


Saturday morning brought an early start as we were planning to be wheels up by 8:00 a.m. Our group consisted of members of the Tar Heel MINI Motoring Club (THMMC) - Blimey (our leader), Vango(a last minute addition), Sgt. Pepper, abuzavi, x uhoh x, Salemgym, RudyT, and myself. After a few minutes of studying our course syllabus, we loaded up and headed out for a quick stop at McDs for some coffee to chug down on the tame part before we really hit the twisties. As you can see, we were initially socked in by some moderate to heavy fog, bordering on a light mist. The good news was that within about five minutes of getting out of Canton, that burned off and we were greeted to sunny skies.
Before getting into the meat of the run down Hwy. 215, we made a quick detour up the Blue Ridge Parkway to Herrin Knob. This provided a quick opportunity for some pictures with a fabulous backdrop. It was quite impressive and gave me the opportunity to get a couple good shots of my Mini. It also gave me some time to work on my camera setup. I had it strapped in on the passenger seat and was hoping to use the remote control to snap pics. Unfortunately, the camera seemed to "forget" that I had it set to use the remote and would revert to normal operation after a few minutes. It turned out to not be a major problem - with the camera strapped in, it was pretty easy to just reach over and hit the button.
From there, we headed down Hwy. 215 which was a truly awesome road. Lots of great twisties and some beautiful country to drive through. One nice thing was with it being so early in the morning, there wasn't any other traffic to contend with (not sure whether the road would ever really get a bunch of traffic anyway).
Stop in Highlands. Home of rich people.
Mr. Magoo's side trip. The fun of passing.
Back through Highlands. Stop at Bridal Veil Falls.
Wayah ride to Robbinsville. Lunch at Sweetwater BBQ.
Up to the Dragon, Deal's Gap. Very twisty, but our ride that day was disappointing.
Onto Fontana Village. Some rest, change of clothes, clean up, and dinner.
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