9thcivic Tail Of The Dragon meet: Information & Itinerary (finally!)

death_roll

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I think it's about time to get an itinerary posted up. Right now it's tentative for the fact that events can be added to it, it's pretty open at the present time. Some things such as the Friday drive and Saturday night dinner are pretty much set in stone :woot: , so first is a basic description of the meet.

This meet is pretty much a continuation of the meet held back on the old site, it's not specific to 9th generation Honda Civics at all. The vast majority of vehicles that will be there are not Honda Civics at all, any vehicle is welcome as this is mostly a meet for old and new friends that share common automotive enthusiasm. Past meets have grown to tremendous size and often had a huge list of things to do on the itinerary that took away from the true fun and social aspect of it. This will continue the "back to basics" approach that made the first meet for me (8ccd III) so much fun.

For the uninformed, the meet centers around driving the Tail of the Dragon in Tennessee / North Carolina. It's a windy U.S. highway centered in the smoky mountains and features 318 turns in 11 miles. More information is here http://www.tailofthedragon.com/ since I can't type about this all day. Other roads in the area such as Route 28, and the Cherohala Skyway down by the nearest town, Robbinsville NC. There will be many opportunities to drive the roads in the area as well as several in northern Georgia.

These roads are not a racetrack! Some of us drive spiritedly, but squealing your tires or going through every turn sideways is not what this is about. It's about good friends and having fun in your car in order to forget about real life for a while. Wrecking your car / injuring someone will only make "real life" come back much sooner, and it will be much worse than walking back into work on Monday.

The area is pretty much in the middle of no-where and the closest town, Robbinsville, is around 30 miles away. There are gas stations and a grocery store there to refuel yourself and your car. We can plan some trips down there since U.S.129 has some nice long sweeping curves going down to Robbinsville.

We're staying at Fontana Village again this year, http://www.fontanavillage.com . It's a nice open resort style hotel with cabins or lodge rooms. Lodge rooms are available at a discounted rate until July 16, 2012 . There is a meeting area outside the Wildwood Grill that we meet at before any drive or exhaust shoot.

Here is the google maps coordinates of Fontana Village:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=35.437142,-83.823366&num=1&t=h&z=15

Robbinsville:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Robbinsville, NC&hl=en&sll=35.436477,-83.823152&sspn=0.029126,0.038581&oq=robbins&t=h&hnear=Robbinsville, Graham, North Carolina&z=15

Tail of the Dragon:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=35.466315,-83.919947&num=1&t=h&z=16

Cherohala Skyway:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=35.345655,-83.893919&num=1&t=h&z=15


Right now the Itinerary is fairly loose, we don't all have to do every activity, and frankly, the Friday drive is probably not for everyone since it's long and intense for the most part. Every night we'll probably get a few runs in on the dragon, or we can just chill out outside the lodge or one of the cabins if we would prefer that. Some people will be arriving Wednesday so that will be pretty much open for anything, while most are coming on Thursday. So we will have a small meet & greet that night.

Updated Itinerary! :woot:

Wednesday 9/12:
8:00PM - Depart Fontana for a drive (tentative depending on our moods) or hang out at the lodge.

Thursday 9/13:
7:00 AM – 5:00PM – All day crusing the dragon / rt28 / skyway / or where ever you desire to go.
5:00PM - Dinner at the Wildwood Grill at Fontana Lodge.
7:00PM - Depart Fontana for a spirited drive.
9:00PM - Small get-together / meet & greet at the Bear's Den Lounge at Fontana (don't have too much if you're going on the Friday drive!).

Friday 9/14:
10:00AM - Depart Fontana for a several hour drive covering the backroads of north Georgia and maybe South Carolina. Led by ETF. ETF will provide a map of the route. If you're not up to it then for most of the day you can participate in several activities around Fontana (jet skis) or just cruise the dragon all day.
5-6:00PM - I predict we'll be back from the drive around this time, so we'll probably eat somewhere at Fontana, maybe ice cream, nothing is mandatory but just refuel and relax for a while.
7:00PM - Hang out and relax at either the lodge or someone's cabin. Or go for a spirited drive.
9:00PM - Ping Pong Tournament, located in the game room; the trophy will be awarded after the tournament is over.
11:00PM – TBD, see me for details if you're feeling confident.

Saturday 9/15:
8:30AM – The exhaust video. Meet at the small parking lot outside the Wildwood grill. I will start ferrying people up to the start spot at 9:00AM.
11:00AM - Usually we would do the big loop this day but it's not mandatory. I may run down to Robbinsville and run the Skyway once from east to west and then backagain to Fontana. This is pretty much open for anyone to drive anywhere or do something else in the area (sightsee, jet skis, etc.).
5:00PM – Group photos with all of the cars and attendees at Fontana Dam. Voting for the vehicles will be held at this time as well.
6:00PM - Evening dinner outside the Wildwood Grill, the main menu items are Beef brisket, ribs, corn on the cobb, potato salad, coleslaw, cornbread, and apple cobbler. Winners for favorite vehicle, longest distance, best use of patinter's tape, and death_roll's choice will be announced. The raffle will be held at this time as well.
8:00PM - Depart Fontana for a spirited drive, for those who choose not to can hang out at the lodge or someone's cabin.
9:00PM - Pool tournament, located in the game room; the trophy will be awarded after the tournament is over.
 
Looks terrific so far.

For those who are new, it will be better to bring any drinking preferences with you to this event. Be aware that there is no cell phone coverage around the lodge, or around most of the Dragon. There is wifi available at the main public area at the Lodge, which is a great hang out and meeting place.
 
Update: You now have until the 26th to make your reservations at the discounted rate, 11 lodge rooms are still up for grabs so hurry up and decide. If you're getting a cabin thats fine but they dont have discounted rates.
 
Looks like a good time..

Fontana Village has a place to get beer and ice. Pretty sure you can also get fuel at Deals Gap and Fontana but no 87 octane....
 
Looks like a good time..

Fontana Village has a place to get beer and ice. Pretty sure you can also get fuel at Deals Gap and Fontana but no 87 octane....
and you pay about a $0.40 bonus per gallon for gas. But what are you going to do, waste an hours time (and gas) and drive to Robbinsville. Just pay and shut your mouth :)
 
If your worried about gas mileage and fuel cost, wrong event....lol

The lowest gas mileage I have ever recorded was on The Dragon
 
but potentially the most fun while consuming
 
Looks good. I think the mileage on the BMW was around 15 on the night runs.
 
I still can't decide on the vehicle. I would like to have air if I start feeling bad, but the BMW is more engaging/fun.
 
how about fireworks on Fri night or Sat night by the lake in TN?
cuz 1. it is our 1st 9thcivic Dragon meet so we should celebrate!!!
2. fireworks is legal in TN
3. we r Americans! (i know im not..but i got an American spirit in my mind! )

I think we should, Friday night looks good, depending on who's up for a nice nighttime drive!
 
Just a reminder that the discounted rooms at the lodge are still available until the 26th of June, so you have about one more week or so.
 
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