You're My Boy, Blue

[ScottyB]

great weekend on the road.  total ride was about 500 miles, at least 250 of it was some solid backroad thrashing.  west NC is a treasure, aside from being gorgeous its easy to find some really fantastic, vacant roads.  

that said i ended up changing the route on the fly.  my intention was to ride 28 all the way north to Bryson City but the traffic was so discouraging i bailed and headed east on 64 out of Highlands to the much more remote 281 and struck north.  turned out to be a great option with almost no cars but i found that 281 is pretty beat up...lots of broken pavement and gravel washed out into the road.  going back home Sunday i decided not to waste time trying 28 again going south and instead took the parkway and then 215 south to 178.  those 3 roads proved to be the best part of the ride.  that section of the parkway is incredible to behold at 5000+ elevation in the clouds and 215 is a billiard-smooth roller coaster that lives up to its reputation.  178 ended up surprising me completely by being the gnarliest road of all despite its short length with insane elevation change, road surface changes, huge road camber and really tight switchbacks.  traffic was lax on all but the very end of 178 heading into Pickens SC.


for anyone looking to check these drives out, definitely try out 178/215 and don't touch 28 unless its a weekday or very off-hour.  i would not attempt to enjoy any of them in the rain or any holiday weekend unless you want to sit behind terrified drivers, campers, and fat boys riding Fat Boys like they still have their training wheels on.

biggest disappointment overall, aside from the traffic around Highlands (tourist town, i should have known better) was that NC has almost no provisions for passing on any of these roads, and it should come as no surprise that absolutely nobody uses their rear view and/or has the courtesy to pull over to let you by no matter how obvious you make it that you're being held up.  of the 20 or 30 times i was stuck behind people poking along at 10 under, only one single guy pulled off to let me by.  apparently everyone's either not worried about arriving at their destination within the day or they're terrified of hills.  its possible you can be stuck behind the same guy for over an hour if you're particularly unfortunate.  i just pulled off and waited most of the time.

Fun Highlights:
• got challenged to a Touge Battle by a Ridgeline in a remote section of 28 on the GA/NC border.  i'm not kidding, and this guy was 100% committed to an alarming pace.  i did absolutely nothing to provoke him...just came around a corner, he was pulled off to the side and then jumped in front, waited for me to pull up on his tail and took off.  but apparently he was determined to give me a show.  i've never seen anyone hustle a pickup truck like that nor can i understand why, but it happened.  didn't have much trouble staying behind him and he eventually pulled off.  had to give him a wave for just being a freaking lunatic.

• surprise overlanding session between Indian Creek Campground and the parkway.  looked paved on the map, found out otherwise as i was driving next to the creek and just said the hell with it and took it as far as i could to see if it was possible.  turns out you can climb a goatpath in a lowered civic, and i had to do some interesting maneuvers to keep from getting pulled into some ruts.  some of the dropoffs were legit....like, you fall off, your body might be found in 5 years kind of remoteness...so i hugged the upslope of the hill.  quite a few 1st gear, full steering lock switchbacks. never scraped bottom once.  was so sad i didn't come across any jeepers so i could tell them its a Honda thing, you wouldn't understand.

• the parkway between the southern terminus and 215 is phenomenal.  i'm mentioning this again because it deserves it.  i would not judge any man who started crying when they laid their eyes on the pure wilderness and views up there.  the wildlife around you is as rich and alive as you can experience in Appalachia and the road and tunnels are great fun even at the speed limit.  going from blinding fog banks to bright sun on top of a sea of clouds never ever gets old.  its an incredibly unique place at such high elevation with the alpine weather and in August at noon it was a perfect 65 degrees.

• the car did great.  really got to enjoy 2nd and 3rd gears and put the seat bolsters to good use.  i found that i wouldn't change anything about the car if i lived there other than getting some proper tires and probably more front camber.  its set up almost perfectly to enjoy the roads at a reasonable pace and still work great as a daily.  i was surprised to find that i really never needed more power.  the brake ducting was worth it.  i worked them HARD and they resisted fading completely, so i'm calling it the best $10 mod ever.  

getting up to the parkway...nobody can ever accuse me of hardparking again





highest point on the parkway, 6053 feet


Cowee Mt overlook, 5900 ft



you bet your ass i did a 2nd gear pull through every one of these.  the hills are alive with the sound of VTEC


incredible alpine environment.  bright sun one minute, absolute 20-foot pea soup visibility the next.  so cool.


these wheels were totally spotless and bright silver 48 hours ago.  oops