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OT: Don't go to the mountains in the wintertime with much snow in the forecast.

TheReelEss

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Feb 3, 2005
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Unless you like roughing it. Then, go prepared. We went for a weekend with my cousin's family. We thought "No big deal, I have a 4WD". It snowed about 16" and there were trees down all over the place. I could drive, but I didn't have a chainsaw. We lost power Sat night and it took an extra day for the trees to get cut and removed on our road. We cooked by the fireplace and ate junk food. When we finally got out (the other family had to wait for the scraper), I realized what it feels like to get bailed out of jail.
 
Unless you like roughing it. Then, go prepared. We went for a weekend with my cousin's family. We thought "No big deal, I have a 4WD". It snowed about 16" and there were trees down all over the place. I could drive, but I didn't have a chainsaw. We lost power Sat night and it took an extra day for the trees to get cut and removed on our road. We cooked by the fireplace and ate junk food. When we finally got out (the other family had to wait for the scraper), I realized what it feels like to get bailed out of jail.
You might be surprised how many people think that just having 4 wheel drive will save them.
 
You might be surprised how many people think that just having 4 wheel drive will save them.
I've got a good one, bigger offroad tires and winch. Another 2" of snow and we would have been stuck until the scraper arrived.
 
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We were supposed to go to Asheville this past weekend but decided against it. Probably the right call is it looks like not only did they get a ton of snow, but also lost power in a lot of areas
They did. We were there Saturday when it started snowing.
 
I live in the mountains of Tennessee and we just get used to it (snow)...it comes with the territory of living a beautiful life with all the scenery and activities.

We still have snow on the ground and back roads are slick today (wednesday), but I can get on I26 and drive to Asheville or Johnson City without worry. In my town of Erwin, where we get a lot of snow, most folks have generators, so power outages are not a problem.
 
I spent eight days without power in the second week of September here in Florida after one of the 2004 hurricanes. I probably would have preferred to be snowed in.

Me Too !!! And it was Hot and humid as Hell that September . Miserable . When my AC/ finally came on I almost hugged it . Was it Ivan?? That’s the one that got me . Sucked bad .
 
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I live in the mountains of Tennessee and we just get used to it (snow)...it comes with the territory of living a beautiful life with all the scenery and activities.

We still have snow on the ground and back roads are slick today (wednesday), but I can get on I26 and drive to Asheville or Johnson City without worry. In my town of Erwin, where we get a lot of snow, most folks have generators, so power outages are not a problem.

Feel the quake this morning?
 
I have AWD & I still try to stay south of snow as much as possible. During my 10 years in Charlotte having AWD paid off several times, when I bought my new car in Columbia my sales guy tried to talk me into not needing AWD, Even if I move to FL I will forever keep an suv with AWD
 
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I have AWD & I still try to stay south of snow as much as possible. During my 10 years in Charlotte having AWD paid off several times, when I bought my new car in Columbia my sales guy tried to talk me into not needing AWD, Even if I move to FL I will forever keep an suv with AWD
Yeah, I got stuck with my trailer off the edge of a boat ramp once with no one else around. When I went to buy my next truck, they didn't have a 4WD on the lot that I wanted. The salesman told me if I got the locking rear I'd never need the 4WD. So I left. I have no intentions of ever getting stuck again.
 
[QUOTE="titaniumspur, post: 4257860, member: 8818". Seriously, does anybody sell tire chains anymore?[/QUOTE]

Yes, although many modern sets use cables instead of linked chain. Sets to fit most cars fit in a case the size of a small toolbox. If you have a home or vacation home in the mountains, it would not be a bad idea to order a set online and keep them in the trunk of your car.
 
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I live in the mountains of Tennessee and we just get used to it (snow)...it comes with the territory of living a beautiful life with all the scenery and activities.

We still have snow on the ground and back roads are slick today (wednesday), but I can get on I26 and drive to Asheville or Johnson City without worry. In my town of Erwin, where we get a lot of snow, most folks have generators, so power outages are not a problem.

I didn't realize you live in Erwin. I went camping near there on vacation a couple of summers ago. Erwin is a really cool little town. I even thought about looking for a vacation home there but my wife and I are too attached to western NC. We still don't have one yet but within the next three years we'll be buying something near Waynesville or Bryson City. If it weren't for that Erwin would be at the top of my list. Really enjoyed my time there. Also, being a hiker it's really nice that the A/T goes through there. And it's kinda cool to be the only town that ever hung an elephant. lol
 
I didn't realize you live in Erwin. I went camping near there on vacation a couple of summers ago. Erwin is a really cool little town. I even thought about looking for a vacation home there but my wife and I are too attached to western NC. We still don't have one yet but within the next three years we'll be buying something near Waynesville or Bryson City. If it weren't for that Erwin would be at the top of my list. Really enjoyed my time there. Also, being a hiker it's really nice that the A/T goes through there. And it's kinda cool to be the only town that ever hung an elephant. lol

Back around 1975 I did about 30 miles on the Appalachian trail thru Erwin Tennessee with my boyscout troop. An experience I will never forget.
 
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Unless you like roughing it. Then, go prepared. We went for a weekend with my cousin's family. We thought "No big deal, I have a 4WD". It snowed about 16" and there were trees down all over the place. I could drive, but I didn't have a chainsaw. We lost power Sat night and it took an extra day for the trees to get cut and removed on our road. We cooked by the fireplace and ate junk food. When we finally got out (the other family had to wait for the scraper), I realized what it feels like to get bailed out of jail.
That actually sounds kinda nice.
 
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I didn't realize you live in Erwin. I went camping near there on vacation a couple of summers ago. Erwin is a really cool little town. I even thought about looking for a vacation home there but my wife and I are too attached to western NC. We still don't have one yet but within the next three years we'll be buying something near Waynesville or Bryson City. If it weren't for that Erwin would be at the top of my list. Really enjoyed my time there. Also, being a hiker it's really nice that the A/T goes through there. And it's kinda cool to be the only town that ever hung an elephant. lol

A lot of South Carolinians and Floridians choose us due to the tax rates. We pay no property taxes on our vehicles, just a flat $24.00...so if you have a 250k motor home, you still only pay 24.00...

One guy who built a home near me is a business owner in Greenville and he bought here instead of NC because he wanted to have all of his expensive vehicles tagged with Tennessee plates. He said the amount of money he was saving was paying for his 2nd home. He had one of those bus style motor homes which, my guess cost somewhere in the neighborhood of a half million.
 
I didn't realize you live in Erwin. I went camping near there on vacation a couple of summers ago. Erwin is a really cool little town. I even thought about looking for a vacation home there but my wife and I are too attached to western NC. We still don't have one yet but within the next three years we'll be buying something near Waynesville or Bryson City. If it weren't for that Erwin would be at the top of my list. Really enjoyed my time there. Also, being a hiker it's really nice that the A/T goes through there. And it's kinda cool to be the only town that ever hung an elephant. lol
Why Waynesville or Bryson City...Bryson City is in the middle of nowhere. you can reach the TN border 20 miles north of Asheville, why go 30-45 mins. west? More to do, up this way...
 
You might be surprised how many people think that just having 4 wheel drive will save them.
4X4 is certainly not a guarantee, but there's a reason why you don't see any 2 wheel drive trucks here in MT. Same reason why it seems like half the automobiles out here are Subarus. Having said that, the most important tool for driving in snow and ice is common sense. Unfortunately, too many people don't have that in their emergency kit.
 
Unless you like roughing it. Then, go prepared. We went for a weekend with my cousin's family. We thought "No big deal, I have a 4WD". It snowed about 16" and there were trees down all over the place. I could drive, but I didn't have a chainsaw. We lost power Sat night and it took an extra day for the trees to get cut and removed on our road. We cooked by the fireplace and ate junk food. When we finally got out (the other family had to wait for the scraper), I realized what it feels like to get bailed out of jail.
I’ve been on one solo ski trip in my life. Left from Summerville for Banner Elk NC on either March 11 (or 12th, can’t remember exact timing) 1993. Arrived around 8 PM with about 3 inches of snow on the ground. By the next morning there was about a foot and I headed to Sugar (no tire chains on the Camry). I made one run down the mountain before it started thundering and lightening. I then sat in the hotel room and watched about three plus feet of snow fall. Next day I had to walk 3 miles in single digits to the teller machine to get cash because my old bank checks weren’t acceptable (C&S had just merged with someone). Had to dig the car out for 2 hours, then bought tire chains so I could leave the next day to get back to my intern job. I still remember looking back at the mountain and seeing a handful of people skiing on powder under a perfect blue sky (I should have extended my stay a day, what an idiot). Whew that was long. Sorry.
 
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I live on the edge of the mountains in Virginia and every winter I wish I was back in Florida! Cold and damp all winter long!
Very few times has it snowed too much for 4WD here.
 
Back around 1975 I did about 30 miles on the Appalachian trail thru Erwin Tennessee with my boyscout troop. An experience I will never forget.
Just curious. Did you see former SC Governor Mark Sanford while you were on the Appalachian Trail. I think he took a long hike there a few years ago.
 
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I’ve been on one solo ski trip in my life. Left from Summerville for Banner Elk NC on either March 11 (or 12th, can’t remember exact timing) 1993. Arrived around 8 PM with about 3 inches of snow on the ground. By the next morning there was about a foot and I headed to Sugar (no tire chains on the Camry). I made one run down the mountain before it started thundering and lightening. I then sat in the hotel room and watched about three plus feet of snow fall. Next day I had to walk 3 miles in single digits to the teller machine to get cash because my old bank checks weren’t acceptable (C&S had just merged with someone). Had to dig the car out for 2 hours, then bought tire chains so I could leave the next day to get back to my intern job. I still remember looking back at the mountain and seeing a handful of people skiing on powder under a perfect blue sky (I should have extended my stay a day, what an idiot). Whew that was long. Sorry.
That is cool. But, yes, you definitely should have stayed and skied in that fresh powder (a rarety in that area).

Come to think of it, I think I remember that storm you are talking about. I was coming back home to SC from Southern Miss. It was cold and rainy most of the way from Hattiesburg into Alabama, but near Tuscaloosa, it turned to snow. And I mean it was coming down hard with almost no visibility. I remember seeing tractor trailers in front of me fish-tailing all over the road and the conditions were getting steadily worse. Knowing I still had about 6 hours of driving ahead of me, losing daylight, and without any experience driving in snow at that time, I decided to spend the night at the Holiday Inn in Tuscaloosa and reassess the situation in the morning. When I got up the next morning, it was still snowing. I think Tuscaloosa ended up getting about 18 inches of snow out of that storm. The highway patrol put up barricades across the interstate on-ramps and I ended up spending a 2nd night there in the same hotel.
 
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Why Waynesville or Bryson City...Bryson City is in the middle of nowhere. you can reach the TN border 20 miles north of Asheville, why go 30-45 mins. west? More to do, up this way...
Kinda hard to explain but all the places my wife and I visit are somewhat near there.When we grew up everyone went to Maggie Valley or Gatlinburg so that's what's familiar to both of us. And being outdoorsy we love going to the GSM national park. We have been rv camping near Bryson City for a little while now and we just fell in love with the area. From there we can be in Maggie or Waynesville in 30 minutes, Cherokee in 10 minutes, the national park in 15, the A/T and the original NOC in about 20 and Gatlinburg is about an hour's enjoyable drive through the national park. So pretty much everywhere we want to be is not too far from there. Plus Bryson City is about equal to Erwin in quaintness or coolness to me. However, what you said about vehicle taxes will have to be taken into consideration too when I get ready to buy.
 
I lived in Waynesville for about 15 years, now living near Wilmington. When I retire I plan to go back to Waynesville. You could not ask for a better place to settle and/or raise kids IMHO. As you stated, many places are just a short ride away. We are going back up for the first time in a few years after Christmas and I cannot wait. Hitting W-ville, Casino, then over to Gatlinburg for a long weekend. Hopefully no big snows. If you move there I would recommend a Jeep Wrangler, I learned first hand that stock, it can handle up to 16 inches of snow, climbing up inclines, driving over fallen trees, down inclines, back-roads, interstates driving right by backed up traffic due to a jack knifed 18 wheeler. Lift it and throw on some 35's and you could probably handle 20 plus inches of snow. Ice, is a different story however. Below is a pic of main st when we had about a foot.

Do not quite understand the concern for vehicle taxes, they are generally less than a couple hundred bucks for tax and tags. Certainly not enough to impact where I wanted to live.
b07b2ae200ca7d92ae9d6aef8b6acb54.jpg
 
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If you end up there, or go for a visit when this game, Tuscola vs Pisgah is played, you need to attend and buy several 50/50 tickets, I believe the winner this year took home over $20,000. Thats take home 20 grand.

PHSvsTHS.jpg
 
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We're actually about to put our camper on a permanent site right outside of Bryson City in the next few weeks. That will give us a vacation "home" for the next couple of years until we're ready to by. I agree with heelz that Waynesville as well as that whole area is a great place to be. I expect that when we do buy it will be closer to Waynesville but if not it will be the Bryson City/ Sylva area. And, I actually have an 88 Wrangler with a small lift and bigger tires that I had been thinking about selling but after this I may just keep it.
 
Keep the Jeep my friend......If you end up closer to Bryson, its just a short drive to take in a Pisgah vs Tuscola game. Also, Swain Co, right there in Bryson City plays some good ball as well. Their games vs Murphy are usually very good to watch. BTW, if you have not already noticed, in general the people there seem to be much friendlier. Not sure of your age or interest, but Waynesville also has a very good rec league for adult basketball and softball if that interests you. Since I've moved I think they have also tried flag football.
 
Too old for any ball. Just turned 60 and I have back trouble and arthritis. But I would really like to catch some high school ball. I've heard Tuscola is usually pretty good I think. I am really getting excited about having a place up there. My wife and I go up there probably about 6 times a year but once we get our place set up it will be a lot more than that. In fact I'll probably be up there getting the camper set up on the 29th so I'm hoping to be able to catch the bowl game somewhere in town.
 
Several cool little places to eat/bars in Bryson, Sylva and Waynesville so you should be able to find something you like. Good Luck and Enjoy!!!
 
Me Too !!! And it was Hot and humid as Hell that September . Miserable . When my AC/ finally came on I almost hugged it . Was it Ivan?? That’s the one that got me . Sucked bad .

no it was Francis that got me. I'm in Gainesville. Ivan was out on the panhandle.

Yes it was really hot. I was also trying to leave that week to go up to Athens to see the Gamecocks play and almost missed the game.
 
no it was Francis that got me. I'm in Gainesville. Ivan was out on the panhandle.

Yes it was really hot. I was also trying to leave that week to go up to Athens to see the Gamecocks play and almost missed the game.

Yeah that was a tough year . I’m in Destin and Ivan shut us down for a while . They were shuttling kids to school in Charter boats for a few weeks . Crazy
 
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I did something similar around that time. Left Columbia with 2friends at 4am in a beat up escort or tempo (I can’t remember and it doesn’t matter) Drove to near Boone. Even the heat in my friend’s crappy car would barely work. We did a little skiing. I am not a skier.

My buddy was responsible for our overnight acccomdoations. He supposedly had a “friend” who was going to take care of us and put us up for the night and save us money instead of getting a hotel room. We were taken care of alright. His friend stuck us in some little cabin with the weakest space heater in the world. It was below freezing INSIDE our room. The only saving grace was we were going to have a hot shower. We didn’t. No hot water. It was brutal. Looking back it was fun. Actually living it wasn’t fun. But we were 23 or so. Live and learn


I’ve been on one solo ski trip in my life. Left from Summerville for Banner Elk NC on either March 11 (or 12th, can’t remember exact timing) 1993. Arrived around 8 PM with about 3 inches of snow on the ground. By the next morning there was about a foot and I headed to Sugar (no tire chains on the Camry). I made one run down the mountain before it started thundering and lightening. I then sat in the hotel room and watched about three plus feet of snow fall. Next day I had to walk 3 miles in single digits to the teller machine to get cash because my old bank checks weren’t acceptable (C&S had just merged with someone). Had to dig the car out for 2 hours, then bought tire chains so I could leave the next day to get back to my intern job. I still remember looking back at the mountain and seeing a handful of people skiing on powder under a perfect blue sky (I should have extended my stay a day, what an idiot). Whew that was long. Sorry.
 
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Why Waynesville or Bryson City...Bryson City is in the middle of nowhere.[/QUOTE]

The perfect reason to go there. Out in the middle of nowhere is a great place to be.
 
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