Is it worth an 8 hour drive? IDK, that's a long way to go. I assume you would do the century? You can register the day of the ride. I'd check out the Best Western or Holiday Inn Express in Dillsboro,NC for a room. It's about 45 min to the start from there.
The ride will probably have around 300 riders unless the weather sucks. Right now it looks to be pt. cloudy and in the low 60s with a chance of a shower. About a third of the riders do the century. The route will have around 10k ft of climbing. I'm doing the metric which for me right now is hard enough with over 7k ft.
Let me know if you need more info.