Another Trip on The Blue Ridge Parkway

We took another trip to the Parkway this week... We drove from Boone to Little Switzerland and got off in Marion to stay with Trey's Dad and to give the Bus a little bit of flat ground to work with. He hates going up those steep hills- bringing it down to second most of the time, third if we were lucky. So we traveled on route 70 and I-40 to Asheville where we went North again. Being an air-cooled machine we could really tell the difference when we were close to Mount Mitchell (the highest point East of the Mississippi river). The elevation was above 5000 feet for most of the time, but luckily it dropped back down closer to 3000 after 25 miles or so... In the Picture to the Right, Mt. Mitchell is in the background, shadowing us.

The trip was a success! The Bus, although slow, did run great. And when we were in Marion it had a better time scooting around... we think he will enjoy traveling the flat lands a lot better. But the next time we drive him off the mountain will be the last, until we reach the other side...

We are already starting to think about our next Bus... more along the lines of a Syncro.

The Count Down

We have essentially another month before our trip begins, and the excitement is over flowing!

However, we still don't really have a direct answer to everyone's question: "So, where are you going to go?"

Fall is already in the air here, leaving a window open at night now means very frosty mornings and no desire to leave the blanket. So that means in a month from now, traveling up north won't really be on the top of our list... which unfortunately rules out Boston and New York. I was born and lived my first 9 years just south of Boston and most of my extended family lives up there... And I have never even been to NYC. Looks like I will just have to visit those places another time.

When we "kick off" we plan to visit our families in NC, SC, GA and AR. So! It looks like we will follow along basically in that order. I've had the idea in my head to maybe make it to New Orleans for Halloween but we may be in the Carolinas a bit longer making some extra travel cash. We know we want to visit AZ, Las Vegas, and then up Cali to Oregon... But we don't expect to start traveling North again until spring time where we can hopefully find a farm to work on in the Northern Cali area. Specifically a Vineyard Maybe?? :)

Before then I hope to get new front shocks on Lenny, check out the CV boots to see what kind of condition they are in, a complete brake job, and I need to put a new E-brake on because ours really does not work. We rely on chocking the tires for the time being... Also we are missing a thread now on our oil pan. After we did an oil change this weekend we have been leaking a significant amount of oil from there... We are hoping that we can put some sort of high temp gasket on there to keep the oil from leaking... Cause seriously I think we must be losing close to half a quart a day! Or I can be ghetto about it and keep a cup under there to catch the oil and just pour it back in before I drive! Hahah, but I think I would rather just fix it. :)

Trip to the Parkway

I know I live 15 minutes from it, but we have never taken the BreadLoaf up to the parkway until yesterday. It was a slow climb up but once we were up past the 3000 level he had no problem. I think we may have also named him finally... "Lenny". I don't know if I am happy with it yet but for now it will do!

Now for some pics!








the weather is beautiful! I can feel Fall a-comin'!