ERA 3001 Smokey Mountain Cruise and the trek to the Tail of the Dragon

[Jim Holden]

A couple of weekends ago, wife Suzanne and I packed ERA3001 into the car trailer and headed south to the NC-Tenn Smokey Moutains on a trek to drive the "Tail of the Dragon". We stayed in an outstanding B&B in small town approximately 20 miles west of Asheville, NC. The next day we set out for our cruise in ERA3001 and spent some seven hours driving the roads in the Smokey Mountains, including the "Tail of the Dragon". The "Tail of the Dragon" is an eleven mile 300 plus turn undulating narrow two lane challenge of mountain highway. The foliage was in full color, the views spectacular and the roads, for the most part, in great shape (certainly compared to ours here in the NE) and relatively lightly traveled.

It did, however, appear that every motorcycle in the southeast, from Harley cruisers to rice burner - knee scrapers, was attempting to drive the "Tail" that Sunday afternoon, with a great disparity of speeds. So, we made the run once and then headed off in search of other roads.

ERA 3001 was just the car for this back road jaunt; cruising along without a hiccup. Once again I was reminded that for me, ERA had made my fantasy a reality.

Next year we plan to do it again, only this time, just in 3001 (Suzanne says that she will pack "lighter") and take a few more days to do it properly.

Jim



Here are a couple of websites to visit for anyone else planning to make the trek:

http://www.andonreidinn.com/

http://www.dealsgap.com/