MINIs on the Dragon vacation

Chris Norrick · Post by **Chris Norrick** » Wed May 04, 2011 8:58 pm

So each spring a bunch of MINI Cooper people head down to the Smokies for a week to drive along US 129, known at the Dragon, and other area curvy scenic mountain roads. One section of the Dragon that is the most famous is known as the "Tail of the Dragon". It is a 11 mile stretch that contains 318 curves and no access roads.

This year Steph and I headed down to join the other 523 MINIs that showed up (a record).

One of the planned drives included a visit to Heinzelmännchen Brewery, the smallest brewery I've ever been in. They do sell their beer in the Jimmy style glass growlers!

I managed to do a little fly fishing one afternoon and hooked into a few trout but only landed one. Those barbless hooks are a bitch.

Here are a couple of videos I shot on the trip, and my photos. Videos are in HD shot from my iPhone, so crank up the resolution!

Photos on Flickr: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjussUq6

sirgiovanni · Post by **sirgiovanni** » Thu May 05, 2011 8:06 am

I thought about these most awesome vids you do coming through and out of some big storm clouds in our company plane a couple weeks ago. I need your setup.

Dwayne_Delaney · Post by **Dwayne_Delaney** » Thu May 05, 2011 7:21 pm

Truly great videos Chris. Perfect music of the night run, but I played Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" while I watched the first one.........classic!

Chris Norrick · Post by **Chris Norrick** » Fri May 06, 2011 10:23 pm

Oh, and how can I forget the Dragon Beer Swap. A fully organized event with official pint glasses and official tshirts. Basically you bring your local beer and swap for other peoples local beer followed by karaoke night. There had to be 100 people set up with as little as a six pack to a few cases ready to trade. Mostly east coast & midwest with many breweries I've never heard of. It was epic.

I took a case of all Indiana beer plus some homebrew and brought back this plus some other peoples homebrew:

Trades.JPG

Noteworthy: Troegenator from Troegs Brothers, Spotted Cow from New Glarus, Jai Alai from Cigar City brewing. Just finished off the Dortmunder Gold from Great Lakes Brewing. If you see something you want to try I'll bring it to the meeting (if I don't drink it first). Just post here.

jesskauffman · Post by **jesskauffman** » Tue Jun 21, 2011 12:46 pm

Awesome vids of The Dragon, Chris! I was just down there 3 weekends ago on my bike to meet up with my brother at Deal's Gap for some motorcycle fun while he was back from Iraq on some R&R.

The roads down there never get old. I bet the Cooper S was a blast on those roads. Did you get a pic of your car in action from killboy.com or any other photographers on The Dragon?

Chris Norrick · Post by **Chris Norrick** » Tue Jun 21, 2011 8:04 pm

Yes, I bought a couple of pics from Killboy and a couple from one of the other guys. Amazing little business they've set up.

I bet that is a blast on a bike. That Tree of Shame is a little intimidating!

Here's a Killboy shot:

ArtCox · Post by **ArtCox** » Wed Jun 22, 2011 11:48 am

I have rode the "Tail of the Dragon" on a bike, and yes it is awesome. I would not do it at night tho.

Don · Post by **Don** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 1:36 pm

I found a car in Chicago that's even smaller than Chris's mini.

Chris Norrick · Post by **Chris Norrick** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 12:09 am

Har de har har...I already spotted one in Evansville at the Ivy Tech car show a couple of months back:

IMG_3051.jpg

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