Yo chaps!
I just returned from a working weekend in Gatlinburg with the MG Council and
the East Tennessee MG Drivers' Club.
It was a VERY productive weekend...and I gained a lot of new friends
with the ETMGDC! They are a great group of folks and will be a golden
asset to the Council in our journey to provide the participants at
MG2006 an event that will be talked about for years!
I drove down to Gatlinburg on Thursday...and came in to town via SR321
rather than SR441 through Sevierville and Pigeon Forge. Unless you
absolutely MUST take SR441 through this mecca of tourism, I highly
advise chosing an alternative route such as the one I just mentioned,
if you are coming in from the north. It took me 30 minutes to drive
the (approximately) 22 miles from Cosby (where the car display/show
will be held during MG2006) to the portico of the Holiday Inn Sunspree
in Gatlinburg (where I stayed this weekend). Taking SR441 could very
easily eat up a couple of hours of driving time due to the stop-and-go
traffic. We will have recommended routes for your arrival to and from
Gatlinburg...I strongly recommend that you take our advise!
Friday morning, I visited with Kathy Evans of the Gatlinburg
Convention Center. MG2006 was the first group to contract with the
Center (although there will be functions held in the new building
before our awards banquet) for an activity in their NEW facility
(which had its Grand Opening on Thursday)...and I'm certain that you
will be pleased with what we have to offer for the awards banquet,
which will be held in this new facility on Saturday night. We only
have room for a few hundred more people at the awards banquet, as the
room has a capacity of 1300, and this has been a very popular event!
Friday afternoon, we visited with the management team of the Glenstone
Lodge. Registration for MG2006 will be held in what we have renamed
"The Kimber House" (but is known to the locals as the Glenstone
Conference Center, a small building that stands to the front and
"stage left" of the Hotel. The Wednesday night "Welcome BBQ" will be
held at the Glenstone, and we are nearly at capacity...so if you are
"thinking about going" you might want to sign up NOW! We also
revisited the Convention center as a group and received a "behind the
scenes" tour of the new building. It is a GREAT facility, and is in
within walking distance of all of the hotels except the Park
Vista. (We will be arranging for a dedicated trolly on Saturday
evening to make your visit to and from the convention center a little
easier!)
Friday evening we took a break and visited the Sunspree's pub after
having a very good dinner at Calhouns' Restaurant (where the MGA
Register will be holding their Register nite activities on Friday
during MG2006). We were entertained in the pub by some local (and some
not-so-local) karaoke singers. Two types of music
predominated. Country AND Western!
Saturday morning, we drove to the Visitors' Center 'on Cosby' where we
met with representatives of the Center as well as about a dozen VERY
enthusiastic members of the East Tennessee Drivers' Club. After a very
productive (yet informal) meeting at the Center, we adjourned for
lunch and visited the "Fox and Parrot" Pub (found in the Artists'
Circle just north of Gatlinburg). If you appreciate true English pub
food and potables, you MUST visit the Fox and Parrot whilst you are in
Gatlinburg. (The MGC Register will be holding its Friday evening
Register gathering at this location.)
We returned to Gatlinburg, where the Council members met at Kimber
House. We were able to finalize most of the week's program at this
meeting. (The trophies that will be awarded on Saturday night are VERY
unique!) The website will soon be updated to reflect what resulted
from this meeting!
We chose Bennet's BBQ for supper on Saturday evening...and made good
friends with our waitress. (She was JUST like us! .... It was kind of
scary!)
We all called it an early evening as travel on Sunday for all involved
would take most of the day. I left Gatlinburg about 7am today (3/26)
with the intention of driving to Deals Gap to "Tame the Dragon" (SR129
and its 318 turns in 11 miles) with my 300ZX. But Mother Nature dealt
me a joker and provided a snowstorm (see attached picture) throughout
the weekend that closed the road that I wanted to take over to Deals
Gap. I considered taking the Foothills Parkway over to the west end of
the Dragon and driving it from west to east, turning around at Deals
Gap, and doing it over.....but common sense prevailed as I realized
that the same storm that closed the mountain highway may have made the
"skin" of the dragon a little too slick to enjoy it as I would have
liked ...so I simply took the Little River Road to Townsend, then over
to Maryville and Alcoa before hitting I-75 and points northwest.
It was a GREAT, productive weekend in Gatlinburg. The Council members
left with the confidence that this will be THE event to attend in your
MG in 2006....and will be THE event that will be talking about for
years to come!
See you in Gatlinburg for MG2006 - "A Driving Experience in the Smokies!"
Rick Ingram - 1978 MGB - 1969 MGC - 1974.5 MGB/GT V8 conversion - 1968 MGC
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