We spent the weekend at the Tail of the Dragon area last weekend, staying at Fontana Village Lodge with 67 other Solstice and Sky owners from Miami to Canada. GREAT weekend of driving and friendship. Until Saturday night. After the banquet, several of us went on a cruise up the Hellbender 28 and the Dragon and back. Just east of Deals Gap (the beginning of the Hellbender, and only a few miles from the resort), one of our cars missed a turn, went over the edge, and hit a tree sideways. The passenger, Nellie Tubbs, was killed instantly. The driver, Keith Wolven, was removed from the car with the jaws of life, and was air lifted to Ashville Mission hospital, unconscious.
I heard the brief squeal of tires, and then the hard impact on the 2 foot tree. The worst sound was the silence of no answer when I screamed out "ARE YOU OK?"

Why am I posting this here? Several reasons.
1. I consider you here my MCF Family, and we share many things here, including when we need prayers for our family.
2. Driving hard on twisty roads like the Tail of the Dragon and the Hellbender can be a thrill, and so can street drag racing. This accident emphasizes how important it is to drive safely, and with full consideration of others, including your passengers.
3. It just emphasizes even more the fact that life as we know it right here right now is VERY temporary, and can be taken from us at any second. You can be having a thrill one second, and seconds later you can be.......well....
Point here is you had BETTER be right with God, right now, and not later, cuz later might be too late.

You all are my family here, and I have met many of you. You are GREAT people. I can not put into words how I TRULY feel over this tragic accident. Grieving for one lost out of the natural order of life is the hardest.

Please pray for Keith Wolven, and the family of Nellie Tubbs.

 

Sad story, you are right. We are living on borrowed times. Our prayers are with both families.

 

Thanks for sharing the info with us Wayne.

It's always sad to hear about people losing their life so tragically. On one hand Nellie's loss is very devastating to all of her family and friends. But it sounds like she didn't suffer, which is a good thing. I'm sorry to hear Keith is going through a great deal of pain. Hopefully, with lots of help, he'll recover very soon.

I'm keeping Nellie, Keith and all their family and friends in my prayers.

 

Our prayers are will be going out the families.

 

I can't imagine what it must be like to be there when someone dies. It hasn't happened to me yet, but I would be lying if I said I had never put myself and some others in a situation where it could have happend with one twitch of the wheel.

Thanks for the reminder, and I hope that all works its way out with this family.

 

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families.

 

My thoughts, prayers, and well wishes are with everybody who rides, wants to ride, or has ridden that road.

 

I’m sorry.

For both of them, their families and for you and yours as well.

Your right, life is so short and we certainly take it for granted. We complain about stuff that seems, oh so important at the time, but then something like this happens…..and that stuff becomes so insignificant.

My thoughts and prayers are with you all.

 

My thoughts and prayers to everyone who is suffering from this tragedy....

 

I'm terribly sorry that you had to witness anything like that. It is a good reminder though on what you should and shouldn't do.

These cars for a lot of people are a huge part of their life. Yes it is good to enjoy them, but it's also better to enjoy them safely.

My thoughts go out to everyone involved.