Florida Drivers

Kentucky is the reason I'm not a pinhead Florida driver who rides his brakes and falls apart when it rains and can't drive on ice. You can always tell the Florida people in North Carolina in the mountains in the summer. They drive 30 miles per hour in 55 zones, and they use their brakes on every curve, and they're so ... dumb they brake all the way down mountains instead of using the transmission. Then their brakes go out, and they go over the high side on the next curve, and the locals behind them get to drive at normal speed until they catch up to the next Florida idiot. My mother straightened me out on that score. Florida drivers exasperated her.

- Steve Graham @ Hog On Ice

That is so true... God help you if you happen to be driving down 321 south of Boone in the middle of October. My mom was raised up there (NC mountains) and every time we went up to Boone she'd be complaining about the "flatlanders." You didn't even have to see the license plate to know - the smell of burning brake pads was a dead giveaway. My mom can absolutely fly down those roads. Riding with her I hardly ever worried that we'd go flying off the side of the mountain.

Actually, I think that it is matter of pride for mountain folk that they can drive curves without fear. Though I am not native mountain folk, I do pretty well, but I can't live up to my uncle's level.

My mom's brother claims that he could drive from Tweetsie to Patterson in a panel van with a load of oak cabinets without touching the brakes. I'll have to take his word for that one. I'm pretty certain that I don't want to be in the van. I have ridden with him on the narrow, windy back roads between Patterson and North Wilkesboro in a full-sized pick-up truck hauling a bass boat going every bit of the speed limit. (Maybe more. True story.) That was enough adventure for me!

On a side note, right off of the Wilkesboro Road is the grave site of the infamous Tom Dooley.

I love the mountains. Give me mountains over the ocean any day. That isn't to say that I don't appreciate the water. I do. But the ocean can't compare to my beautiful Blue Ridge.

And, by the way, "Appalachian" is Ap-puh-LATCH-un NOT Ap-puh-LAISH-un.