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Cruiser
Posts: 59
| This last Saturday we rode to Little Switzerland, NC from Franklin, NC and one of the roads (they are all great) was NC Hwy 80, also known as the Devil's Whip. Lots of twisties, the road climbs 2,000, and ends on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Here's a couple of pics. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 59
| Don't know where the pictures went. Anyone know how to post them? |
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Cruiser
Posts: 281
| We'll be checking this road out in October. |
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Central Wisconsin | jomar - 2012-08-31 3:07 PM Don't know where the pictures went. Anyone know how to post them? You can use a link from a free photobucket.com account or similar photo site. Copy the link into the inset/edit image editor of this site and presto. If you want you send them to me at steigerwaldtom@gmail.com and I'll post them for you
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Central Wisconsin | jomar - 2012-08-31 3:07 PM Don't know where the pictures went. Anyone know how to post them? Here ya go Mark and JoAnn the Devils Whip looks like a lot of fun. We plan on riding to Pigeon Forge, TN for our fourth time in a couple weeks. What a neat little trailer you guys have.
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Cruiser
Posts: 59
| Thank you!!! |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 47
| Heading to Deals Gap this weekend from Massachusetts, I think we will check out the whip. Looks like a lot of other crooked roads in that area also. Done many of the rides in the area over the last few years but not that one.
Ron |
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Cruiser
Posts: 59
| Be very careful on Deals Gap. With gas prices this high, a lot of the trucking companies do not route around Hwy 129. Last time we were at Deals Gap we almost had a head on with an 18 wheeler.
Hwy 80 was a lot of fun! Ending up on the Blue Ridge Parkway (and its beauty) is certainly a bonus.
Have a good trip. |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 47
| I thought 18 wheelers were not allowed on the Dragon anymore? |
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Cruiser
Posts: 59
| Hwy 129 is a Federal Hwy and trucks, or any other vehicles, cannot be prohibited from using the road. Typically, trucking companies route their trucks around 129 because it is a dangerous road for them to travel. They get stuck on the rocks in curves and can't make wide enough swings to get around curves, etc. But, when fuel prices are really high, you find the 18-wheelers on the Tail of the Dragon because re-routing can be as much as 100 miles out of the way.
We have lived here for almost 18 years and have been on the Dragon more times than we can count, but never again. This last spring we were setting up for a hard left curve and a pick-up truck came around the corner with a fellow hanging out the window screaming, "Big Truck! Big Truck!" There happened to be a pull out on our right and Mark was able to swing in to the pull out. An 18-wheeler, just on the heels of the the pick-up truck, came around that curve and swung into that pull out missing our front end by no less that a foot. I remember seeing nothing but the huge chrome bumper on the front of the cab as it whipped by us. The 18-wheeler was in full motion with no intention of stopping or slowing. Had that pick-up truck not been yelling out his window, we would not be here to tell this story.
Having been on the Dragon so many times over the years and having never encountered a big truck before, coupled with the fact that there are no side streets for cars to pull out of, you allow yourself to relax and really get in to the ride. That is what we did. Mark was in his groove and we were laying into the curves and really enjoying the ride NEVER expecting an 18-wheeler. I urge anyone riding the Dragon, or any other road, to be very careful.
Here is link to some pictures of 18-wheelers on the Tail of the Dragon:
https://www.google.com/search?q=trucks+on+deals+gap&hl=e...
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Visionary
Posts: 1632
Jasper, MO | Allaire5 - 2012-09-06 5:12 AM
I thought 18 wheelers were not allowed on the Dragon anymore?
Wrong. JoAnn explained it right. Besides, how do you think the gasoline and the hamburgers and the T-shirts get to the stores along that road? On a motorcycle?
Detouring a truck around 129 can easily cost an extra $100 or more in fuel to get to the same destination at these prices.
Ronnie
Edited by rdbudd 2012-09-06 8:58 AM
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NC Hwy80 - The Devil's Whip