NOVEMBER 1st, 2014
Follow in the footsteps of Explorers and Patriots while enjoying some of North Carolina’s most scenic and challenging roads.
Touring Joara 2014
Touring Joara combines cars, history, and a fair price. This one day event on Saturday November 1, billed as a European and Sports Car Tour and poker run, is a fundraiser for Exploring Joara Foundation. 100% of each participant’s $25 entry fee will go toward funding the foundations work.
Have you ever heard of Joara? It is an important part of US history. In 1567 Juan Pardo arrived at Joara, a Native American town near present day Morganton North Carolina, to build a fort for Spain. For 18 months, 30 Spanish solders occupied the settlement before it was destroyed. Fort San Juan is recognized as the earliest European settlement in the interior of the United States and predates Sir Walter Raleigh’s "Lost Colony" by 20 years. Come and follow in the footsteps of Explorers and Patriots while enjoying some of North Carolina’s most scenic and challenging roads. The tour will visit the archaeological site at Catawba Meadows as well as other historical and interesting sites. We will drive fun curvy mountain roads such as NC Hwy. 181 and 226 A "The Diamond Back". Exploring Joara Foundation is a nonprofit organization located in Morganton NC that supports public archaeology in the Catawba and Yadkin river valleys.
More tour details, such as accommodations, tour map, directions, and points of interests, will be provided upon registration. Registration will also include a Touring Joara badge and a list of driving and traveling tips to prepare you for North Carolina mountain roads. Most of these items will be available at the tour check-in. Driver tour fees are provided on the registration page.
Scott Coley – Tour Coordinator
phone: 828-433-8486
email: dscottcoley@gmail.com
David Deal – Registration Coordinator
Home: 828-433-4477
Cell 828-439-3679
email: ddeal203@gmail.com
203 Shamrock Dr. Morganton, NC 28655
Tour Info:
While driving in the North Carolina Mountains and Foothills, you will see beautiful scenery and find wonderful winding roads.
As the majority of the tour is rural, please keep a few things in mind:
-The tour route is self guided.
-Cell phone coverage is slim in many areas but usually your signal will return just around the next corner.
-Gas stations are easiest to find in Morganton and Marion.
-Some curves are blind, almost "hair pins," so please do not drive on the center line because of oncoming cars.
-Mind the speed limits (local law enforcement knows we are out here).