ZR-1 Road Trip To Gatlinburg, Tennessee

[QB93Z]

Over the weekend, Lyndi and I took a quick road trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

I found Gatlinburg to be very crowded and filled with a lot of tourist-type gift shops, attractions, restaurants and motels. The traffic in the town was horrible and parking was pay as you go:

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp152/QB93Z/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0921.jpg (http://s407.photobucket.com/user/QB93Z/media/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0921.jpg.html)

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp152/QB93Z/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0761.jpg (http://s407.photobucket.com/user/QB93Z/media/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0761.jpg.html)


HOWEVER, just out of town is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which is worth the visit to Eastern Tennessee.

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp152/QB93Z/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0105.jpg (http://s407.photobucket.com/user/QB93Z/media/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0105.jpg.html)

We drove out of Gatlinburg on Rolling Fork Road and found many easy to get to trails for hiking and picnicking.

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp152/QB93Z/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_1150.jpg (http://s407.photobucket.com/user/QB93Z/media/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_1150.jpg.html)


We drove up to Clingmans Dome, the highest point in the park where there is a neat observation tower on a half mile trail from the parking lot. Here is the YELLOWZ with the Smoky Mountains in the background, hidden by the fog:

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp152/QB93Z/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0428.jpg (http://s407.photobucket.com/user/QB93Z/media/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0428.jpg.html)

Here is the view from the parking lot a little earlier:
http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp152/QB93Z/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0271.jpg (http://s407.photobucket.com/user/QB93Z/media/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0271.jpg.html)



to be continued.....

Jim

[LGAFF]

how many miles on that bad boy now?

[QB93Z]

how many miles on that bad boy now?

YELLOWZ has 147,856 original miles.

I have more pics, but PhotoBucket is OOC right now.

Jim

[Paul Workman]

Beautiful country! Hope you and Lyndi can make it to MR3 next year!

[QB93Z]

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is on the Tennessee - North Carolina line. We drove south to the park exit and connected to the Blue Ridge Parkway:

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp152/QB93Z/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0496.jpg (http://s407.photobucket.com/user/QB93Z/media/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0496.jpg.html)



The Blue Ridge Parkway is a 469 mile limited access National Park Service roadway that runs from The Great Smokey Mountains National Park in North Carolina to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.

The Parkway was in very good condition and there very few other drivers. The Parkway mostly follows the mountain ridges and offers wonderful driving opportunities:

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp152/QB93Z/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0510.jpg (http://s407.photobucket.com/user/QB93Z/media/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0510.jpg.html)

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp152/QB93Z/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0493.jpg (http://s407.photobucket.com/user/QB93Z/media/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0493.jpg.html)



This view from the southern-most visitors center shows the highest peak in The Smoky Mountains where we were parked a few hours before:

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp152/QB93Z/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0547.jpg (http://s407.photobucket.com/user/QB93Z/media/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0547.jpg.html)



It took us two days to drive the length of the Parkway since the average speed is about 40 miles per hour and we encountered some rain and fog on Sunday afternoon:

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp152/QB93Z/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0660.jpg (http://s407.photobucket.com/user/QB93Z/media/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0660.jpg.html)


The Parkway is very well marked and there hundreds of over looks and well marked trails to explore:

http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp152/QB93Z/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0671.jpg (http://s407.photobucket.com/user/QB93Z/media/2014%20Gatlinburg%20Trip/DSC_0671.jpg.html)


I highly recommend both The Great Smoky Mountains National Park and The Blue Ridge Parkway for a Corvette Road Trip. There is plenty to do and see. From a ZR-1 driving perspective, I rate the ~500 miles of curvy, open road as a 9 out of 10 on the Jim-O-Meter.

Jim

[efnfast]

As always, thanks for taking us along. Way high on the Jim-O-Meter.
We did some of the parkway on MR2.

[Dynomite]

YELLOWZ has 147,856 original miles.

I have more pics, but PhotoBucket is OOC right now.

Jim

Thanks Jim for the great photos....... :thumbsup:

Just curious and I know you have described this some where at some time.....but.......what have you replaced on that YELLOWZ LT5 along the way to 147,000+ miles?

Cliff

[We Gone]

Looks like another great trip, Thanks for Sharing.

[QB93Z]

Thanks Jim for the great photos....... :thumbsup:

Just curious and I know you have described this some where at some time.....but.......what have you replaced on that YELLOWZ LT5 along the way to 147,000+ miles?

Cliff

I bought the YELLOWZ with about 90,000 miles on it. The secondaries were not working when I took possession. I have replaced:

For the LT5:
Secondary Throttles vacuum solenoid
Secondary Throttles vacuum check valve
Secondary vacuum pump
Serpentine belt

For the car:
installed Pioneer AVIC Z110 Nav system
left rear spindle bearing
rear hatch seal
differential (to replace 3.73:1 gear set with stock 3.45:1)
rear suspension bushings
all front suspension control arm assemblies
clutch throw out bearing twice
transmission

Jim

[cvette98pacecar]

Jim, Thank you for all the photos. It looks like fun.

[RICHARD TILL]

:thumbsup: Thanks for the ride. Beautiful pictures.

[Arctic91]

Great pictures, Jim! Love the pic of the car parked above the clouds. Yellow has always been my daughter's favorite and I'm really starting to come around to it after looking at the pictures from your travels!

Hope that we get a chance to get together soon... I've got a couple of items to address on the white car next WMD. Have a great 4th!!

:flag:

Scott

[ZR-1 Franz]

Dear Lyndi, dear Jim,

Thank you for sharing the pictures with us.
As always, great photos!
Best wishes from Switzerland,

Franz :fahne: