The Miata of the Month from

October 2010

Tom Gorman and Stella

tegorman@gmail.com
124csp on the Miata forum

Congratulations to Tom on the selection of his Miata as the October Miata of the Month!

My name is Tom Gorman. My best friend from high school and I spent the Labor Day 2010 weekend driving some of the most glorious roads in the US. The plan was that he would ride his motorcycle and I would drive my 99’ Miata (Stella). Stella is my third Miata. I have owned a 90’ and a 93’ LE both of which were dedicated CSP autocross cars. The trip's main goal was to drive the entire length of the Blue Ridge Parkway From NC to VA all 469 miles and include some additional amazing roads.

Before moving to Georgia my vacations were spent in North Georgia driving the mountain roads. Once I moved the Atlanta area I got to make mountain runs all the time on the weekends. I would get some friends together and spend an entire day driving all over the Smoky Mountains. However, Adam and I wanted to spend several consecutive days driving and cover as much ground as we could. So he came up with a route that did just that. He having a two-wheeled passion and me having a Miata passion, we would ride our respective steeds on a journey of a lifetime.

Day 1 of 5
Leaving Sandy Springs, GA we headed north using all side roads to first reach 19/129 Blood Mountain (one of our favorite “local” roads). We continued northwest to Robbinsville, NC. There we rode Tail of the Dragon West bound, turned around and drove the dragon again, stopping at Deals Gap for lunch. We then hopped on Hwy 28 (another fantastic road) and headed to start our trek on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We drove to Spruce Pine, NC for the night to finish the Blue Ridge Parkway on day 2. Being a Thursday, traffic was almost none existent and made for the best Dragon run ever.

Day 2 of 5
We woke up excited for a solid day of driving nothing but the Parkway with no stop lights, no stop signs and to our discovery almost zero traffic! The scenery along this stretch of road is breath taking and is highly recommended to add to your bucket list! The pavement is almost perfect with no potholes, tar snakes or gravel on the road. We finished this day completely exhausted but thrilled at the accomplishment.

Day 3 of 5
We drove random unlined roads in the cow pastures and tobacco fields in backwoods VA. The views were amazing and the weather continued to be spectacular. Because we were driving these roads that were in the middle of nowhere, we were not experiencing the typical Labor Day traffic and made for stress free spirited twisty road driving. This was a rewarding day as the scenery was unexpectedly beautiful and again we were graced with picture perfect weather.

Day 4 of 5
We stumbled across a little slice of heaven known as Hwy 70. We picked it up in VA and followed it all the way to TN. This stretch of highway is so good we almost added another day just to drive it again. This road was not only beautiful to drive but the scenery was fantastic. We finished this day in Cherokee, NC after driving through the Great Smoky Mountain Forest. We also got to meet up and have dinner with a college buddy who was also vacationing in Gatlinburg. This was a last minute bonus to another great day of driving.

Day 5 of 5
We made our way back to Hwy 28 to get us over to the Cherohala Skyway. Again, both roads had almost zero traffic and the weather was still beautiful. Our last stretch of twisty road was Hwy 60. We arrived home after completing 1,643 miles, no breakdowns, no speeding tickets and no crashes. It was a spectacular trip, I got to spend 5 days with one of the greatest friends a guy could have and to see our beautiful country from the windshield of my Miata! This trip further convinced me that the Miata is the great driving car of all time.

Tom Gorman

Previous Miata of the Month Winners

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