crawfish Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Hi everyone, Since gas is currently cheap (well, not 4 bucks a gallon anyway,) my wife and I did a road trip in June in the C6. I will tell a little about ours then invite anyone else to tell about theirs. We we basically drove the Blue Ridge Parkway which begins in Cherokee NC and goes northward into Virginia. The speed limit is 45 on most of the parkway, but with the twisty road and hair pin curves, this makes for some fun driving. (and we may have pushed that a notch or two at times... ) Anyway, along the way we stopped at Biltmore in Ashville, North Carolina, Mt Airly NC (of Mayberry fame), a great rustic Bed and Breakfast near Ronoak Virginia, and we ended up at Colonial Williamsburg :patriot:after we left the parkway. We do at least one road trip each year, and this was one of our favorites It was relatively cool (compared to the heat in Louisiana) the entire trip. I highly recommend this as a road tour for those of us who like to polish AND drive our cars. The whole trip including the drive from home was about 9 days. Now, tell me about yours.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krzdimond Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Every year I go on a road trip with the family. In December of 07, I and my family traveled from Savannah, GA to Colorado Springs, CO to see our daughter for Christmas:D. 1634 miles one way!! Traveling to CO via ATL, Chattanooga, Nashville, ST.Louis, Kansas City, and, FINALLY, Topeka. Couldn't wait to see and be able to drive in the snow again!!! We didn't do a lot of sightseeing on the way out because I drove the Buick wagon 1634 miles in 2 days:eek: Loaded to the hilt with 3 passengers, luggage , Black Lab puppy and gifts! Couldn't see out the back window. God I LOVE this car!! BTW, what the HELL is WRONG with you people in St. Louis?? When I left Savannah, it was 70*, I wake up in St. Louis and it was 8*!! 8*. WTF!!! My son walks out to the car to reload in a t-shirt and shorts! You should have seen the looks:eek: Anyway, we get to Colorado Springs and surprise my daughter and spend Christmas with her. Wife nagging about how I NEED to slow down and stop doing doughnuts in intersections "just 'cause I can" (son was having a B-L-A-S-T!!) RWD + Posi-trac = :burnout: Anyway, a week later I drove us all home along the same route. Every year I drive to Waterloo, NY (~1200 miles one way) just for a one day car show called Wagon Fest (last weekend in July), which is in addition to the family trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
70'sChevyGirl Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Very cool trips. Where are the pics though??? I'd like to see them, please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krzdimond Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 This is all I have uploaded at the moment, more will come later.... Secont trip out for my son in KC:lol: Shiny Georgia car in a dirty enviroment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crawfish Posted July 7, 2009 Author Share Posted July 7, 2009 Very cool trips. Where are the pics though??? I'd like to see them, please. Oops, I do not have any pictures on my work machine, they are on my home computer... 8000 miles away. (I am at work in Africa) I don't go home until 30 July. My best picture though was probably my wife and my Vette in front of Floyd's Barbershop in Mount Airy (AKA Mayberry.) I may post it when I get home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11chevz71 Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Are you talking about what they call tail of the dragon. I think we are talking about the same thing. We did that in my dads truck going down hil it took forever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingwater Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Oops, I do not have any pictures on my work machine, they are on my home computer... 8000 miles away. (I am at work in Africa) I don't go home until 30 July. My best picture though was probably my wife and my Vette in front of Floyd's Barbershop in Mount Airy (AKA Mayberry.) I may post it when I get home. That's one I'm looking forward to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superdutytd Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 I roadtrip all the time in the winter to go snowmobiling all over Idaho and British Columbia. Each one averages about 200-500 miles each. If the economy doesn't kill us were're going to go to Revelstoke this year too. I would like to go to Jackson Hole also. Don't really do any 1000+ mile road trips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crawfish Posted July 8, 2009 Author Share Posted July 8, 2009 Are you talking about what they call tail of the dragon. I think we are talking about the same thing. We did that in my dads truck going down hil it took forever. No, the tail of the Dragon is a 13 mile stretch of road in the Smokey Mountains that begins about 20 miles from Pigeon Forge and ends just inside North Carolina about 20 miles or so from Cherokee. The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Park or National Roadway that is about 370 miles long. The curves are not quite as severe as the the Dragon, but there is almost no end to them. It is also one of the most scenic drives in the USA. I typically "slay the Dragon" about once a year, (normally in the spring or fall when the bike traffic is lower) but I'll probably skip this year since we did the parkway. Another great road trip I made was down Highway 1 in California from San Francisco to Big Sur. That was probably the most scenic drive ever. Unfortunately I was in a rental convertible (We flew to SF) instead of my Vette. I hope to drive the Vette out to LA one day and go from LA to Oregon on 1, but that is in the future (hopefully.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
70'sChevyGirl Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 I'd love to Slay the Dragon. :rockon: Guess I will have to wait for the pics til you get home. What do you do in Africa?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sizzle Chest Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Took the 'vette down to Key West. What a great road trip! Fun time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crawfish Posted July 8, 2009 Author Share Posted July 8, 2009 Key West is one I definitely want to make, if I live long enough. So Many road trips... so little time.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjwvette Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Some great road trips Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11chevz71 Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 I am going out to South Dakota and Montana in September Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigred vette Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 I am going out to South Dakota and Montana in September Thats a looong drive from where you are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11chevz71 Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Thats a looong drive from where you are. Yep taken two weeks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigred vette Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 Yep taken two weeks Wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to just fly? I know I would not want to be driving almost non stop for 2 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crawfish Posted July 11, 2009 Author Share Posted July 11, 2009 Wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to just fly? I know I would not want to be driving almost non stop for 2 weeks. I am not who you asked, but I will put my 2 cents worth in since I make road trips regularly. Of course it is easier to fly. The trips about being on the open road, seeing America along the way. finding an off the wall restaurant, staying in a cabin or bed and breakfast 50 miles from no where. Example: On the road trip I mentioned in post 1 (The Blue Ridge Parkway) we found a wonderful B&B on the side of a foothill way out in the country.. We asked the folks there where to eat and they told us about a great country restaurant that served homemade fried chicken, roast beef, chicken and dumplins, etc, family style (they bring it out in blowls and plates and you eat until you are full) for 12 bucks. The country Inn atmosphere at this place was great and the food was fantastic. If I took a flying vacation, I would have missed this stuff. We also meet a lot of nice people along the way, some vette folks and sometimes other people just want to tell us about the uncle Earnie who had a 63 vette when they were kids. A lot of Americans identify with Corvette and this creates some good opportunities to just meet and talk to folks. I work in Africa 28 days on 28 days off, so I can fly free most of the time on air miles. We do go on one fly vacation a year (normally to Vegas) but this does not substitute for our road trips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigred vette Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 Makes sense Don and I totally understand what your saying. It is nice to see what America is made of and meet nice people along the way. I would like to do that sometime to! For me though 2 weeks in that small confined area of a car would be to much for me. I can handle a couple hours, maybe even a couple days just no longer then that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11chevz71 Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 Since my dad got a new pickup brian we are taking that out. And if we would have taken and airplane and got a rental car it would have cost us more and i would not have been able to help my parents out with the driver because i would not be old enough to drive the rental. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigred vette Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 Since my dad got a new pickup brian we are taking that out. And if we would have taken and airplane and got a rental car it would have cost us more and i would not have been able to help my parents out with the driver because i would not be old enough to drive the rental. Gotcha' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetDaddyDelicious Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 I love tail of the dragon. Try to make it up there a couple times a year. Just got back recently. Went from ATL to Birmingham with an annual meet of over 200 Lotus cars I had been on the planning committee of for over a year. It was a massive amount to organize. We had over 800 hotel room nights booked and had to arrange over $40K in catering to get our group rates on the rooms, fly in our speakers (some from England) and pay their fees, organize vendors, etc (which I also was one) arrange events and drives including 3 track events (autocross and skidpad, running on Talledega speedway, and a day at Barber Motorsports park and museum), banquets, etc. It was a massive amount of fun, worth every bit of the work. After the track day we left from there for a 5 hour drive to the dragon in a high speed caravan of awesome cars, ran that at night and the next day, and then returned 3 hours home to Atlanta. Well me and another guy did, other people that were with us returned to KY, IL, PN, etc and even one guy all the way back to San Diego in a car he just bought that was just hand built and driven up from Tampa to meet us in Birmingham. He had a 4000 mile trip home in a ridiculously awesome brand new Rossion Q1, and went out out the way to go up to Chicago from TN and then go across route 66 on the way back. We ran the dragon with an awesome group of cars. Mostly Lotus, but also a twin turbo Porsche from Chicago, the Rossion, and a couple others. Most of us were on R compound tires and several of the cars heavily modified. It was great as all the sport bikes would pull over and let us by, and am glad none of them put themselves off the mountain trying to catch up. Pictures of most of us are here: http://s297.photobucket.com/albums/mm201/993TTracy/Tail%20of%20the%20Dragon%206-2-09/?start=40 As a side note, I did the graphics on the krypton Exige, my Orange Elise, and the black Exige with blue wheels matched to the stripes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Memphis Senior Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 Now that I'm retired I get to make a 4-6 month road trip every year. (35' Winnie) To many to mention here. My all time favorite of all though was 11 years ago. My dad and I left Memphis TN on July 5 on my Honda GoldWing. Riding two-up and pulling a trailer, we traveled I-40 west to Flagstaff, AZ., getting off from time to time to ride Route 66 whenever we could find it. We then went south to Phoenix, then west on I-10. Our destination was Santa Maria, CA. We went there to visit my kids/grand kids, dad's grandkids/great grandkids. From there we traveled north on hwy 395 to Reno, NV. then onto Pendleton, OR. My GoldWing club was having a rally there that year. From Pendleton we went east along I-84 through Boise and Twin Falls to Salt Lake City. From there we went east on I-80 to Cheyenne, Lincoln and Omaha. Then south on I-29 to St. Joseph and Kansas City MO. Then east again on I-70 to Columbia, MO. Then south on some very scenic 2 lane hwys through Jefferson City, MO., Hardy, AK. and on home to Memphis. All together we covered 5500 miles and 17 states in 6 weeks. The sun god smiled on us. We only had to ride in the rain a total of 4 days during the 6 weeks. Best of all, dad and I won the trophy for oldest combined age for two-up on a bike. Dad was 79 at the time and I turned 60 while on the trip, for a total of 139. Dad showed that dumb trophy and talked about that trip to all his friends for months after that. We were planing a 4-corners (Calif to Washington state to Main to Florida back to Calif) when I lost him to cancer 3 years later. Even though he's gone I still have those photos and many fond memories of that trip. I had a film camera back then. All those photos are in a photo album back home in Calif. I haven't scanned any of those pics into my puter. If I can remember I'll scan a few when I get back to Calif in Oct and upload them. Sorry this post turned into a small book guys. I get a bit nostalgic when I remember that trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mc2hill Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 These sound like some great trips. I've traveled quite a bit on the Blue Ridge Parkway (great views), but never driving anything fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crawfish Posted August 17, 2009 Author Share Posted August 17, 2009 As promised, here are some photos from my road trip. (a little late..) This is Ms. Fish and my car at a scenic overlook This is me at Floyd's barbershop in Mt Airly, NC (AKA Mayberry) Me and a mountain stream Another scenic overlook Another shot of Floyd's, this time with Ms Fish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now