Have Florida plates? Beware of "West of Asheville" & further yonder toward Tennessee

[overtherainbow]

Florida drivers, thought you would like to know this tidbit from a local boy. To my knowledge this does not apply to plates from ANY other state; it is specific only to cars with Florida plates.

I live in Sylva (about an hour West of Asheville, North Carolina). The geographic location is in the Southern Appalachians, North of Georgia and South Carolina and East of Tennessee. This would include the cities of Sylva, Highlands, Cashiers, Cherokee, Bryson City, Murphy, Waynesville, etc. Once you get as far East as Asheville this advice no longer applies.

The townsfolk in this area DO NOT LIKE Florida drivers, nor do police. In this circumstance they really are out to get you. Now if you switch to North Carolina plates suddenly everyone is your friend and the cops don't hassle you.

This mindset is a really odd phenomena that I noticed among the locals after moving here a number of years ago. Just thought you'd find this useful when planning a vacation to the area as I know you like our mountains.

[switch626]

Thanks for the tip. I will be very happy to avoid that "You're not from around these parts" experience. I really wonder where this is all coming from. Either way I'll be sure to stay away from that area.

[overtherainbow]

I hope I did not run you off. That was not the point; I was just giving people a fair warning.

If you drive the speed limit (I would not do more than 2 or 3 over PSL with FL tags) and don't act the fool you should be fine.

Two places worth seeing in the area are Gatlinburg, TN (its mostly interstate there) and the Great Smoky Mountains. Additionally, there are some great hiking trails along with camping, fishing etc. Another thought is to stay closer to Asheville--you shouldn't have any problems there; I lived there for years and never heard such negative talk. There is more to do in that city anyway unless you are really into the outdoors.

I think the perceptual problems have arisen over the years from all the Florida drivers that have houses in the area. My only guess is that a lot of them are elderly. This equals problems with hand/eye coordination because of age-related decline AND people who are from Florida are not used to driving in the mountains.

I know when I moved up here from the flat lands it took me a few months to acclimate to all the hills. Honestly, I swear to God, I thought my car was going to flip backwards once the hill was so steep. Now I race around the mountains with the best of them.

Again, the above reasons are only a guess, but there is sure is a lot of apathy for Florida drivers no matter what the reason. It's really odd.

[Stealth Stalker]

I'd venture a guess that this is simple drug profiling. Drugs flow north, and FL is a major port of entry. I doubt it has anything to do with the type of drivers they are. Once you get north of NC, you're where most Floridians originally came from to begin with, so they don't care as much.

[supercowpowers]

Wouldn't it be nice if your license plate didn't proudly advertise when you're away from home? However, I can't think of how to fix that without making car registrations a federal responsibility.

[switch626]

With regard to the drug problem in FL, that reputation is well earned (if only by small number of people). We have a major problem with pain clinics and people coming from all over the country to obtain and distribute narcotics. The local government it working very hard to shut down the pill mills and stop all of the BS. Unfortunately this all hurts people who have chronic pain and need the drugs as well.

I hope they do get that problem resolved, but a reputation like that will take many years to be forgotten when it's all cleaned up.

[Akosikojak]

Florida drivers, thought you would like to know this tidbit from a local boy. To my knowledge this does not apply to plates from ANY other state; it is specific only to cars with Florida plates.

I live in Sylva (about an hour West of Asheville, North Carolina). The geographic location is in the Southern Appalachians, North of Georgia and South Carolina and East of Tennessee. This would include the cities of Sylva, Highlands, Cashiers, Cherokee, Bryson City, Murphy, Waynesville, etc. Once you get as far East as Asheville this advice no longer applies.

The townsfolk in this area DO NOT LIKE Florida drivers, nor do police. In this circumstance they really are out to get you. Now if you switch to North Carolina plates suddenly everyone is your friend and the cops don't hassle you.

This mindset is a really odd phenomena that I noticed among the locals after moving here a number of years ago. Just thought you'd find this useful when planning a vacation to the area as I know you like our mountains.

As far as driving is concerned (not property owners) I would say most out of state drivers (not just FL ones) that drive through "our" mountains (this probably extends right below Asheville right past Black Mountain area) are a pain in the A$$ to follow behind due to them not being used on how to drive in there hills LOL I'm from right around the corner of your location and can tell you in a millisecond if somebody is from our area or not even if the tag does say NC on it. Quite a few NC Easterners have irritated the hell out of me a few times because they drive slow as hell around the curves then gun the throttle thru the straightaways and you end up doing the "dukes of hazard" pass and slide to get around them before the next curve ahead

I do know the 1st time I drove up in AK I must have irritated the hell out of most of the natives from that great state because my 1st few days I was basically doing the "driving Miss Daisy" routine before I got my feet wet and learned "their" way of driving. So when I'm home back in NC I always tell/pass my example on to people to have a little more patience when dealing w/them "Damn Yankees" or them "FlorIDIOTS" when driving.

I also got a allot of family/Friends including police friends from NC (obviously) and haven't really perceived any downright anger (maybe a little irritation sometimes though but not out to get people) from our area so I think your right, probably just might be specific to your area. I would venture to say the closer you get to the more rural parts of Western NC the more of this "phenomenon" you will see.

[overtherainbow]

I also got a allot of family/Friends including police friends from NC (obviously) and haven't really perceived any downright anger (maybe a little irritation sometimes though but not out to get people) from our area so I think your right, probably just might be specific to your area.

Yeah, I think so. I have lived in Asheville at times and spent a lot of time in Black Mountain and never heard such talk about Florida drivers there. It is surprising.

[xxpor]

wrong thread