Most liked posts in thread: Keep your fingers crossed for good weather....

I'm spending Monday night in Sweetwater and then heading to MOTD via the Cherohala Skyway the next day. However, it will really suck if the roadwork is not completed by the following weekend.:mad2:

 

It's always Sunny when I am at the Dragon and we may get one day with a little rain.

As for the Dragon, it is a great road but it is not the only road that is awesome in that area.

Other area roads are lots of fun and not covered with TN troopers with radar guns pointed into the exit of blind corner. :devil:

 

I use the Dragon to get to Fontana from where I live, so, it perhaps being closed is a big deal for me. My only other alternative is to use the Cherohala Skyway and take a longer ride from Knoxville. That's what we are doing this year because we didn't get to Cherohala last year due to our time limitation. We have the same limitation this year, so we are coming IN from Sweetwater [so he can see and experience the Skyway] and hope to go OUT thru the Dragon.

I've driven thru the Dragon and surrounding area roads during all sorts of weather and events [remember the fire on the mountain in Fontana behind the cabins on Welch Rd?] and have kept going back. For me, it's been one of the most beautiful and enjoyable places to drive. It would be a shame for any driver to never experience it at least once.

 

It's not closed for our week. It will be open.

Everyone calm down and relax, no one is going to miss being able to ride the complete Dragon.

I come in and go out the dragon when I go to Fontana also. Remember the Tornado, we drove the dragon the next day, rock and mud slides it was also open very quickly.

Just calm down the Dragon will be open and the work is scheduled to be completed BEFORE MOTD.

 

I'm just say'n. I drove over the Cherohala Skyway to Robbinsville and on to Fontana when the Dragon was closed due to the rockslide...beautiful drive, even with the downed trees and the snow on top of the mountain! the Dragon was still closed when I left for home, so I retraced my route back to I-75.

You're right, though...no sense in getting all worried...just have a backup plan.:ihih:

 

Will there be a website where progress can be checked after the 17th?

 

Anybody know what the recent storms did to the schedule?

 

I'm still going the Cherohala route...gonna be a wet, WET ride...sure am glad I have new tires...will spend Monday night in Sweetwater and head over on Tuesday. If worse comes to worse weatherwise, I can always go down I 75 to US 74 and head East to US 129 or Hwy 28 and head in.

 

Absolute beautiful weather today. Clear sky up on Clingmans Dome.

 

Today is a different story. Lots of wind overnight so Fontana was without power this morning and the dragon and foothills parkway were covered in debris.

Had to stop several times for the road crew to chainsaw up the down limbs.

 

Hey Jeff that nice Blu MINI has a skid plate. You can bash right over those downed trees. :arf:

 

Oh I did!!
I was glad that plate was there [emoji106]

 

^^^

 

Great weather until Thursday morning. We had watched the weather systems on tv and figured we could just about make it back unscathed if we left when the power went out. Bad idea, as the wind and fallen trees caught us in the Dragon. If it wasn't for some bikers and a guy hauling a boat to help us clear all that crap, we might all still be there. It was a wet ride up I-75, but otherwise, safe.

 

Looks like the folks who arrived early in the week to avoid the traffic also made a great choice weather-wise.