TOD/Twisted Pickle Drive this week
 

Tuesday I met Derb in Robbinsville for a little backwoods driving up and down the Tail of the Dragon... got nauseous AGAIN! But it was fun...

Derb drove his Boxster up and he was gracious to let me drive it back down. I was really careful not to push it :rolleyes:

Then I hopped back into my car (550i) and we drove to Fontana Dam for a look-see and then, Derb led and showed me the Twisted Pickle. I like that road even better than TOD because I could carry a little more speed and I didn't feel like hurling at the bottom of it.

What great fun we had. I am now more convinced than ever that I must retire Western North Carolina. The wife is not interested in the idea yet, but retirements ten years off so I have a lot of time to wear her down.

first, /me jealous!

ok, now about moving to NC, don't show her this (assuming $100k income):
http://s180500392.onlinehome.us/posts/hou.ashe.png

but if you can stand the knoxville area, you might show her this one:
http://s180500392.onlinehome.us/posts/hou.knox.png

Tony, I don't think we'd live in Asheville. Too pricey.

We might live an hour west of there though... possibly the same high cost of living though!

My plan is to make some money between now and then and watch our inner city home appreciate in value. <-- both are highly speculative, of course!

Knoxville is nice. Been there a couple of times. I just don't want to live in a city. I want a home on the top of a mountain somewhere!

Randall,
We couldn't have had better weather yesterday.
The 'twisted pickle' does let you keep your speed up (55 mph limit- not that you could actually go that fast) but you don't want to let your guard down because the next turn could surprise you. Plenty of tire tread was left on the road. It's like the Dragon but stretched out a little.
Enjoy the rest of your trip and have a safe drive back to Houston.

mike

ps: Ten years is plenty of time to convince the wife.

rub it in... :)

keep in mind however, that NC has an income tax (6% - 8.25%) and base sales tax of 5.25%. while TN does not have an income tax, it does have a tax on interest and dividends (6%) and sales tax (usually 7%).

texas, as you know has no income tax and a relatively low sales tax (6.5%).

though all 3 are better than maryland. this little gem is particularly onerous - "No restrictions or limitations on property taxes are imposed by the state. Cities and counties can set tax rates at the level they deem necessary to fund governmental services." ugh.

Tony, you are making TN look better and better with every post in this thread. Maybe I could live within a few miles of the state line, south of Knoxville?

Who knows what the future will hold for TN or TX for that matter. We may have a state income tax before I retire elsewhere.

Yes, The Twisted Pickle rocks! Did Mike tell you the story about how we came up with the name back in the Fall of 2008?

I hope to drive the Turbo through the TOD and Pickle in 2011.

Bill, I don't recall how you all named it. Do share!

Here's a HD vid of my drive down the TOD in Derb's boxster...

http://gallery.me.com/randallneighbour#100061

i shouldn't have watched that video. now i want to take a weekend trip tomorrow.

Randall, I don't completely remember the entire story and background, but I do remember alcohol and a very cute girl were involved. We need Derb and Sammy to help fill in some of the blanks.

Basically, we were at dinner one night eating hamburgers and drinking beer. There was a very cute girl in a green camouflage tank-top that Derb noticed first. Somewhere a comment was made about a game of "hide the pickle" might be fun with Tank-top-girl. Then something was said about free pickel rides. And then lastly we came up with "The Twisted Pickle" and how we should start selling T-shirts to fund our Carrera GT purchase.

I think the TOD is way overrated. As i think you found out on your trip after you guys ran on the Twisted Pickle. Cool name by the way. Have you driven The Pigs Tail in AR? Very very nice drive and at 7:30 almost any sunday morning it is deserted. Even on big Eureka Springs Event days. But SH125 through the Mark Twain National Forest was what got it for me. We were running a 944; S4; 914; yelojkt and an A4 going south Saturday morning. After we hit a raise followed by a quick low while curving left and right under a canopy of trees my fourteen year old son riding shotgun with me burst out "Its like my world just wraped!" Thats what pull'n Gs does for ya. So can you let us know where the Twisted Pickle is?

yelojkt,
The road is Rt. 28 at Lauada heading south to Franklin. Speed limit is 55- good luck actually going that fast.

Behold, the Twisted Pickle!:

I just did a google search for cost of living calculator. Lots of site, though most are limited to larger cities so you,ighht have to search around a little.

Comparing Houston to say, Franklin it doesn't look so bad. Property taxes are a quarter of what I am paying in Houston, which should offset the state income tax nicely.

We had a breakthrough last night while unloading the car after our trip, and btw, yesterday was our 24th wedding anniversary! My wife is a saint.

Anyway, the breakthrough was my wife saying, "I see what you mean about Western North Carolina. We have aging parents in Houston that we need to care for, but when they're gone I see nothing keeping us here if we can sell the house and pay cash for a new home in NC."

YEAH!!!!!!

The nice thing about this statement is that our home, purchased 22 years ago, has appreciated ten fold. Bought it for 56k in 87 at the tail end of a recession and even in this recession homes similar to ours are selling in the $500k range. That should buy a nice retirement cottage on a hilltop in that part of the country. Now finding one with enough land for a 4 car garage/wood shop may not be the easiest thing to do, but I've ten years to figure out how to make enough money to make that happen.

Gentlemen, one way or another, western North Carolina will become my home. Like so many other retirees, I'm smitten with this area of our great country.