[P4rD0nM3]

Greetings,

I'm taking delivery this coming 9th of December and I was wondering if you folks have any suggestions on what route to take when I drive back home.

I've heard about the Blue Ridge Parkway being a good place to start. Any other suggestions?

The trip itself is approximately 13 hours non-stop. I'm thinking it'll take me a day since I tend to stop for a bit and take pictures. I also plan on bringing two Go Pros to record my trip.

Other scenic highways:

- Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway in South Carolina
- Cherohala Skyway in North Carolina and Tennessee

Was also initially gonna get Xpel (full front) but looks like it'll take them a day and a half to do it. I can't do that since I have a flight come Monday.

[Tralfaz]

I rode the Cherohala scenic byway on a motorcycle trip a few years back. It is a fantastic road. Follows the edge of the mountains so you basically have drop off on one side and mountain on the other.

If you go straight through the mountains and want a souvenir picture from the trip, hit the Tail of the Dragon. There are photographers on a few of the bends that snap high speed photos of anyone driving through. You can search the web for the guys that take them, find the date and time you went through, and snag a few shots.

The one downside to that road is it is covered in trees, so not "scenic", but it is a fun ride or drive due to the 318 curves over 11 miles.

[miiipilot]

Make your way to The Dragon. It is not even out of the way for you.
From PCD, head to Asheville and have some BBQ. Head west to The Dragon on 40 to 74 or 19.

Turn the Nav off and just use the compass. Head West and/or North with your boundary being I-55 or I-57. If you hit those...boom! Head north and your home.

I met my brother in Cinci last week. Turned the Nav off and headed east/north and just made my way with my eastern boundary I-77. Love getting lost in the car.

I'm jealous, id love to do your road trip home.

[doug_999]

Tail of the dragon is actually out of the way a bit - not much, but worth it, just to say you did it.

You probably will want to do a tour of the factory (well you SHOULD do a tour of the factory) after pickup and that will put you on the road around like 3 if I remember correctly. We made it as far Louisville and then crashed for the night (I think that was around midnight? - tail of the dragon and eating chewed up the extra hours).

North Carolina is some of the most amazing scenery you will ever see driving and you will love it... as long as the weather is good and that's the only scary thing with PCD in the winter with summer tires. So if the roads get bad, park the thing.

[blackholescion]

Originally Posted by doug_999

You probably will want to do a tour of the factory (well you SHOULD do a tour of the factory) after pickup and that will put you on the road around like 3 if I remember correctly. We made it as far Louisville and then crashed for the night (I think that was around midnight? - tail of the dragon and eating chewed up the extra hours).

Factory tours are closed as of August with reopening in 2018 if I remember correctly. You can go to the museum though just down the road. That's a cool experience as well. The PCD instructors will be happy to have you follow them there to show you the way.

[mcnevin]

p4rdonm3 are you planning on taking both saturday sunday to get back to Illinois?? At least 3 times a year i go up to those mountains in NC, SC, GA and TN, got some ideas for you if your planning on spending a solid day breaking her in and spending sunday getting back to Illinois. I was meant to do PCD same day as you but due to work cant do it till 1/9. Once i pick my baby up im spending a solid 3 days zig zagging all over that area to completely break her in on the mountains

[doug_999]

Originally Posted by blackholescion

Factory tours are closed as of August with reopening in 2018 if I remember correctly. You can go to the museum though just down the road. That's a cool experience as well. The PCD instructors will be happy to have you follow them there to show you the way.

Damn X7

Seriously one of the coolest experiences ever was going through that factory.

[P4rD0nM3]

Originally Posted by mcnevin

p4rdonm3 are you planning on taking both saturday sunday to get back to Illinois?? At least 3 times a year i go up to those mountains in NC, SC, GA and TN, got some ideas for you if your planning on spending a solid day breaking her in and spending sunday getting back to Illinois. I was meant to do PCD same day as you but due to work cant do it till 1/9. Once i pick my baby up im spending a solid 3 days zig zagging all over that area to completely break her in on the mountains

The initial plan was to drop the car off at Extreme Colors for a full front ($2K) XPEL which they'll say will take a day and a half. That would mean I won't be doing anything on Saturday. I'll then go home on Sunday morning. I will be flying out of the country on Monday noon after I park the car in my garage.

[mcnevin]

Originally Posted by P4rD0nM3

The initial plan was to drop the car off at Extreme Colors for a full front ($2K) XPEL which they'll say will take a day and a half. That would mean I won't be doing anything on Saturday. I'll then go home on Sunday morning. I will be flying out of the country on Monday noon after I park the car in my garage.

Based on your time frame without going out of the way to much, so you can get back to Illinois on Sunday

Route 1. Which is what I would do, From Greenville head west to Pickens SC and take 178 North to Rosman NC, (thats one of my Favourite climbs on this side of that range) From Rosman take 215 all the way to Blue Ridge Parkway, then go west bound on the Blue Ridge Parkway all the way to the end, which is just north of Cherokee NC, then take 441 to Knoxville, then 40 to Nashville then your home free Illinois

Route 2. From Greenville SC take 276 North Bound towards Brevard NC, Then stay on 276 until it joins interstate 40 just north of dellwood NC then just follow 40 to Nashville

Route 3. Which would be my next pick after route 1. Follow same drirection of route 1 to Rosman NC then head west on 64 to Franklin NC, From Franklin go on 28 west bound till the end, you'll end up doing the Tail Of The Dragon Route via this way, I prefer the climb but the descend is just as good. So from the end of 28, Tail of The Dragon is either going to be name route 115 or 129 its the same road follow that all the way down to where you can get on at 72 then take that till you get on Interstate 40 which will be west of Knoxville TN

Look up the routes on google maps and youll see alot of twisty mountain roads which are a complete blast

Hope this helps

[mcnevin]

Originally Posted by P4rD0nM3

The initial plan was to drop the car off at Extreme Colors for a full front ($2K) XPEL which they'll say will take a day and a half. That would mean I won't be doing anything on Saturday. I'll then go home on Sunday morning. I will be flying out of the country on Monday noon after I park the car in my garage.

Based on your time frame without going out of the way to much, so you can get back to Illinois on Sunday

Route 1. Which is what I would do, From Greenville head west to Pickens SC and take 178 North to Rosman NC, (thats one of my Favourite climbs on this side of that range) From Rosman take 215 all the way to Blue Ridge Parkway, then go west bound on the Blue Ridge Parkway all the way to the end, which is just north of Cherokee NC, then take 441 to Knoxville, then 40 to Nashville then your home free Illinois

Route 2. From Greenville SC take 276 North Bound towards Brevard NC, Then stay on 276 until it joins interstate 40 just north of dellwood NC then just follow 40 to Nashville

Route 3. Which would be my next pick after route 1. Follow same drirection of route 1 to Rosman NC then head west on 64 to Franklin NC, From Franklin go on 28 west bound till the end, you'll end up doing the Tail Of The Dragon Route via this way, I prefer the climb but the descend is just as good. So from the end of 28, Tail of The Dragon is either going to be name route 115 or 129 its the same road follow that all the way down to where you can get on at 72 then take that till you get on Interstate 40 which will be west of Knoxville TN

Look up the routes on google maps and youll see alot of twisty mountain roads which are a complete blast

Hope this helps

[Dmarcen]

Originally Posted by mcnevin

Based on your time frame without going out of the way to much, so you can get back to Illinois on Sunday

Route 1. Which is what I would do, From Greenville head west to Pickens SC and take 178 North to Rosman NC, (thats one of my Favourite climbs on this side of that range) From Rosman take 215 all the way to Blue Ridge Parkway, then go west bound on the Blue Ridge Parkway all the way to the end, which is just north of Cherokee NC, then take 441 to Knoxville, then 40 to Nashville then your home free Illinois

Route 2. From Greenville SC take 276 North Bound towards Brevard NC, Then stay on 276 until it joins interstate 40 just north of dellwood NC then just follow 40 to Nashville

Route 3. Which would be my next pick after route 1. Follow same drirection of route 1 to Rosman NC then head west on 64 to Franklin NC, From Franklin go on 28 west bound till the end, you'll end up doing the Tail Of The Dragon Route via this way, I prefer the climb but the descend is just as good. So from the end of 28, Tail of The Dragon is either going to be name route 115 or 129 its the same road follow that all the way down to where you can get on at 72 then take that till you get on Interstate 40 which will be west of Knoxville TN

Look up the routes on google maps and youll see alot of twisty mountain roads which are a complete blast

Hope this helps

Great options there. I am actually doing PCD on 12/8 and looking to take it through the mountains on my way to Johnson City, TN to stay w/ a friend Sat night before heading back to Ohio on Sunday. Your option 1 looks like a pretty good route for me as well until heading eastbound after Pigeon Forge. I'm fairly familiar w/ Cherokee, Gatlinburg and all but never actually have driven on the blue ridge parkway. Wish delivery was now so that the leaves would be changing and such.... although the wildfires wouldn't be ideal...

Anyhow, do you have suggestions of pitstops or things to do on this route? My boyfriend has never really been through the area so any great restaurants or fun stops along the way? Cherokee may be dead by this of year, but he may even enjoy a pit stop to do the "gold mining" type of thing. He likes rocks... odd I know but he hates road trips so gotta find out how to entertain my pseudo 8 year old haha. Any suggestions or adapted routes to get me to Johnson City?

[BAN_M2C]

Originally Posted by blackholescion

Factory tours are closed as of August with reopening in 2018 if I remember correctly. You can go to the museum though just down the road. That's a cool experience as well. The PCD instructors will be happy to have you follow them there to show you the way.

The Museum tour was part of my PCD Itinerary on Sept 8th.

Maybe because the Factor was closed they are now doing the Museum instead to fill in for a while.

[mcnevin]

Dmarcen - Only restaurants i would recommend in that area are in asheville which is actually a few hours drive away. Been to the casino a few times which is fun. I mainly go up there for driving to get away from everyone and switch my phone off

[P4rD0nM3]

Thanks, guys. I've created a map - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XA...Fs&usp=sharing

And I'm wondering if this is the route that I should be taking.

The last route that I've saved is the actual drive home. I did not complete it all the way to Illinois since I might be missing some great roads along the way. Feel free to comment or add some (just post here).

[Dmarcen]

Originally Posted by P4rD0nM3

Thanks, guys. I've created a map - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XA...Fs&usp=sharing

And I'm wondering if this is the route that I should be taking.

The last route that I've saved is the actual drive home. I did not complete it all the way to Illinois since I might be missing some great roads along the way. Feel free to comment or add some (just post here).

So I'm taking delivery on the 7th, had mine moved up a day from the 8th to give more time taking the scenic route home back to Ohio. I started drawing up a map of routes I'm considering, while also mapping out where all the wildfires hAve been/are still. Gonna try to attach a pic of the section u will be travelling with the dark brown blobs being where wildfires exist or have been burning for ur reference. A fire just north of sylva, Nc and a large fire south of the Fontana dam area on the Tennessee border are specifically two areas I would keep watch of.

Originally we had planned on taking the blue ridge parkway from Asheville up to Cherokee and then over the mountain to gatlinburg, but the fires have really done damage to gatlinburg as I'm sure u are aware. So sad...loved going there for mountain getaways...

Anyhow, just wanted to mention that. I'm familiar with Greenville, being that I went to Clemson University and if you are staying downtown Greenville for an extra night or anything I would highly recommend taking a stroll down the streets of DT, and check out falls park. Also a great restaurant called smoke on the water.

[Dmarcen]

Here is quick photo of that area of the route w/ the wildfires outlined.

[luvmybmmr]

Originally Posted by P4rD0nM3

The initial plan was to drop the car off at Extreme Colors for a full front ($2K) XPEL which they'll say will take a day and a half. That would mean I won't be doing anything on Saturday. I'll then go home on Sunday morning. I will be flying out of the country on Monday noon after I park the car in my garage.

If you're still planning on xpel at Extreme Colors, let me know how it goes! I have PCD on 12/16 and am going to be getting the cross country package done by them. Congrats on the car! What color?

[P4rD0nM3]

Originally Posted by luvmybmmr

If you're still planning on xpel at Extreme Colors, let me know how it goes! I have PCD on 12/16 and am going to be getting the cross country package done by them. Congrats on the car! What color?

I won't be going with Extreme Colours for my PPK. I'm going with Carolina Auto Image.

• Extreme Colours - $2,XXX.
• Carolina Auto Image - $1,8XX.

Same material and both are certified on XPEL's website.

[Dmarcen]

I am going with Extreme Colours on Wednesday 12/7-8 so can let you know how that goes. I was on the phone with the owner, Doug, for over 45 mins and he was SO NICE and offering up so much info and explanation and I'm only planning on doing the highway package, but he is potentially also going to tint my windows for me as well. They are just getting into tinting, but based on how helpful he was I have no doubt they are going to take extremely good car of her.

[luvmybmmr]

Originally Posted by Dmarcen

I am going with Extreme Colours on Wednesday 12/7-8 so can let you know how that goes. I was on the phone with the owner, Doug, for over 45 mins and he was SO NICE and offering up so much info and explanation and I'm only planning on doing the highway package, but he is potentially also going to tint my windows for me as well. They are just getting into tinting, but based on how helpful he was I have no doubt they are going to take extremely good car of her.

yeah, please do let me know. I have been working with Cameron and have emailed with doug a couple of times. I think I am going to go with the cross country package. Was thinking of adding some rear fender protection, but I'm going to pass. I was also thinking about tint from them but want to be able to use my windows on the drive home, so I will probably get that done locally. Congrats and have fun in SC!

[P4rD0nM3]

Have fun on the PCD guys, I'll be in Greenville this whole weekend. If you guys are still there, hit me up.

[BAN_M2C]

Originally Posted by P4rD0nM3

Have fun on the PCD guys, I'll be in Greenville this whole weekend. If you guys are still there, hit me up.

So close to your date now!!!