GCR Trip to Little Switzerland, North Carolina and Shadow’s Return to the Mountain Roads During the years 1996-2002, my late husband, Frank and I lived in Johnson City in northeast Tennessee. Frank’s father, who had owned a 1985 944 for several years, passed the 944 I named “Shadow” down to Frank. We drove Shadow everywhere, for travel, for errands, and for the next several years we drove it to the 24 hours of Daytona (now known as the Rolex 24 at Daytona). At that time, Interstate 26 was not completed in western North Carolina and we had to traverse the Sams Gap Mountain Pass (US 23) that consists of steep, winding mountain roads from Johnson City to Asheville to access I-26. Even though it was fun driving Shadow on these roads, we never thought of it as a pleasure drive, but as a necessity to get from point A to point B. We did not know that there were places like the Diamond Back or the Tail of the Dragon nearby where people would come to drive for fun. We even avoided the Blue Ridge Parkway due to the amount of tourist traffic. When I signed up for the Little Switzerland, North Carolina trip and looked at the map, I saw how close we would be to where Frank and I had lived and decided to take Shadow back to the mountain roads. On the first day of the trip, I met up with GCR members Cynthia and Jay to caravan to Savannah, Georgia and spend the night. We enjoyed the evening by strolling among the beautiful southern live oak trees with the Spanish moss hanging from them. The next morning, we headed into North Carolina and met up with other GCR members in Chimney Rock at the Burnt Shirt Vineyards Tasting Room and Bistro that overlooks Chimney Rock mountain for lunch. After lunch, a few of us walked across the street to take in the sights by the river and I could not resist dipping my toes into the beautiful clear,
Southern Live Oak trees in Savannah cold water. We made a stop in Hendersonville and picked up some treats at the McFarlan Bake Shop then continued on to Little Switzerland, driving part of the Diamond Back to get there. As we were starting a trek up the mountain road, a road crew pulled out in front of us and stopped on a very steep portion of the narrow two-lane road to pick up cones. I’m sure many of you can appreciate how difficult it is to be driving a stick shift in first gear, in stop-and-go mode at two miles per hour up a mountain road. Finally there was a pass where we could get around the road crew - whew! We made it to the Switzerland Inn and Shadow drove great the whole way there. My longtime friend,
View of Chimney Rock mountain from the patio of the Burnt Shirt Vineyards
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Die Porsche
Article by Christy Spangler Photos by Cynthia Diaz, Carolyn Ditrichs, and Lisa Edwards
Kassette | Jan 2021
Lisa, who lives in Charlotte, drove in to spend the weekend with me and joined our group that night for dinner. The next day we started the drive on the Diamond Back and a group of us then headed to Asheville for lunch at Luella’s Bar-B-Que. Afterwards we headed to the New Belgium Brewery to enjoy a beer while relaxing in their beer garden. We took the Blue Ridge Parkway from Asheville back to the Switzerland Inn, stopping at a few scenic spots along the way. I was really enjoying the scenic drives and the way the Shadow handled the roads. On the fourth day, the group took the Blue Ridge Parkway to Crabtree Falls. We parked and traversed the mile and a half hike to the falls. Parts of the hike were a little tricky, but well worth it. The falls were beautiful. We hiked back to the cars and headed to the Linville Falls Winery for wine tasting and lunch. They had a very large patio area for seating with beautiful views of the grape vines and Christmas tree farm. Things can be unpredictable with a 35-year-old car and when we got back to the Switzerland Inn, coolant began pouring out of Shadow. Well, this is a problem
