Any who, it shouldn’t take away from the post too much. As for my final thoughts on the trip, I will be going again next year. If something’s good enough to want to do it again, I don’t think there’s much more explaining needed. But as with most trips of this type, it’s the people you go with. The driving and scenery and everything were great, but just going away with a bunch of friends and hanging out always makes that much more fun. See ya next year!

Stan filling up at Deal’s Gap.

Fontana dam.

Chasing Mike with Stan.

Stan enjoying the roads.

Mike and Fernando hanging out as all the s2000’s roll in for the photo op.

Stan getting his own photo game on.

Fernando and Billman after everyone else has cleared out.

Filling up at Deal’s Gap again.

Stan chasing Fernando.

Mike posted up as we wait for some people.

Lots of gas trips.

Mike chasing Fernando.

The view from Fontana Dam.

Stan getting down and dirty on the dragon again.

Fernando breaking necks as he pulls in.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, most of this coverage is of Stan, Mike and Fernando.

All the s2000’s lining up for a photo op. They  may or may not be Fernando squatting down all the way to the right.

Billman after everyone left the photo op.

Stan checking out his work.

Billman watching the drone fly around.

A sea of s2000 trunks.

Mike and Fernando yet again.

Entering the Foothills Parkway.

Mike carving them corners.

Hello friend.

Watch for them falling rocks.

In for Mike’s close up.

Parked up at Fontana Dam.

Going through the smokey bear mountains up to Clingman’s Dome.

Things were getting a bit foggy the higher we went.

This was taken from the top lookout point of Clingman’s Dome, 6,643 feet up. On a clear day you can see seven different states. The weather did not want to cooperate with us.

There should be mountains behind these guys.

And we leave off with Stan being a wrongdoer and breaking some laws. Till next time.

Besides the Dragon we hit up a couple of other roads in the area and we finished the night up with a quick photoshoot of Mike’s AP2 and Fernando’s NA1.

Click here if you missed part 1.

Everyone was prepping their cars first thing in the morning. Here Fernando is removing the blue tape off the car.

Kevin making sure the windshield of his SI is nice and clean.

Taking tape off is a painstakingly long process, apparantly.

Billman doing a valve adjustment for someone.

Waiting for the troops to gather.

Mike sitting on his TE37 rt’s. #TEam37

Fernando parked up with his CE’s.

Stan started experiencing some clutch problems on the drive down so him and Billman decided to check it out real quick. Another #TEam37 member.

Billman back to work on the valve adjustment.

Historic Tapoco Lodge is where we spent the week. A great place with a lot of history to it. At one point it was owned by Alcoa and used as a retreat for employees.

Yup Fernando again. There’s just something about NA1 NSX’s. I think I’ll own one some day. But an NA2 with popups.

Stan getting down and dirty. After this we headed over to Deals Gap for breakfast then hit up the dragon a little after that.

Mike experiencing the dragon for one of the first times.

A quick stop at Deal’s Gap again.

We pulled over to take pictures at the top of the dragon.

One of the many gorgeous views of the week.

 ‘

Joey rolling in sans opera singing.

Back to driving we go with Stan giving chase to Fernando with me and Mike close behind.

Pulled over for another break/more pics.

Billman stuck behind a motorcycle.

Group shot.

Photoshoot time.

As the sun disappeared we headed back through the dragon at night and had a little party back at the cabin.

You’ll notice my car is not in any pictures. I planned on driving down, but the weeks leading up to the event I was dealing with a few minor issues. I thought I fixed everything to have it reappear the Sunday before we left. Rather than risk it I took the ride with Mike and switched off between him and Stan for who I was riding with on the trip.

The Wake the Dragon event itself was scheduled for Friday – Sunday and this was its fourteenth year. We drove down on Wednesday to have a longer vacation and get some time in before the weekend when there would be less traffic and people out and about in the area. Needless to say it was worth it.

Part 1 here pretty much covers the drive down from Long Island while parts 2 and 3 will cover the dragon portion itself.

Some of us Long Island guys met up at a Dunkin by us around 4:30am.

And then we were on our way with an ass shot of Stan. As some of you may notice, he’s car looks a bit different from the last time he was on here.

Hopping onto the Verezzano.

We were meeting up with the rest of the caravan somewhere in Jersey so a few of decided to take a nap.

And the rest of the crew finally shows up.

And we’re out.

Fernando in his NSX and Chris in his s2k.

Joey rolling along and singing some opera to me.

Fernando with his second wife.

Justin rolling along.

Stan pretending to line it up against Fernando.

In these  photos here, Mike decided to have a banana and then go Mario Kart on Stan who was driving behind us.

Rollers of Stan.

Gas break, one of many.

Chris rolling.

Some more of Fernando.

A small group shot.

Another of Chris.

Stan looking for his close up.

We hit some bumper to  bumper along the way. Don’t ask me where. The benefit of being a passenger, I kept sleeping.

Another shot of Justin rolling.

Yup we did a majority of the trip top down. It made for some interesting sun burns.

Stan wanted some adventurous photos for Tinder so he stuck his head out.

After some time we stopped for lunch at Chick-fil-a. A first time visit for me, way overrated if you ask me.

This was one of my favorite shots of the trip. We pulled over to check out a sound coming from Chris’ car. While waiting around I took the opportunity to grab this shot of Joey’s s2000.

Mike pulled up then, so I grabbed another shot with the both of them.

Stan keeps on rollin rollin rollin

Another gas stop calls for a moment to admire the cars.

Just one of the many amazing views through out the trip.

Stan got a bit upset he got some gas on the car so he decided to give it a parking lot cleaning.

A few miles from the lodge and things began to look very Initial D like.

And the end all, a couple of shots of the cabin we had. Part 2 coming soon.