I went up there annually for 10-15 years with my convertible. Great ride! Back in the late 80's to early 90's it was more fun. Then the increased crowds and accidents led to a crackdown by local authorities, the speed limit dropped dramatically, and was strictly enforced - day and night. I stopped going by 2005 and have only drove through once since.

I used to stay at the Tapoco lodge. There is a nice deep swimming hole upstream from the lodge about a 1/4 mile. On a steamy hot summer day the cold water is refreshing. I knew the owners pretty well.

An interesting tidbit is that the lodge AC system was cooled by cold water from a well located 100's of feet up hill. It filled a large storage tank, then gravity did the rest. That chilled water flowed through a set of central AC coils, then emptied into the Cheoah River behind the lodge.

ALCOA built the place to house workers who built the 4 dams in the area. After that It was used as an executive retreat for years. In fact there were two of the complexes, the other is only reachable now by water... since the reservoirs filled.

Another tidbit... Harrison Ford's character jumped off the nearby Cheoah Dam in the movie "T0he Fugitive". All four dams stair step down the western slope of the Smoky Mountains. I've kayaked most of them. The water in all 4 reservoirs is deep and always cold.

Sweet. The Victory has since been sold and replaced with a Harley Street Glide which was replaced with the current Road King. Was going to sell it but at 71, I still enjoy it too much.
I just watched that movie like two days ago.

 

[woodworker]

My son leaned that Street Bob so far he drug the frame.

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