Advisor

Hey Hey Hey Porshe Lovers, its Advisor’s Wife 😊 bringing you my version of an epic road trip #tailofthedragon&beyond from a wife’s, semi-passenger perspective. Let me preface it and tell you, while I was very excited for the trip, I was also very nervous about those tricky mountain roads. My husband while being an excellent driver, let me emphasize EXCELLENT driver, scares the trash out of me while driving our new GT3 on new roads and I just knew there would be some point where I jumped out of the car mid drive, or threw up my life in fear. So here goes, this may be a little longer than you’re used to, but I had fun and keep thinking of things to add, lol. On to the start of our trip.


Day 1: I started the drive after a fresh nights sleep from our home in SE Pennsylvania. I was pretty anxious and nervous since I didn’t have a lot of seat time in the GT3 and wanted to make sure I handled it well. I’m also a bit of a 3 year old in the car, once we start moving in the car, I’m ready for a nap, however this time I was ready, strapped in and hit the highway. I got lots of nods, smiles and thumbs up in my little over 3 hours of driving, which was quite exciting. By noon, I was a bit tired and transferred the reigns over to the pro at the tip of VA. Not too long after he took over driving, I was sleep. Those bucket seats are NOT comfortable for a good nap, but I couldn’t complain because it was my strong desire not to trailer. So, having a couple really hard head nods and arms slides, I found my comfort spot and fell asleep.


I woke up just before Shenandoah National Park and it was just in time. After taking pics right outside the park, we headed inside. Shenandoah by the way is not free but $30 per vehicle but was well worth it. After paying, we saw a note at the entrance warning about bears in the park. I, a huge nature lover especially of wildlife, was quite excited at my chance to see a bear. My husband on the other hand was less than thrilled and kept trying to dampen my excitement about seeing Smokey the Bear and his family. Anywho, once inside, we drove some of the most beautiful roads. The views were amazing on top of the mountains, but the tourists were clearly there for the sights and not the roads, UGH. I found myself yelling ‘OMG pull over’ more times than I’d like to admit (I’m so ashamed, haha not really). Midway through SNP we stopped at a gift shop. I, like most woman, like to document my trips with pictures and of course souvenirs. My husband went indoors and I was outside decompressing and……..Bambi comes running out from the woods and walked right next to us. I LOVED IT. Heading out of SNP, we spotted another deer on the side of the road just taking in the sight.





After leaving SNP, we did a little something for me 😊 and headed to a nice local winery Veritas Vineyard & Winery. We did a nice wine tasting, grabbed lunch and a bottle (or two…lol) as we sat outdoors and talked about our experience so far. It was a great way to relax a bit sitting outside in front of the vineyard and enjoy some weather and wine after a busy morning.



After the winery, we headed to Blue Ridge Parkway, which is essentially road-wise, the free version of SNP…lol. It was also beautiful with great driving roads. After BRP we drove a little further in VA and decided to find a hotel and a bite to eat before taking it down for the night. (Needless to say, we ended up near VA Tech and someone mentioned it was apparently freshman orientation or something like that, so finding a hotel was a process and after 7/8 hours on the road I was beat). The night however ended on a high note and excitement for Day 2.



Day 2: We started our driving day around 8:30am after a quick wipe down of the car from them nasty bugs on the highway yesterday (OMG…they were so gross, who knew you would kill that many bugs). I again, started the drive from Radford, VA heading to Back of the Dragon - Route 16 in Tazewell. We made it there in about 2 hours and pulled over at the welcome center at the beginning of the Back of the Dragon. Of course, I ran into the welcome center and grabbed a new treat for myself, which set off my idea for my future souvenirs. They had these road patches that you can sew on your clothes and I decided since we were doing so many roads, I would get a road patch for each road we drove along our trip and create my own driving shirt. Exciting right…I know, I know…stay tuned for my shirt in a separate post. HAHA. But I digress, since this car is such an attention grabber, I knew someone would be talking to my husband when I came out the store and true to form, there were 3 guys talking to him about the car, our trip, etc. One of the men, Larry Davidson who is the president of the Dragon Fire, LLC and takes care of the welcome center, gave us all the tips and tricks about the Back of the Dragon. He told us there was a momma bear on the second mountain with two cubs and if we see her, slow down and take pix because she is friendly, just don’t get out the car (um that wasn’t even a thought). Needless to say, I was yet again excited having not seen my bear yesterday. They are creating a new welcome center and he told us to come back and visit and let him know how we loved the Back of the Dragon.



Now to the good stuff…my husband and I both planned on driving Back of the Dragon, but being such a gentleman, he asked if I wanted to drive it first. I was excited and yet again nervous not knowing what to expect (I looked at little to no videos before our trip, while YouTube videos was my husband’s best friend preparing for these fun roads). I started on Back of the Dragon and OMG it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Driving up the first mountain was amazing. The roads, the greenery, the views, just amazing. We didn’t take any pictures going up because we were going to drive the road again and take pictures then. I continued up the mountain and let me just say, some of those hair pin turns had my hands sweating under my gloves, but my instructor sitting next to me, kept me cool and calm. While driving up the mountain, I saw my first deer on the side of the road. I jammed on my breaks and eased pass watching him run back through the mountains and then hit the gas to get out of there. No deer accidents on the side of the mountain on my watch. We stopped at the top of the first mountain for a quick photo break and to stretch a bit. I got so excited when I saw a sign at the top of the mountain that read “Hungry Mother State Park”, just knowing I would see my bears soon, it was a sign, lol. When we got to the second mountain, my mind was on the mountain and momma bear and her cubs. I was trying to increase my speed a bit having done the first mountain and having a pretty good idea what to expect. The drive was so good that at certain points, I forgot about the bears. I made it down the mountain and received another surprise to end my drive….my second deer. This time the deer was on the driver’s side across the road. I again jammed on my breaks and this time sat there for a bit until he decided what to do. He ran across the road and stopped now on the passenger side of the road. I again eased pass and got out of there. All in all, I was more than satisfied with my first big girl run and I think my instructor husband was also proud, although I again saw no bears. To my surprise at the end of the mountain, I asked my husband did he want to switch and drive it back and he said NO…Huh?, I thought. I was like what happened? He said he enjoyed watching me drive (which was epic), he would let me have my road to myself. I was quite proud..I slayed the Back of the Dragon.


At this point, I had a busy morning/early afternoon so I again transferred the driving over to my husband as we made our way to Knoxville, TN. In true fashion, within 20 minutes, I was sleep. LOL…what can I say. When I woke up, it was pouring outside. I felt bad, because he definitely got the short end of the stick with driving. We make our way to Knoxville and stopped at a BBQ spot Sweet P’s Downtown Dive. It was DELISH and a great way to start our first taste of southern BBQ. At this point we were both tired, so we decided to look up a close Starbucks for coffee. Before we got off the street with Sweet P’s, we saw a huge sign saying Distillery Open. Well what goes better with BBQ in Tennessee…..Whiskey (BTW I love the song Tennessee Whiskey by Chris Stapleton). Ashley, the manager was outside when we walked over and she assured us it’s a good time indoors, so we said forget coffee, let’s have some spirits. Ashley was very knowledgeable and fun and so we did a couple flights and even had some Moonshine (which was STRONG). After grabbing a couple souvenirs, lol and taking some pix, we headed to find our resort for the next couple days. Little did we know, the road leading to our resort took us on the Tail of the Dragon. About a quarter through the road, my husband looks over and says, I think we are on the Dragon, which completely made sense because that road was CRAZY. We made it through the Tail of the Dragon and stopped at Deals Gap for of course some more pictures and souvenirs (more patches added to my collection) and then headed to the resort.





We stayed at the Rivers Edge Treehouse Resort (https://www.riversedgetreehouses.com/). When we arrived, the owner Doug came to greet us and give us a quick rundown of the property & area. The property was really nice, sitting above a river, with a fire pits and hammocks. We relaxed for a bit before realizing around 8pm we were hungry and most places in the area were closing relatively soon. We shot over to Tapoco Lodge (https://tapoco.com/) which was about 10 minutes from our resort. Beautiful Lodge, right on the lake with stunning views. We grabbed a quick bite before heading back to our resort to take it down since we knew we had a super early start for Day 3.


Day 3: This day started pretty early. We heard it was best to drive the Tail of the Dragon and other surrounding roads first thing in the morning before they got crowded, so we headed out around a quarter to 7 to start our day. Unlike the past two days, I did not start the driving. I knew how excited my husband was for these roads and wanted him to enjoy every bit of it. We headed to Fontana Dam first. The roads were nice and quiet leading to the Dam. The Dam was beautiful to see first thing in the morning. So quiet and peaceful with the water rushing pass. The night before someone told us, that that was the bridge Harrison Ford jumped off in the movie The Fugitive, so while we were there, we were looking for where he jumped. Turns out it wasn’t Fontana Dam, but Cheoah Dam not too far away. SMH!



After the Dam we headed toward Cherohala Skyway with me in the drivers seat. On the way to the Skyway, we passed the Historic Snowbird Mountain Lodge, which we heard so much about, so we decided to stop. The views were absolutely beautiful. Being so early, it was again so peaceful and quiet and a great way to take in the scenery. We decided to stop inside for a quick cup of coffee and some AC and surprisingly met the owner Robert Rankin. He was so bright and bubbly this morning and made us feel very welcome, although not hotel guests. Smelling the delicious smells of morning, he asked us if we wanted to stay for breakfast (umm yeah). Having not had a full breakfast in two twos and although not originally the plan, how can you turn down the smells of bacon. We sat down for a nice breakfast in this room surrounded by windows and sights of the mountains bringing in all the sunshine for the day. Like a true host, he came over while we were dining asking how we enjoyed breakfast and making sure we were comfortable. To our surprise, he told us breakfast was on him and told us to definitely come back (which was already the plan before breakfast, but definitely made us feel good). I had coffee out of this great mug at breakfast and was so excited they sold the mug at the lodge, so I purchased one and have since used it as my new favorite mug. After saying our goodbyes to Robert and assuring him he will see us again soon, we went outside to leave and one of Roberts 3 dogs on the property wanted to say goodbye also. He was the sweetest baby and I couldn’t resist taking a picture with him.

Now it was time to head to the peak of Cherohala Skyway. We switched the driving back over to my husband and headed to the peak of CS. It was a nice drive which was not quite as twisty as the Back of the Dragon, but very open and scenic. Now it was my turn to drive it and get a taste of another fun road. NOT! About 15-20 minutes into my drive, the heavens opened up and decided I needed further test of my driving skills. Rain and deep dense fog so thick you can barely see in front of you at the top of the mountain in a monster car was not my ideal situation. One again, my co-pilot driving instructor came through in the best possible way. He calmed my nerves although I never told him how nervous and scared, I actually was. My favorite line from him “Don’t allow anyone behind you to make you drive out of your comfort zone, drive for you.” The instant nervousness I felt when a fast car or motorcycle ran up on me as I was driving for my life (a tad bit dramatic, but you get it) on this mountain can cause me to instantly change my driving. He said let them go around you and drive at your comfort level and that they did. I eventually made it down the mountain and at this point a stiff drink was needed. We decided to head back to Tapoco Lodge for lunch.



Heading to Tapoco, there was no rain, but bright and sunny skies. They had no clue what I had just been through. I felt jipped like no one would understand the struggle I just had. That mountain weather is crazy. Well we made it to Tapoco and this time sat at the bar with a cool, quirky and fun bartender, Shuny. Shuny made us some really good Old Fashioneds after hearing about our experience and sharing some of her own (BTW the trout nuggets & pizza there is yummy). After fun and interesting conversations with Shuny and a friend of hers at the bar, we started talking shots. Apparently, shots of Jamison chased with pickle juice is a thing. Well when in Rome, you do what the locals do. My husband was not having it, but I being the soldier that I am and feeling pretty fabulous after my driving experiences, took one for the team. Surprisingly the shot and chaser wasn’t bad at all.


After sitting and chatting a bit more, we were ready to hit the roads again, so after a quick shot of Whiskey, we hit Whiskey Run and headed out to Tellico Plain and back to Tail of the Dragon. We again decided to both drive the Dragon. I would drive up and he would drive back down. My road up started well until I ended up behind a bunch of slow drivers who clearly didn’t care about the beast of a car behind them. I found myself again, yelling and screaming at these drivers who should have their licenses revoked for how slow they were driving. I couldn’t believe we were doing BELOW the speed limit, I think they began to drive slower when they saw me, I’m convinced. It was such a drag. So bad that after 151 turns on the Dragon (yes I counted, LOL), I pulled over and my husband drove it back down the mountain, with much better success and driving conditions. We headed back to Deals Gap for me to get more patches for the roads we drove today and more car conversations with car enthusiast before driving back to our resort to rest up after a long day. The day ended with us back at Tapoco for dinner and chatting making new friends (along with another shot of Jamison and pickle juice chaser) and a nice bon fire by the lake.


Day 4: This morning was bitter sweet because it was our last morning in the mountains before starting our trek back home. We slept in for the first time and actually relaxed a bit. After a nice wash down of the car we packed up and headed out. This time my husband started the driving again. Actually, he drove the rest of the day. Today’s new road was the newly renovated Foothills Parkway (insert heart eyes, lol). There were multiple ways to get to FHP quickly but we decided to go the scenic way through the other side of the Smoky Mountain National Park, a side we hadn’t done yet. The drive started really well with great views in the mountain, until we realized it was Saturday morning at 10/11am and everyone was up and out. It took FOREVER to get through the park with stop and go traffic at certain points. It took much longer than anticipated and dampened our spirits a bit as we knew we already would have a long day ahead of us, but that soon changed.


We pulled over at the beginning of FHP for a quick call. As the call ended my husband spotted two McLarens entering the parkway. He was SOOOOOOOOO excited to run with them. I looked like a kid who favorite candy was stocked in the candy store. I made sure my seatbelt was tightened, because I KNEW this was going to be good. He pulled behind one of the McLarens and away we flew. Literally we were going so fast, it felt like we were flying. LOL It turned out to be the most epic and scariest drive of the weekend. The two McLarens along with my husband flew down FHP behind each other at top top speeds. The driver of the two McLarens were amazing drivers and I was proud of my husband right behind them in tow. There were so many people who heard the cars coming a while off and snapped pictures and video of this trio as they flew past. I tried hard to take picture and video, but looked like a bobble head doll as I laughed and had tears rolling down my face during this drive. I have never seen my husband so excited for a drive. The two drivers of the McLarens, although not knowing them, became instant friends. At one point, a BMW pulled behind us to run with the trio and join this epic ride. At the end of the first part of Foothills, we had to bid our new friends adieu and figure out our next move. Just a note, Foothills Parkway, I had to spell it out for emphasis is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. It’s a MUST drive road, like Back of the Dragon. Being newly renovated, its wide and spacious with great twist and turns, and open stretches to take your car to max speed. The scenery (although I didn’t get any pictures, you know why) was amazing. I am truly looking forward to going back and driving that road myself.



At this point, once our excited calmed down, we headed back to Knoxville for some more BBQ. This time we stopped at Dead End BBQ. We sat at the bar for a quick bite (bartender was originally very unfriendly, but I guess warmed up to us). The food was really good there as well, although Sweet P’s was my favorite. After lunch we decided to start heading back home. The plan was to stop in VA again at another winery and stay overnight finishing the drive the next day. That did not happen, the closer we got to home, the more my husband (the machine) wanted to finish the drive and be done, so that we did, ending my great road trip vacation and a night/early morning back in my own bed.


Recap: 1) Allow your husband to have random road trip ideas because it may be one of your best trips 2) Not trailering is a great idea. 3) Tail of the Dragon was fun to do but there are many other roads which are better, ie. Back of the Dragon & Foothills Parkway 4) Do your research and watch videos before your trip 5) Trust the car 6) Those bucket seats are not great after 8 hours, so bring a neck and back pillow for sleep 7) Trust the Rennlist forum, they give great tips & suggestions 8) Do more road trips, because this was EPIC, but don’t trust your husband to take scenic pix
while you drive. Lol

Thanks for indulging me…Hope you and your wives enjoy my recap 😊

Niez66

Amazing, and I'm going to have my wife read this one. Well done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Advisor

Thank you! I was pretty excited to share.

Marv

This is the best frick'n post I have ever read on Rennlist!

And to top it off, an amazing job with the photography!

Thank you for your post.

zmon

so glad you guys had a great trip! looked amazing.

Advisor

Thank you so much! I was so excited to write this, I started on my trip. I can't wait for our next road trip and thanks on the photography, I tried, glad I didn't disappoint.

Advisor

Thank you! It was amazing and set us up for future trips.

Jbravo23

Amazing! Sounds like you had a wonderful time. I really need to take the time and plan a trip. Stories like this were part of the reason I bought a 911.

Drifting

That was a great trip. Really nice to hear your perspective.

Akunob

wow sounds and looks like a fantastic trip!! Great car, great drives, great food and good quality time! Thanks for sharing, it was a nice read!

Advisor

Thank you, it was amazing. Definitely plan a trip and enjoy some good roads in your 911.

Advisor

Thank you... not too bad for my first Rennlist post. ☺️

Advisor

Thank you., it was fantastic..I’m glad I could share.

mooty

wife advisor.
you are smart.
can I have you chat with my wife.
she hates sitting in Porsches ugh....

love the pic and the food

dark knight

smart to wear driving gloves, that way your Alcantara wheel will always look good