Monteagle

Well as i am 26, i havent had to deal with "pre-jake" days(thankfully), atleats as a driver(3rd gen driver, probley went down with my dad prejake), but i was 21 going over grapevine in a pumpkin.

 

so, my its literally my 1st day in a truck (besides school) with my trainer and i had the privilege to run this mount eagle both ways in what seemed like a monsoon..he's yelling "look in the mirror when ur on the brakes to make sure the trailer isnt coming around" and im yellin back im lookin in the mirror to make sure another truck isnt about to ### pack me cause i cant see more than 5 ft in front & back with the downpour..talk about cheek pucker moments..whew..

 

It's all relative I suppose. I started driving OTR when I was 24 and Monteagle was my Grapevine, having lived in the southeast and was more experienced by the time I made it to the west coast.
The last time I was awed by a mountain was White Bird in ID. Two lane road, something like 8% for about 10 miles on US 95 south of Grangeville.
Jake or not, it was intimidating, but I'm sure the local guys think it is routine.

 

RumRunner wait till you go down the gorge it's not as steep and from what i've heard twice as deadly!!

 

Are you talking about I-40 in western NC?

 

I don't know about twice as deadly but there are a lot of bad accidents in the Gorge because some "invincible drivers" try to run through there at well over safe speeds. I have seen a few very bad accidents through there caused by nothing but stupidity mixed with hi speed.

 

Exactly right. Especially going west, you are basically on a downgrade for miles all the way to the tunnel. You have a tendency to let it drift up to speed and then next thing you know, you're in one of those curves.
A few years ago, they dropped the speed limit to 35MPH for trucks after some nasty crashes.
It' back up to 50MPH now. Til somebody screws up maybe.
Gotta watch it in the winter too. It can be dry in Knoxville and Asheville and icy slick down through there.

 

Or you get the high speed cowboy that decides it's ok to use the left lane thru there and then whines when he gets a ticket.

 

well after that experience i'm not too worried anymore..i wound up going down at 45mph and was then told afterwards i shouldve been doing 35..whats nutz is that there were drivers flying by me and this is the storm that was just on the news for killing people due to drowning/flooding in GA/TN so it wasnt a litlle drizzle. i was more worried about losing traction since i'm not yet familiar with the handling of these big rigs, especially coming off a sportbike and i tend to have a lead foot / wrist for corner speed.Right now I'm heading back from the westcoast so ill be hittin the mountains on 40.

 

I just got home from there in my car. After all these years I took a trip up there in my Mustang GT and had a blast.
Took the gorge west to Gatlinburg Exit. Spent the night and ran US441 right through Smokey Mtn state park.(look at atlas) First time I ever saw a 360* switchback, awesome. Down to Cherokee and US19 south to the Blue Ridge Parkway for 50 miles of fun.
Thrashed it out, early in the morning, no traffic and curves, curves , curves and plenty of 1000+ feet elevation changes. Got in a couple of skirmishes, one car about 20 miles and a bike for about 10 miles. No way to pass but plenty of cat and mouse.