Tien and Paul's Travels: Miatas at the Gap XVIII

Miatas at the Gap

Our destination was the Great Smoky Mountains at Deals Gap. Over the weekend, there would be over five hundred Miata's that would show up for the event. The primary draw for the weekend would be to drive the 'Tail of the Dragon', an eleven mile stretch of state highway 129 that has 318 turns. There were several other drives over the weekend that would test your driving skills.

Starting with three Miata's from our TMR Car Club, leaving Thursday morning, the last weekend in July. We had a six hour drive to Fontana Village which was 'Ground Zero' for the event. In Asheville, we met up with another member of our group for lunch at the Moose Cafe.

Moose Cafe is known for it's BBQ

It was raining in Asheville. The four of us. (L to R) Paul & Tien, Jennifer & Kenny, Roy & Becky, & Bob (on Right)

We were staying in a four bedroom house in Robbinsville, about a half hour drive from Fontana Village. It was raining when we drove up on Thursday, but the rest of the weekend was sunny and dry.

Fontana Village was not too busy (yet) Thursday evening, but there was one organized "sunset "drive to Cherohala Skyway Overlook. We drove with the group of about 40 Miatas. After a while, it started raining very hard. We cut short our trip and drove back to Robbinsville.

Lining up for the sunset drive to Cherohala Skyway Overlook

Getting ready for the sunset drive.

Friday we drove to Fontana Village to register. There were cars from all over the Southeast as well as Canada.

There was a car wash station set up for anyone to use.

Washing Tien's car.

We drove to Deals Gap, the beginning of the 'Tail of the Dragon'. It took us about an hour to drive over and then back.

Start of the 'Tail of the Dragon'

That evening there was a long drive (49 winding miles) from Robbinsville to Fat Buddies barbecue in the town of Franklin, NC. It was a two hour drive on narrow winding roads.

Taking a break on our way to Fat Buddies.

It takes two pictures to get all the cars.

We split a rack of ribs.

Saturday started off with a Miata group photo at Fontana Dam. There were almost 200 cars at the photo session.

Miatas lined up for the photo.

After the photo, we were treated to lunch and ice cream at Fontana Village which was sponsored by Graham County's Chamber of Commerce. We couldn't help ourselves, so we drove the 'Tail of the Dragon' one more time that afternoon.