Great opportunity for the students! I suspect things will be cleared by May though. :frown5: One of my favorite authors, John McPhee, says "roadcuts are a geologist's stethoscope." Off topic --- you Dragon veterans ... where's a decent inexpensive place to stay (with about a dozen or so students) in the Great Smokey Mountains? I am planning on staying a couple of nights in the area. Any suggestions? (We will be there around May 14.) A nice cabin would be great.
Call Greaty Smoky Cabin Rentals ask for Alan Miller. He's a MINI owner and Dragon vet. Getting a cabin will be the way to go. You can cram alot of folks in each cabin and make some of your own meals to help keep the cost down
The Dragon is closed: From the Deals Gap Facebook posting: "Well Gang it is official the TN Governor has closed the Dragon and is unwilling to accept the help of NC for medical and law enforcement. We will probably be forced to close the resort and not sure we will reopen this year. Lots of rumors flying around as to when they will get the mess cleaned up. I have heard 14 week to Aug. I will let you know more when I do." "In the mean time everyone please email, call and write the TN Governor and respectable ask for him to take the help offered by NC so we can continue to enjoy the Dragon."
Thanks for the updates Mol. Not what we want to hear but good to know. While that road is closed there are still plenty of great roads in the area along with the fun of hanging out with everyone at MOTD so please don't cancel just because 11 miles of road may be inaccessible.
Absolutely Nate, MOTD can still be fun. You can still get to Fontana. I always just drive in, spend the week at the Village and head home. You can definitely have a blast at MOTD without ever driving the Dragon.
As I said in the other thread: Here's the thing... 1) it's still six weeks away. no one knows what's going to happen in the next 6 weeks 2) There's TREMENDOUS driving in that area - with or without The Dragon. 3) Same mountain beauty. Fewer nimrods on the road. 4) The local economy will REALLY need our support if this continues. 5) We'd pretty much have the entire length of Hellbender and 129 from Robbinsville to the state line TO OURSELVES. That ain't so shabby. MINIS Near the Dragon - MNTD - would be a thing of legend forever. I guarantee it. Make lemonade, children. Make lemonade. And I'm pretty confident some nighttime Dragon Runs will STILL occur, in spite of what the Gubmint might have to say - not that I'm condoning law breaking or saying that I would. I'm just sayin.
As much as I'd love for the Governor to be reasonable, I don't think there's anything to grease his palms with. He can't get ticket revenue and folks can't make it through into Blount County to spend money, so... In any case, I'm with Nathan and Blimey, we can still have a blast even without the Dragon. Hell, I think last year I drove the Dragon a total of two times... had too much fun hanging out with friends and ogling other MINIs. :ihih:
A cousin of the last little birdie that was unceremoniously red misted nervously visited. He quickly mentioned that Randy Jordan, owner of Fontana Village, member of the Graham County Board of Supervisors and part of Phillips and Jordan (a really big earth moving, disaster recovery and more firm) has gotten involved. The new projected date to have the road open in March 26. Then the bird very quickly flew off.
I was about to ask the same question...I didnt see him coming thru a blind turn to not be able to see...umm.. ROCKS all over the road :aureola:
Could this be a case study of how the free enterprise system is a wee bit more efficient than a benevolent government? :devil: Fingers crossed.
For anyone interested... here are some aerial and ground level photos of the rock slide area. http://news.tennesseeanytime.org/system/files/Aerials%20and%20Ground%20Level.pdf
Tennessee welcome you... You can see between the right-hand "road closed" sign and the orange barrel, something that looks like a guardrail in the background. That's exactly what it is........ a steel guardrail they're putting up covering the entire width of the road. A few people at the resort said it was the governor's decision.
This screen shot is from the TN TDOT website. It says all should be cleared up by March 26th. This may be optimistic, myslelf and several local folks in "the know" feel it will be more like 30 days. Either way, the 8th Annual MOTD will go on. I have a couple of new additions to the line-up to announce in the next couple of days.
I'm pretty sure the dates that are given on the website have no relationship to the actual time it will take. I'm guessing that date refers to the initial evaluation of the scope of work. Perhaps by the 26th they will have a more realistic guess as to how long the whole thing will take.
I suspect the big issue is going to be the scope of work required. They can certainly blast and remove the boulder relatively quickly. What takes MUCH longer is if the geologist determines that they will need to stabilize the mountainside to prevent further slides. This is the process that is taking months on the huge I-40 slide.