Snaky roads 9/24/2015

Today we decided to investigate the southwest side of Smoky Mountain national Park, an area that is less used by visitors. We started out by taking the Foothills Parkway, a 2 lane road that runs roughly parallel to the western boundary of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It runs along a ridge, and has offers stopping points along its length that give lovely views of the mountains to the east, and the valley to the west. Another beautiful day greeted us with temps in the low 70s. We did stop at a number of the viewpoint turnouts, and took the time to take the short walk up to Look Rock, an observation tower that offers 360 degree views of the surrounding landscape.

From the Parkway, we continued on to Route 129, a popular road for motorcyclists and sports car drivers. We found this out after we had started down this road, and found that there weren't that many cars and trucks, but LOTS of motorcycles. And the cars that we did see were little convertible sports cars. We soon found out why. See that squiggly line in the southwestern side of the route? That's Route 129. It is a succession of 318 curves in 11 miles. It's not called "Tail of the Dragon" for nothing! Check it out here. No one really seemed to be interested in the 30 mph speed limit, so we found ourselves pulling into the many turnouts to let cycles and sports cars by. (We were negotiating the curves at a zesty pace of 2nd and 3rd gears.) As we came around one sharp curve, we found ourselves face to face with a guy sitting under an umbrella pointing a camera at us. There was a huge sign by his chair: 129photos.com. We quickly realized that cyclists and sports cars drivers buy the pictures that these guys take of their car/cycle as it comes zooming down the road. Maybe by the time you look, a photo of our snazzy light blue Elantra will be posted on 129photos.com! But it wasn't just that company. As we progressed down the road, there were 2 other competing companies: 129slayer.com (here's one of the pix from 129 slayer--with their copy protection on the photo--clean copies are $7)

, and killboy.com, both of which had people with cameras stationed along the road to snap pix of riders. Check out their websites too. We may be their featured photo!

The road itself is quite beautiful, passing through mature deciduous forests, with occasional breaks to reveal the gorgeous mountains in the distance. This trip was really a lot of fun. We stopped for lunch at a rest area just before the Fontana Dam. It was a wonderful spot on the river that we had all to ourselves.

Further on, we turned north on Route 19 at Cherokee, a road distinguished by its assemblage of pawn shops (there's a casino there), 50s motels

campgrounds, and cabins. Route 441 is a lovely ride that bisects the national park, with stunning views along its length.

If you are in this part of the country, we highly recommend this drive.