As I was leaving the Dragon, I made one more trip over it from the TN to the NC side. I passed this house going the other way (click on the image for a larger version):

Fortunately, the movers had arranged for a “pilot fish” to drive ahead of the truck to warn oncoming traffic (and, presumably, to warn the truck of tight turns):

Another day of great weather. I decided to explore some of the other roads and mostly stay off the Dragon today. I headed out to the Cherohala Skyway:

While the Skyway isn’t high by western standards (it’s only about a mile high), the road is high enough that in some spots you can see clouds moving across the roadway.

Coming down off the Skyway, I stopped at Bald River Falls, which is a few miles on back roads from the Skyway. This is one of the few waterfalls in the area that you can drive to within sight of the falls – most of the others require a hike of anywhere from 1/4 mile on up from the nearest road: 

If you climb down the trail from the road, you can actually cross stones to the middle of the river and photograph the falls from the base. Unfortunately, the only pair of shoes I have are my driving shoes, which aren’t really optimal for this sort of work.

Here’s the obligatory shot of the Atom and the falls:

Cheoah Dam and its powerhouse are at the Robbinsville end of the Dragon. This is one of the powerhouses I mentioned yesterday, and this dam is also where the famous scene with Harrison Ford in The Fugitive was filmed:

Here’s what the water looks like at the bottom of the dam:

In other news, the rumors I heard about the accident yesterday are apparently true – one rider was killed and another hospitalized in serious condition. Today, as I was driving past Chilhowee Lake, an ambulance came past, heading up the Dragon (this is the other side of the Dragon from where yesterday’s incident happened). The police had the road down to a single lane, directing traffic past the emergency vehicles. Again, best wishes for the rider(s) involved.

The Dragon isn’t usually this deadly. Perhaps it is the small amount of traffic and a few days of good weather after a solid week of rain that’s making people want to go out there and push the limits. Be safe out there – you can always go faster next time as you learn the road.

Update: My Atom made Killboy’s front page again. You can click on the pic for a larger version:

Today was another day of great weather, despite the predictions.  I made a number of trips back and forth across the Dragon. There was very little traffic – most of the time it seemed that I had the road to myself.

I stopped at the Overlook and chatted with a bunch of folks about the Atom. Here’s a picture from there:

That’s not a UFO in the picture – it is one of the basketball-sized orange things they put on power lines so helicopters can see the power lines and avoid them. There’s a lot of power lines here because most of the dams generate hydroelectric power – Alcoa built them in the first half of the 20th century to generate the massive amounts of electricity needed to process aluminum ore.

I had stopped at the Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort to gas up the Atom and grab a soda, when I heard a siren in the distance. An ambulance came tearing up the hill and made the turn onto 28 on two wheels. Some of the folks at the Resort commented that they wouldn’t even take the turn that fast on a bike.

As I went down the hill, there must have been a dozen emergency vehicles of all types heading up the hill to 28. There hasn’t been any verifiable news about what happened, though I’ve heard various rumors. I’ll just say that I hope everybody is Ok. It’s a sobering thought that this may have happened to someone I was just talking to less than an hour before.

With all the hooplah about the police presence on the Dragon, it’s easy to overlook the hard work put in by all of the emergency services people – getting to a spot that’s pretty remote and risking their own safety to get to someone who needs assistance in as fast a time as possible.

I had great weather today – unlike the predictions by the weather service.

I drove in from Tennessee via a number of back roads, culminating in Route 129 (the Tail of the Dragon). I’m staying at the Dragon’s Rest Cabins, which are nice and secluded, a way off Route 129. The front porch of my cabin looks out onto a meadow with mountains in the distance:

I got several runs on the Dragon. The last one of the day was great – I had no vehicles in front of me for the whole distance. I’ll put up a video once I get home. For now, here’s some video captures:

My car video captured this image of Killboy taking my picture:

I stopped in at Wheeler’s and chatted for about a half an hour about the Dragon, Atoms, and so forth. The police presence (seems to be pretty much all on the Tennessee side) is still being noted. As I came down the hill to the end of the Dragon, a police car had a whole line of vehicles pulled over and was ticketing them one after another.

I can certainly understand ticketing people if they’re doing something stupid (which can include blatant speeding), but zinging people in a trick 30MPH zone (it is posted at 40 going uphill and 30 going downhill) isn’t fair and just drives people away, which hurts the local businesses.

One last pic to close out this post:

Tonight I’m in Lenoir City, TN – a bit short of where I’d planned to be tonight.

Last night, when I was copying the car camera videos to my notebook PC, the hard drive in the PC apparently had some sort of failure. I can’t save new videos to it and many of the older videos can’t be accessed. Fortunately, I had also been backing up the videos to an external USB hard drive, so hopefully those copies are Ok. I’m now copying directly from the CF card reader to the external drive, bypassing the notebook PC’s drive entirely.

Somewhere along the line, the car video recorders got out of sync as well – each time the car is started, they create a new video file. Except that one recorder thinks the next video should be number 151 and the other thinks it should be 150. That’s not a big problem – I just need to power up the one that’s running behind by itself, and they’ll be back in sync. It is, however, just one more thing on the day of all things…

This morning the weather was sunny and warm as I left my hotel, but that was apparently just a defective area of a major storm system that’s been blanketing the southeast.  Light rain fell intermittently until around 60 miles west of Nashville, at which time it really started pouring down.

Fortunately, I was able to see a wall of rain a few miles ahead, but it wasn’t that bad where I was, so I pulled over to the shoulder and got my jacket out of the all-weather bag and put it on. However, that soon resulted in a very wet all-weather jacket. It was so bad that I put my rear safety light on so people could hopefully see my car in the rain.

Here’s a few still captures from the video cameras in the Atom. These were from around 3 PM:

A single still image doesn’t really show the magnitude of the rain. Since this is one frame of video, the raindrops you see on the road are those that fell in 1/60th of a second:

The Atom’s engine shut down 4 times during this rainstorm (for those who aren’t familiar, due to the experimental nature of the Atom’s engine control program from GM Racing, just about anything that would put the engine into “reduced power” mode when in a regular car, will cause the engine to not change from idle, no matter what you do with the accelerator pedal). I assume that this is the same “APP Correlation Error” from the accelerator pedal that I’d seen in the past. I’ll read the codes from the engine later on to make sure. I guess I’m going to have to build a waterproof enclosure for the sensor at the top of the pedal.

Somewhere during the middle of this, all of the minor gauges in my instrument cluster (fuel level, temperatures, etc.) went out. This was apparently from something getting wet and shorting out as they came back later in the day. 

The rain continued with intermittent showers, but the car and I were mostly dried out by the time I hit the next batch of heavy rain. It was chilly enough that I pulled into a rest area and put on my driving gloves. However, even with those, after another 40 miles or so I gave up for the day and pulled into a hotel. The rain ended between when I checked in and when I was putting the cover on the Atom, and I got to see a beautiful orange sunset as the sun moved from behind clouds to the west.

While I was in the rest area getting my gloves out, 2 people on a motorcycle were putting on their rain gear as well. A little while after I left the rest area, they passed me on the highway:

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better (and drier) day.

I drove from Ozark, AR to Jackson, TN (about 300 miles) today, heading toward the Tail of the Dragon later this week. All of the driving was on I-40, so not much to write about.

The weather is iffy for the next couple days, so I may be stuck someplace for a while. Stay tuned for updates.

This morning I left Siloam Springs and headed out onto the Pig Trail down to Ozark. The weather was overcast when I left, but no rain was falling. As I headed out on 412, it started raining, but not too heavily.

On the Pig Trail, it was nice and cool (I was wearing my jacket) under the canopy of trees. It is a wonderful drive and there’s almost no traffic on there – I only saw 2 cars going the same direction as I was, and they both pulled over to let me go by. Once the road came out from under the trees, it warmed up quite quickly so I stuffed my jacket under the luggage on the passenger seat and broke out the sunscreen spray.

I checked into the Ozark Inn and the desk clerk told me that there was a car show in town, so I dropped my luggage off and headed downtown. The car show was in full swing and judging had already happened, so I just parked the Atom nearby and went and admired all the cars that were there – all sorts of cars, from antiques to current muscle cars. No pictures, because I didn’t have my camera with me – I wasn’t expecting this. Once I get home and process all of the videos, I may fill in this post with some stills from the videos. Lots of people came over to talk to me about the Atom – most think it was a kit or conversion, not a production car.

I then had dinner at the Rivertowne BBQ, which I’d been planning for some time. It is indeed as good as I’d been told. After dinner (and a take-home box because the portions are HUGE), I went outside where the restaurant’s owner, Kevin, was admiring the Atom. We sat on the restaurant’s side porch and chatted for about 15 minutes, until an urgent cole slaw shortage required his attention.

Tomorrow I’ll be heading for Jackson, TN on my way to the Tail of the Dragon. Assuming I have good weather all along the way, I’ll be caught up to the schedule I posted in an earlier entry.

2 years ago, at the first AtomFest, Bruce Fielding from the UK and I brought various bottles of rare Scotch for a post-AtomFest party. There were also kegs of various beers like Stella Artois and Old Speckled Hen.

This year Bruce couldn’t make it, so it was left to me and a couple other folks to provide the spirits. I brought another bottle of the 40-year-old Invergordon that had been such a hit the first time, along with a bottle of Compass Box’s Spice Tree – the whisky that was so good, the SWA (Scotch Whisky Association) banned it.

After the closing banquet and awards ceremony, I’d arranged with a bunch of people to meet over by the campfire to crack the bottles open. When I arrived at the fire pit with a citronella candle, there was no fire and no people. There also wasn’t any kindling. I started peeling off whatever splinters I could from the logs that were there, dipped them into the candle wax, and lit them. I managed to get a small (very small) fire going, but there was no way to progress from some kindling to the large logs. Fortunately, one of the AtomFest folks happened by and saw the problem. He went over to his motor home and returned with an axe and a bottle of kerosene. I’m sure there’s a good reason why these are supplies he carries with him…

He split some of the larger logs into more manageable pieces and got a good fire going. Seeing the fire, people started wandering over. Once we had a critical mass of a half dozen people, I used my Atom key ring (which has the Atom fob, the gas tank key, and the side door key to my house on it) to cut the tape holding the box with my two bottles closed. I dropped the key ring (which I didn’t realize until much later) and poured glasses for anyone who wanted to sample the Invergordon.

I wandered up to the 3rd floor of the main building with a whisky snifter in my hand to give Ken my camera’s memory cards for the communal photo pool. When I reached into my pocket, I realized that my Atom keys weren’t in there. I left my memory cards with Ken and walked back to the garage to see if I’d left my keys in the Atom. No luck.

When I walked out of the garage, I didn’t see the ramp that leads up to the lavatories, next to the garage. I tripped over the ramp and did (or so I’m told) a 360-degree spin and landed on the ground, face up, with my eyeglasses flying into the grassy area nearby. But I did hang onto my whisky snifter and it didn’t break, though most of the whisky sloshed out.

A bunch of folks apparently saw me fall down and came running over to help. I was still mostly concerned about finding my Atom keys (I really didn’t want to be known as the idiot who lost his car keys at AtomFest). Someone brought a flashlight and we all started looking around in the banquet tent because I thought that perhaps they’d fallen out when I took the raffle ticket out of my pocket. No luck.

We all walked back to the fire pit and someone asked “Did you have your keys out here?” and I realized that I had used them to open the box the bottles came in. After that, it took only seconds to find them lying right there on the ground. At that point, people noticed that I was bleeding from the wrist, elbow, and knee. Someone suggested “Use the Scotch to sterilize it” and I went “No! Save the Scotch!”. A couple people brought first aid kits from their campers and we walked under one of the lights to get me patched up.

By the time I got back to the campfire, there was only about an inch of Invergordon whisky left in the bottle, so I confiscated it and said “This is for CalScot”, since I’d promised some to him. I cracked the Spice Tree bottle open and served folks from that one. CalScot came over and I poured the Invergordon for him. He says it’s one of the best he’s ever had – high praise indeed.

Folks were asking me if I was Ok, and I said that as long as all four limbs were attached, I was fine. I also said I’d rather crash on my face than in my car.

More and more people arrived, some with other bottles they’d brought, and we all had a great time talking about Atoms and everything else imagineable. One new Atom owner who took delivery of his Atom here at AtomFest asked me for advice on driving it home to California, and I shared what I’d learned from my cross-country drives. The discussion then turned to critters in the road, and CalScot and I both told him about the times snakes on the road had been flung into our Atoms by the front wheels. I think we made him a little nervous 8-).

We all had a great time, and by 1 AM I decided to call it a night and head back to my motel. I’m not sure how long the campfire continued after that, though I’m sure I’ll hear stories…

Note: I’ve left out almost all names, and there aren’t any pictures (that I know of) of any of this. Anybody who wants to admit they were there is welcome to chime in with their story.

Update: Here’s a picture Driver took of some of the folks around the fire. The lights in the background are from TMI’s giant trailer:

This is a placeholder for details on the 3 days of AtomFest

Monday arrived painfully early when Tim Webb picked me up at 7 AM in Randy’s new Corvette. It has one of those keyless ignition fob thingys, and we had a close call when we pulled into a gas station and Tim realized that if he shut the car off, he wouldn’t be able to get it started again.

We made it back to the track on fumes, and I proceeded to get the Atom out of the garage bay where I’d left it the night before.

Five of us had gotten together to book the track for ourselves on this day before AtomFest. Actually, I had booked it myself and when one of my friends on the Atom Club Forum contacted the track, the track told him I had it booked, so we decided to split the cost.

We all had different goals – some just wanted to have an extra day of fun, CalScot wanted to evaluate changes he’d be making to the car’s setup, and so forth. Personally, I just wanted to get familiar with the track and get some time in so I wouldn’t make an ass of myself during AtomFest proper.

During the day, more and more Atom folks rolled into the infield. The day was cloudy with occasional showers, but nothing major.

Alec and Nadine from the UK arrived in a rented camper, driving up from Texas. I could see that Alec wanted to experience the track, so I offered (after a nudge from Nadine) to let him take my Atom out. Actually, she’d just asked if I’d let him passenger while I drove, but (as I freely admit) I’m not that good (I believe in living the Top Gear motto – “Ambitious, but rubbish”) so I gave the car to him. He had a blast. Here’s a picture I took of him lapping in my Atom:

Here’s CalScot’s amazing 475HP Atom going past in a blur:

I don’t have any shots like those of me driving my car, but here’s a still from the video I was recording with my nose camera:

Once the track closed for official runs, people brought out various modes of transportation and drove them on the track in “slow” laps (though some of them were pretty spirited). In addition to Atoms, we had various cars, including a couple that were probably rented (shhhh….), motorcycles, and the occasional golf cart. There’s a sign on the pit lane entry that says “No Motor Homes” – I expect that someone was crazy enough to try to do a hot lap with a camper sometime in the past. Either that or the track owners saw the Top Gear episode where Richard Hammond tries to invent the sport of caravan racing…

Here’s my Atom #85 on the left and Eddie Hill’s #499 on the right. From left to right, the people are Tom Smurzynski, Eddie Hill, and Randy Lamp:

After everybody’s need for the track was satisfied (at least for the moment), Randy rounded us up for the traditional AtomFest eve dinner at the Rib Crib in Sand Springs. Unfortunately, they seemed to have misplaced the reservation Randy had made for 40 people. However, they recovered quickly and opened up a corner of the dining room for us. The serving staff had the impression we needed separate checks – normally there’s one tab per table and everybody throws into the pot. So they come out with 30-odd folios and try to match up bills with people. It all worked out in the end, and from what I could see, the tips were generous all around.

After dinner, we all got into various cars (we carpooled into town in “normal” cars, since it was raining off and on) and drove back to the track. I headed back to my cabin from the track, determined to make the 8 AM driver’s meeting the next morning (and hopefully catch the last of the 7 AM breakfast).