Driving Deal's Gap again. It never tires. Last time I ended up stuck top-down in a torrential downpour behind a SUV slowing down to 10 mph at every curve. Can you say wet to the bone?

This time things were different, though. Clouds, but no rain. There was road construction right at the start of the actual dragon's tail, with single lane "follow the guide car" traffic. I was first in line! In other words, this truly excellent construction crew completely blocked the dragon's tail for me until it was clear of all traffic going in my direction.

I lost the cars behind me the minute I was free of the guide car, and I did not run into traffic in front to me until near the end. Probably the previous run of the guide car.

I spend more than a quarter tank of gas too in this brief stretch. Which really had me worried since it was my last quarter tank. I was unsure whether I would be able to make it to Maryville. Fortunately, there was a gas station on the way. And it turned out that I still had a bit over a gallon of fuel, so I would probably have made it to Maryville anyway.

Managed to take some nice pictures too, despite the dark skies.

Got eventually stuck in dense traffic from Smoky Mountain National Park. Found a Day's Inn out of the tourist drag.

I again lost the track log from my GPS. Turned out the reason was the GPS itself: for some reason I do not understand, tracking got turned off. Since I have no backup track, here is a description in words: I 75, I 575, Ga 5, NC 68, 294, US 74, US 129, US 321, CO 73 to Gattlinburg, US 321 "south" past Sevierville to I 40. Days Inn.

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