Adventure Series Locale 6: Nantahala National Forest, NC

GPS Coordinates: 35.27809, -83.66159
Date Visited: July 23, 2023
Wood Species: Ash

This was the first long shakedown trip for my ZR-2 Bison. My wife, my son, and I loaded up and headed east! We spent a day at Mammoth Cave National Park, and visited the Corvette Factory and Museum in Bowling Green, KY. Then we spent a few days in the gorgeous Smoky Mountain National Park, before heading into North Carolina to drive some of the Smoky Mountain 1000, a series of trails and rural roads that winds through several National Forests, up and over mountains, in and out of hollers, and past charming small towns.

I picked up this wood on a stretch of road called Winding Stairs. It was from a tree that had fallen across the road and had been cut up and discarded (you can see the pile of wood in a picture below).

On our way back to Arkansas, we unwittingly took the stretch of Highway 123 known as The Tail of the Dragon. With 318 turns in 11 miles, this really put the truck's handling (and my passengers' equilibria) to the test.