Sept 26
A pleasant night of sleep is a fantastic way to start the long day. The most updated report of the hurricane, Helene, heading to our area has caused the NPS to close the end of the Parkway, with exceptions. One exception was leaving the Blue Rode Parkway visitor center, located in Asheville, opened.
We hurried off at roughly 9am, as the visitor center wasn't answering the phone and we had only been several minutes away by drive. I was the lucky pilot of the BRZ for the day.
As we arrived the visitor center it was vacant, an unfortunate experience which led us to begin to flail. The BRP closed in either direction. The trip being over? The anxiety set it with having to completely alter the trip, but we continued on trying to make the best of the situation, while being aware of Helene and it's warpath.
We decided to check out the Biltmore estate, a massive estate within Asheville. As we arrived the estate main entrance was closed with visitors being turned to the public roads to detour. We followed the detour which ended at a fallen tree across the road as what appeared to be estate staff attempting to remedy the issue.
With time constrained, we figured it would be our only shot to get to the end of the BRP and Great Smoky Mountains. Liz's side goal of setting foot, as she never had, Tennessee also on the horizon.
We hopped on the highway system and bolted to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. When we arrived the park was to close within a few hours due in preparation to Helene. As we entered the park we were struck in amazement as a gang of elk, 10+ were in the fields. They didn't seem to mind the rain.
Trying to experience the park we ventured in along, 441 from Cherokee, as most appeared to be exiting. The creek banks were rapids flowing with rain water. The mountain roads still an absolute blast to drive along, carefully of course. We paused to check out a visitor center, almost positive the same one I had visited a decade ago. We had enough time to check out Cades Cove scenic loop.
We headed towards the loop and awe of the rain water dumping into the area. The extra water overflowing areas to cause mini water falls littering the area. Once on the loop, an interesting one-way 11 mile slow 10mph road we were on the search for bear. What we found was a one in a million.
We noticed a yellow series BRZ (only 500 made) pulled to the side and Liz waved to the owner. Shortly after, the yellow BRZ with an unknown female friend driver pulled up to us in the parking spot exclaiming " no fucking way!" As her white female husky with blue eyes stuck it's head out of the front driver side window staring at Loki with his head sticking out. We laughed as the dogs both gazed silently at each other, I'm sure questioning if they were both looking into a mirror. We were in awe. She handed out advice to " look in the trees" for bear, as she had seen some a couple of weeks ago. I asked where all the BRZs were, and she responded at "the gap". After the sage advice, "Chiko" as stated on her license plate had left.
We said our goodbyes, as I was still in shock. The chances of meeting another person with a limited edition version of a niche car WITH a white husky that had blue eyes in the back seat was truly unbelievable.
We kept our head on a swivel as we slowly crawled along the loop. We exited the loop and checked out the Cades Cove visitors center where we got some goodies. Liz had officially set foot in TN!
As we continued our exit of the park we spotted a groups of tourists pointing into the trees. We stopped and spotted a bear climbing 75ft+ into a tree then shortly after scaling down. Our friend was right, literally "in the trees". Both excited, we continued on. We got to the main park road that was closed, so we headed out to a different section of the Great Smoky Mountains, the foothills.
A section of roughly 30 miles of an almost identical BRP like road. It gained elevation to the top of the mountain ridge. Liz took over for a bit and maneuvered through the wet, flowing, twisties. Around the halfway mark, a black bear moved across the road path. Much larger than the first bear we had seen, easily 250lb plus.
Arriving at 129 we headed to the famous Tail of the Dragon. An 11 mile section of highly technical 300+ curves. Liz drove the BRZ through the section with ease, as I had driven back through the section with both of us with an ear to ear grin. Only a few enthusiasts on the road at this time.
Being absolutely beat as we had been on the move for 10+hrs we made our way to Knoxville to get a hotel for the night. A delightful warm shower and soft bed providing shelter against the upcoming hurricane we watched the news to inform ourselves and plan an exit.
