Deals Gap 2004

Packing for the trip, about two months before I got US 129 tags to moitivate me to go (it worked). Going down I took the long way. I left on Sunday the 18th that night I stayed in Front Royal (the start of Skyline Drive). Monday I did all of Skyline dr and lot's of the Blue Ridge Parkway. On Tuesday I did the rest of the BRP along with two loop drives off of it recommonded on Miatadrives.com, they were great!! I got to Fontana around 4:30 PM on Tuesday.

If you have never done it and have the time I highly recommend friving Skyline dr and BRP. I hear traffic can sometimes be bad on those roads but it was not the case on my trip, about 70% of the time I had the rode to myself and when I didn't there were lots and lots of pull off/scenic views and people who want to go slow usually pulled off to let you by. The 45 MPH speed limit on BRP was not really an issue sometimes it was a nice speed to go to enjoy the view and the road and if you wanted tro go faster most of the time you could.

The things in the bags on the luggage rack are my tent and sleeping bag. I tried to pack light and still had more with me than I needed. Taking this route along with the two loop drives it was about 1,050 miles for me from the middle of Suffolk County on Long Island.

That's the Knobmeister in front of me on the Dragon chasing down some motorcycles on his way to Tapoco Lodge to set up his booth full of all sort of goodies!

These are some photos taken at Fontana Village, which seemed like a nice place. I stayed at the Fontana Village Campground that is about a mile or so away from the Village.

That's my campsite below it was a nice place, my only complaint about it would be that in the men's room (don't know about the women's) there is only one toilet and shower for all of the campgrounds but for the most part it turned out not to be a problem.

A good thing about staying a Fontana or their campgound is the drive on 28 to Deals Gap, it's another nice road. I think it was around 7 to 10 miles from my campsite to the Gap.

Of all the different club logo's on banners and or cars this one is by far my favorite :)

If all goes well next year that fence will include a banner from the Big Apple Miata Club. FYI that car in the middle is Jack's car (the dog with the goggles). I didn't get a still photo of Jack but I'm sure I have him on video.

It may not be 7 of 9 but 5 of 318 is nice to look at too and even better to drive.

I think we all have a photo like the one of BlackStar in front of the Deal's Gap sign.

If you notice your car running a little better while at the gap it's because of the special additives they put in the fuel there.

Somebody's dent which I think they got while there, I thought the band aid they put on it was funny.

The Campsite all broken down, it's time to go home :(

Conclusion: I had a great time! I hope to go back again and again I met a lot of sincere, nice, fun and helpful people and Pete and his brother were there too :)

I also learned I need to upgrade my radiator and NEED a coldside supercharger to keep that guy and his girlfriend in the Yellow M1 and the Mach 5 from always pulling away from me out of the corners, especially while going up hill!!!

I drove straight home, only stopping for fuel, snacks and the bathroom. I made it in a little over 13 hours it was about 860 miles.