Again, manual or automatic? Can the automatics be having all this fun in the mountains?
I went through Deal's Gap on a motorcycle a few years ago. The infamous "Dragon" with 318 curves in 11 miles. A lot of carnage.
http://www.motorcycleplayground.com/...ofShamebig.htm
Saw a guy sitting outside the general store with blood oozing out of his ears - insisting he was OK.

 

tacoma,wa to cour de'lane idaho.... 05 auto xb..... 95-105+ air temp.... my box was hurtin on hills.... cruisin 70-75mph slight incline droped me to 65-70mph at 4-5k rpms just to maintain... pretty sure my speaker box in back wasnt helping things... but my guess was the heat that was the big hurt flats did well.... and when the temp droped it was better too... still was weird going extended times at 4k+ rpms between shifts

 

^^I did the same trip as Kekai, but I was really happy with the way the box did going over the pass. I had 5 people + our weekend supplies in the car and we went 75-80 the whole way.

 

wow, alot of people seem to be making the pilgrimage to Asheville lately, but it's probably just me. Since spring, I've had 3 friends move down there independently, and a 4th is going in a month or so. They're kind of hippies though, and I hear there are alot of them around there. Tell Vince I said hi!