A little teaser for part of this year's RFTH. This is NC 209, known as The Rattler. This is some of the more sedate portion of the road. It takes about 45 minutes to run the complete Rattler as we run it.
https://youtu.be/mMu7Qo2l9ncFor those of you who might want to attend but missed the hotel discount cutoff dates, You might check with Micro Tel Inn on Allman Road in Franklin, NC. It's a few miles north but about 15 minutes away. Also, 22 miles south in Clayton is Days Inn, Quality Inn, and America's Best. All these hotels are right on the main highway where our hotel is located. All hotels in the region are somewhat expensive at this time of the year and heavily booked. Try Expedia or one of the online booking services. Do not call North Carolina hotels direct. Calls are redirected to a state booking site and the prices are usually higher and not in the area where you want to stay.
Some locals within short driving distances arrive on Saturday morning. We don't recommend driving long distances and doing the event without sleep. Saturday is a very strenuous day.
We usually arrive on Friday afternoon and socialize and do a final check of our automobiles to be sure all fluids are at the proper level, tires aired up, and any mechanical issues are fixed. There are no organized activities for Friday because participants arrive at all hours of the afternoon and evening. Registration forms and route sheets are distributed at this time. There is no registration fee. This event is free.
Driver's meeting is Saturday morning at 8AM at our host hotel, Quality Inn 64 White Oak Lane, Dillard, GA. Some find a restaurant for breakfast but most just partake of the free hotel servings. There are few if any restrooms along our route, and none are scheduled except at our lunch and fuel stop.
All vehicles should be fully fueled prior to the meeting. We pull out at 9AM. We are on a schedule, so waiting for someone makes us late for our lunch reservation and evening dinner reservations. When we arrive at our host hotel in Asheville, we should have time to get checked in and maybe freshen up a bit before our evening dinner at our scheduled restaurant. If you can't get reservations at our hotel, there are Rodeway, Holiday Inn Express, Hilton Garden Inn, and our Fairfield all right there together at I-26 and Brevard Road, Asheville.
FRS radios are a good accessory. Great for chit-chat, Yee-Haws on the hills and curves, Aw-$**ts, and for warning of various traffic situations and alerting others in the event of a breakdown.
