Blue Ridge Parkway - Roanoke to Asheville and Mount Mitchell (279 miles)
⇐Day 2 | Day 4⇒
The plan was to start each day when it was light out to give the maximum daylight driving time. But we got itchy and left before dawn. The Model A headlights aren't bright, but plenty bright enough when there are no other lights around. The problem is when there are bright lights coming from ahead or behind. Sometimes the light coming at you will reflect off of the back window and rear view mirror and look like another car is passing you from behind. That wasn't a problem this morning and it was a really nice treat to drive in darkness with just a full moon. The bonus was being up there for the sunrise.
Things were pretty crazy around the Linn Cove Viaduct - it was a weekend afternoon in near-peak leaf season - there were people everywhere. This was the last section built of the Blue Ridge Parkway, completed in 1986 (the Blue Ridge Parkway construction started in 1936). The trip was planned for leaf season because of the scenery but also in the hope for cooler weather and little rain. We only had one real day with rain and it wasn't bad but the weather was a lot warmer than expected for most of the days. Overall we had expected to see more cars and RVs than we saw which hopefully means that we were traveling at the right speed. Things really did get busier around Asheville on a weekend afternoon though.
Sometimes it is fun to take pictures of people taking pictures of you.
Mount Mitchell is the highest mountain east of the Mississippi - 6684 ft. This is where we first had the problems with what we now know was fuel percolation. It was a hot afternoon and the road was steep and the traffic was heavier. the combination of which caused rough running. We made it to the top of the mountain but it sure wasn't running well. More on the fuel percolation problem later...
More Blue Ridge Parkway... During this time the engine died and had no spark. The first time it happened I thought it was a condenser but a short time later it happened again. While pulled over a second time, Jim and family in a RHD Model A stopped to help which was much appreciated. After Jim left I took out the distributor and a nut fell out - it was a nut for a fake condenser that apparently was shorting out the spark when it rolled to the right place. After removing the nut and putting the distributor back in it never cut out again the rest of the trip.
⇐Day 2 | Day 4⇒
Copyright 2010-2017 Sheepisland.com - all rights reserved.