Well this was my first time to the Dragon and it sure was one to remember. I currently go to school at USF and live in Naples, about 200 miles South. So the week before the Dragon I went home to pick up a few things for my trip, so I started my overall mileage counter there at 97,011. I went up to Tampa and left for my trip on thursday night where I drove to Gainesville FL. and picked up my girlfriend and spent the night. We started around 10 on friday and went the whole way up to Fontana taking I-75, 575 and than mostly smaller roads from there up.

I wanted to leave for the drive on wednesday or thursday so I could go with some other S2Kers but wasn't able to so my gf and I made the entire trip solo.

When driving in FL the scenery has a little to be desired plus the roads don't get much flatter and straighter. So when I got to the northern areas of 575, GA/NC area I started to get excited by the small twists in the road and the scenery that was around us.



After hearing all of the rain some others went through on their drive to Fontana it sounds like we did pretty well and didn't have any rain at all. The only clue we saw of rain was damp roads when we finally got to Fontana after 8.5 hours. We also had a little fun on the way


Nothing happened just found it kinda funny that as soon as I stopped two cops and an SUV cop pulled up behind me to eat at Popeye's too.

I'm sorry I'm really bad with names so bear with me. At check in Raul's wife made me feel extra special for a split second when she told me that they were waiting for us to get there, that quickly faded when I found out she was joking . Gotta give me a break that long in the car I wwas a little tired and out of it.

We got to the room and was very suprised. We saw this place that looked allright from the outside with decent buildings and all but when we got inside it was a lot nicer than I expected. But only one light in the general area left us a little in the dark.

We went to dinner around 9 and ended up waiting for a good hour before they took away our sandwiches and set out some salad and pasta and said we can eat all we want. I was really looking forward to a real meal but you take what you can get. Pretty bad on the hotel's part after I found out later that they ran out of almost everything on their menu and that's why we got stuck with what they had.

The next morning after getting a wakeup call cause there was no clock in the room, what's up with that, I was excited again because I didn't hear any rain. Well I look out the window and it was raining pretty good out. I was kind of curious what was going to happen since it was raining. But in the meantime I took a cold shower, must have been because one of our neighbors were taking a shower too, and that really woke me up.

I talked to some of the other s2k guys that came out wondering the same and was happy when they were are really great guys. I ended up driving down to the meeting place anyways even though I didn't see any rush of cars and at the same time saw 8 others pull up and line up so I just jumped right in. Whipped out my camera and started clicking.









Then we all got together for the drivers meeting. Just some basics of don't do anything stupid like pass on the Dragon but all stuff that I paid attention too especially since it was my first time.



Then we were off with all the rain and everything. Not really sure where I was or where I was going I played follow the leader with the person in front of me. We were going faster than I thought we would but with my new tires that were put on the week before I didn't feel squirly at all.










And then out of nowhere I saw the line start to come back at me













With no food in either of our stomachs my gf wasn't feeling so well, especially with no ac it was getting a little toasty, plus I wanted to throw in my AEM ECU for the rest of the driving so we went back to the village for a quick stop.

When we got back to Deal's Gap people were coming and going and just hanging out. I also got a little treat when I came back and saw the J's car just chilling there, almost like it was waiting for me
But the best part was we didn't get back to the gap until ~11 so the roads were perfectly dry.

 

Cont'd

And then there was a spa with my favorite rims.







There was also one nice looking NSX which I saw pulled over the next day and it looked like the cop was writing him a ticket. Too bad but it happens.




I also heard a story of one guy being loaned a miata with bad tires for a little while because he couldn't get out of his hotel due to his CAI and water. And then there he was.



There was also beautiful scenery everywhere so we just kept the camera a clickin.





and just for reference this was me



Then just some driving









It was a great day with all kinds of different cars and even vespa's were out there which made me smile everytime they went by.








There were deffinitly cops out. I heard at one time there were four cops and talked to some motorcycle guys later that said they had a helicopter following them for a couple hours until they had a patrol car pull them over. But with all the warning that each other was doing for cops I'm sure there could have been a lot more problems in that department.



And what would be a trip to Fontana Dam without actually stopping at the Dam. I think I was the only one but I figured why not.




The Dinner that night was pretty good, especially compared to the dinner the night before. And then everyone had fun at the drawings, but I didn't take my camera to that.

The next day I ran the Dragon a couple more times before leaving ~11. Right after leaving we saw a motorcycle and the dog looked like I felt, cool as a cucumber after the amazing event.


I ended up driving over to Greensboro to meet some friends and then down to Naples the next morning.

The event in general was just the greatest experience ever. The small problems like the food on friday, no clock, and only one light were far overshadowed by how well the event was planned out and the great people that were there to enjoy it. Not to mention the amazing Dragon itself After going to that event I'm going to try to go to every event I can and will definitely hit up the Dragon as often as possible.

I called this thread my 100,000 mile trip because after it was all said and done I broke 100,000 miles on the trip. I by no means made a straight trip and I detoured from the roads I mentioned a lot but the figures added up like this clocked 30+ hours total of 3,000+ miles

Special thanks goes out to Raul and all of the people that helped him and all of the sponsors that take care of us here at S2ki. And a special one to my gf for taking all of the moving pics. She felt fine after I was able to put the top down.

 

Awesome post!!!! Loved the pictures too. I too forgot to mention the low watt bulbs in the rooms, and no alarm clock. But hey, I don't plan on doing much but sleeping in the rooms, it the driving that I liked.

 

Exactly. We went for the driving not the luxury living conditions

 

I also saw 3 S's going south on 77 on monday. If you guys see this speak up so I know who you were.

 

Thanks, That one's mine

 

Great Pics! next tiume join a group, you are sure to have even more fun.

 

Nice pics. Where are all the LBPs? I wanted to go, but the event was full by the time I picked up the car.

 

Great post and photos.

 

That was Tom & me in the Miata. I let him drive it most of the time. The next day when I let him drive the S again he said, "This sure is different than yesterday."