So as a SoCal native I have heard so much about the ToD but will never ride it. Possibly not a great road anymore due to the publicity? Here in San Diego I can vouch for the East county roads. Too many to even detail other than a regular ride we do. Highland Valley road, old Julian highway, Mesa Grande, up and over Palomar mountain, and final high speed turns into the valley coming back to Escondido. A half day riding with a couple stops somewhere around 80 miles.

North is of course loaded with twists on mountain roads, perhaps the most recognizable is Angeles Crest. But there is also Big Bear area but both can be slowed with traffic…but also offer many passing opportunities.

BRP speed limit is 45, but there is VERY limited enforcement. 60-65 is a nice sweet spot, fast enough to entertain, not so fast that anything bad will happen, except for the deer risk which is high. Stopped riding a moto up there after my last fall run fall before last when a 10 point buck probably going close to 180 lbs leaped across about 25 ft from impact with me. Too close for comfort.

Bumped into a guy at a Greek place in Boone with a beautiful white 67 S and got to talking Porsches. He recommended a drive to the Grandfather Mountain area for some spirited driving and gave it high marks. Unfortunately, I ran out of time with all of the graduation and family activities and couldn't get it done. I probably should have included a day for more exploring.

Next trip when my nephew gets his MBA, assuming I am still here and viable:)

So I was thinking about this yesterday. I’m in Portugal this week and yesterday I took the whole day to explore some an area of the country I hadn’t been to since I was a child.

I was solo so no one to be unnerved by spirited driving. Despite some attempts at finding a ‘fun’ car I had the 1.0l VW with a 5 speed from the airport rental agency.

This wasn’t one road or even a few miles. This was hours of driving on twisty 1 and almost 2 lane roads. Being a Monday there was little tourist traffic and these are very sparsely populated areas.

I had ToD on my bucket list but it will likely pale in comparison.

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If anyone is Game of Thrones fan, maybe you’ll recognize this place.

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Been on the Tail and Cherohala many times
Avoid holidays or weekends and the traffic is not as bad

^^^ Avoid "ice on the summit" too ;).

My buddy & I were in shorts and t-shirts at the lake on the way up & across... met a VERY few 4x4s as we approached the summit.... we could not make it ... about 3 miles shy :(. It was sorta scary skating back down a few miles ... we had to "go around" ... added hours to our trip.

Fun, fun, fun roads for sure .... and the views awesome too!

Slight tangent, but there is also lots of good hiking off the Cherohala. The picture below is from Huckleberry Knob - right off the Cherohala on the NC side. About 5300 ft elevation. This picture was Jan 4 of this year at sunrise. I think the temp was 10F.

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Drove the Dragon last week…mid week and very light traffic. Drove through Cherokee, NC to Pigeon Forge to Knoxville today..more traffic. Truth is, there are MANY great roads in North Ga, Western NC and Eastern TN. I love living in the mountains of N Ga. I’ve lived in Colorado, driven all over Colorado, Montana, Utah, Idaho, etc. The roads where I live now are the best I have ever driven…challenge is, I spend a lot on tires every year.

Boone has gotten 5" of rain over a couple of days ... 2" here yesterday :(.

The mtns keep getting hammered in localized areas ... fires, more floods, etc. and trying to dig out ... it sucks :(.

Almost 1 million sq. miles of dried timber ... ready to ignite this summer.

And yet .... those mtns are still paradise... just west of me tho'.

My younger sister lives 3 hrs west of Boone in NC. She says it rains most every day there in the spring...sometimes all day long.
Here, we had our first warm rain of the spring yesterday....almost an inch.

Oh yeah, that's a good one. I grew up in East Tennessee.

Living in Ktown now.
Love driving the roads here again.