For those who have not attended a Dragon Event
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Joined: Jan 2001
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From: Atlanta
For those who have not attended a Dragon Event
Due to various personal reasons it's been three years since I've been to one of these great events held annually at The Dragon. Actually, including this year, the Dragon Event Staff have had a meet at The Dragon twice each year for almost 10 years for a total of 18 events and still counting. While the fall event will no longer be held, I encourage people to sign-up for the event in the spring, Wake The Dragon is well worth attending. This was the last year for The Dragonball Run and I thought I'd put together a trip report from notes I've been posting over on www.S2katlanta.com.
After registering a bit late for the event and finally securing a reservation at Fontana Village, I was really excited to go up to DBRX and see some old friends.
Friday
Left the house around 10:30 AM so I could be at Deal's Gap in time for a late lunch. Took a different route up to Fontana Village, instead of heading all the way up US129 out of Gainesville, GA, I decided to take GA23 through Clayton, GA then turn off on to NC28 in Franklin, NC. Geez, the roads are just awesome everywhere around this part of North Carolina, you look at the map and there are several roads that are nothing but squiggles.
I arrived at Fontana Village at 1PM and checked-in but didn't see any other S2000s, so I headed to Deal's Gap for a Dragonburger (200 Proof Dragon Meat) or so the sign says. After taking a few runs up and down US129, I headed back to Fontana Village for dinner. Just as I pulled into the parking lot the Friday event groups were just coming back from their drives. Come to find out both groups were in Franklin eating lunch as I passed through. For dinner Friday evening, Airgate setup a delicous picnic dinner at "the ballpark" (which is just a big open baseball field in Fontana Village) where we all parked our cars, ate, and caught up with some old friends. One of the S2000 owners put together a beer swap, another group setup a tequila tasting, and when I got back to my room there was even a live band playing poolside for my enjoyment
.
Saturday
A handful of us got up early and were out on The Dragon at 7:30 AM, remember in the mountains the sun does not rise until around 7:15 AM, however, the local law enforcement was already on the job. He wasn't clocking anyone but we kept a fun and safe pace just the same. After a round trip on The Dragon, we headed back to the event hotel for "The Monster Roll Out" where we had all 44 S2000s roll out of Fontana Village, down NC28, and over to The Dragon. It's never boring to see that many S2000s snake their way through The Dragon in one continuous line.
Everyone again drove at a fun and safe speed, remembering that there is a 30 mph speed limit (which is strictly enforced). For those of you that have not driven this road, 30 mph is fast enough when your going through the hairpin turns. If you drive between 30-40 mph (and don't get stuck behind slow moving traffic) you will have a great time. Tenn. DOT (or TenDOT) has added 104 paved pull-over sections on The Dragon which does a great job of encouraging slower traffic to pull off to let faster traffic pass. Some have complained about too much law enforcement on US129 but if you keep your speed moderate in the straighter sections and don't cross the double yellow lines, you have little to worry about.
The Monster roll-out continued out to the Gravel Pit (which is paved now) where we would have normally stopped for a pictures but yesterday morning it was occupied by a dozen or so Porsche Club members and a Blount County police car that had it's lights on, word has it some of the guys were going a bit too fast and were given a warning. Since the Gravel Pit was occupied, all 44 cars did a U-turn and headed back down to Deal's Gap at a brisk pace, the look on the officer's face was priceless when he saw all 44 S2000s roll by, turn around, and head back through The Dragon!
Lunch was at the Fontana Dam pavilion this year, the perfect place for our group. After lunch we had the choice of two different drives, one was over the Cherohala Skyway, a very scenic drive that reaches an elevation of almost 5,400 ft. The second drive choice was to go down a lot of back country mountain roads, around Pigeon Forge and Rocky Top, we drove some amazing roads with hills, dips, and turns that would make most passengers car sick, however, S2000 passengers are a stout breed and not one of them complained (well, at least none that I heard). We even had great weather the entire day, overcast and just a few drops of rain on the windshield from time to time. After getting a little bit lost, the group was herded back together (thank you Ms. McCoy) and we all got to our second fuel stop. Unfortunately the road we had planned on taking was closed so our ice cream stop was combined with refueling.
By this time it was getting to be around 4:30 PM so we ended the drive by heading West across the Foothills Parkway and back down The Dragon, we made it back to Fontana Village by 6:00 PM where we had the grand event dinner. Dinner included a raffle for an iPAD, a Champagne toast to 10 years of the Dragonball Run, and a really great compilation video of pictures and in car video from past Dragonball events. After dinner many people gathered at the fire pit but I headed back to my room for some shut eye. Guess I'm just not as young as Airgate is!
Sunday
Some people gathered at Deal's Gap for breakfast but I was ready to head back to Atlanta, a short, easy, trip home in the rain. While on the way home I noticed a passenger in the car to my left staring strangely at my car
, then I remembered I still had all my event magnets on the driver side rear quarter panel. The whole way home I was thinking that I need to do this again, very soon 
. The next Dragon Event is the 9th annual "Wake the Dragon" in April. For anyone who plans on attending, register early as WTD is the biggest S2000 event every year!
After registering a bit late for the event and finally securing a reservation at Fontana Village, I was really excited to go up to DBRX and see some old friends.
Friday
Left the house around 10:30 AM so I could be at Deal's Gap in time for a late lunch. Took a different route up to Fontana Village, instead of heading all the way up US129 out of Gainesville, GA, I decided to take GA23 through Clayton, GA then turn off on to NC28 in Franklin, NC. Geez, the roads are just awesome everywhere around this part of North Carolina, you look at the map and there are several roads that are nothing but squiggles.
I arrived at Fontana Village at 1PM and checked-in but didn't see any other S2000s, so I headed to Deal's Gap for a Dragonburger (200 Proof Dragon Meat) or so the sign says. After taking a few runs up and down US129, I headed back to Fontana Village for dinner. Just as I pulled into the parking lot the Friday event groups were just coming back from their drives. Come to find out both groups were in Franklin eating lunch as I passed through. For dinner Friday evening, Airgate setup a delicous picnic dinner at "the ballpark" (which is just a big open baseball field in Fontana Village) where we all parked our cars, ate, and caught up with some old friends. One of the S2000 owners put together a beer swap, another group setup a tequila tasting, and when I got back to my room there was even a live band playing poolside for my enjoyment
.Saturday
A handful of us got up early and were out on The Dragon at 7:30 AM, remember in the mountains the sun does not rise until around 7:15 AM, however, the local law enforcement was already on the job. He wasn't clocking anyone but we kept a fun and safe pace just the same. After a round trip on The Dragon, we headed back to the event hotel for "The Monster Roll Out" where we had all 44 S2000s roll out of Fontana Village, down NC28, and over to The Dragon. It's never boring to see that many S2000s snake their way through The Dragon in one continuous line.
Everyone again drove at a fun and safe speed, remembering that there is a 30 mph speed limit (which is strictly enforced). For those of you that have not driven this road, 30 mph is fast enough when your going through the hairpin turns. If you drive between 30-40 mph (and don't get stuck behind slow moving traffic) you will have a great time. Tenn. DOT (or TenDOT) has added 104 paved pull-over sections on The Dragon which does a great job of encouraging slower traffic to pull off to let faster traffic pass. Some have complained about too much law enforcement on US129 but if you keep your speed moderate in the straighter sections and don't cross the double yellow lines, you have little to worry about.
The Monster roll-out continued out to the Gravel Pit (which is paved now) where we would have normally stopped for a pictures but yesterday morning it was occupied by a dozen or so Porsche Club members and a Blount County police car that had it's lights on, word has it some of the guys were going a bit too fast and were given a warning. Since the Gravel Pit was occupied, all 44 cars did a U-turn and headed back down to Deal's Gap at a brisk pace, the look on the officer's face was priceless when he saw all 44 S2000s roll by, turn around, and head back through The Dragon!
Lunch was at the Fontana Dam pavilion this year, the perfect place for our group. After lunch we had the choice of two different drives, one was over the Cherohala Skyway, a very scenic drive that reaches an elevation of almost 5,400 ft. The second drive choice was to go down a lot of back country mountain roads, around Pigeon Forge and Rocky Top, we drove some amazing roads with hills, dips, and turns that would make most passengers car sick, however, S2000 passengers are a stout breed and not one of them complained (well, at least none that I heard). We even had great weather the entire day, overcast and just a few drops of rain on the windshield from time to time. After getting a little bit lost, the group was herded back together (thank you Ms. McCoy) and we all got to our second fuel stop. Unfortunately the road we had planned on taking was closed so our ice cream stop was combined with refueling.
By this time it was getting to be around 4:30 PM so we ended the drive by heading West across the Foothills Parkway and back down The Dragon, we made it back to Fontana Village by 6:00 PM where we had the grand event dinner. Dinner included a raffle for an iPAD, a Champagne toast to 10 years of the Dragonball Run, and a really great compilation video of pictures and in car video from past Dragonball events. After dinner many people gathered at the fire pit but I headed back to my room for some shut eye. Guess I'm just not as young as Airgate is!
Sunday
Some people gathered at Deal's Gap for breakfast but I was ready to head back to Atlanta, a short, easy, trip home in the rain. While on the way home I noticed a passenger in the car to my left staring strangely at my car
, then I remembered I still had all my event magnets on the driver side rear quarter panel. The whole way home I was thinking that I need to do this again, very soon . The next Dragon Event is the 9th annual "Wake the Dragon" in April. For anyone who plans on attending, register early as WTD is the biggest S2000 event every year!
Former Moderator
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 25,439
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From: St. Louis, MO
Very nice write up Dave...glad I was able to read it. Really enjoyed it...I LOL'd at the "young as airgate" piece. I'm with you...can't wait for April to get here.
Hope to see everyone at WTD9 2011.
I'm with you...can't wait for April to get here.Hope to see everyone at WTD9 2011.
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 2,688
Likes: 1
From: Arlington, VA
Originally Posted by S2k Dude,Sep 26 2010, 03:57 PM
Since the Gravel Pit was occupied, all 44 cars did a U-turn and headed back down to Deal's Gap at a brisk pace, the look on the officer's face was priceless when he saw all 44 S2000s roll by, turn around, and head back through The Dragon!
The look on the face of the porsche drivers was pretty priceless too ...
Great write-up.
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