I do not know about the drives out west. But, I do not know if there are as terrifying as coming down Black Mountain on the old US 70 to Old Fort (for you young guns Interstate 40 did not go all the way to Asheville). A nice two lane road in January with a ice/snow storm. The trip was normal except I was only 16 driving a 1972/1973 Chevy Vega with my Mom in the passenger seat. Her death grip on anything she could get a hold of was bugging me, then I see it in my rear view mirror, a large semi-truck flashing his headlights gaining on me quickly. Deciding that scaring Mom anymore was not going to be good, I just continued to pick up speed trying to get to the bottom before the truck ran me over. Glad the ice got to more rain as we came down. Mom was not happy with the high speed, yelling at me to slow down more than once or twice or the hold way down. Needless to say, Mom did not say much to me the rest of the trip to Raleigh and the only reason she did not drive the rest of the trip was she could not drive a stick shift.
