After a sunrise picture on the 4th of July in a cloudy Virginia Beach VA, We went our separate ways to celebrate the holiday with family and friends.
This morning, Mike and I met Dave at an Exxon in Oilville, VA for a brief drive back to Charlottesville where the journey would begin. There in the town where we first met, we readied the RV and took pictures in front of the Frat House and the Rotunda before finally getting on the road at 1:30 P.M.
After successfully clearing Afton Mountain (Our first real test for the RV) we ran into some traffic on I-81 we decided to exit onto Route 11 to bypass the congestion. As we were driving through the small towns we realised we were heading right through Woodstock Virginia home of CHAWS!!!! a fellow fraternity brother. He was home for the fourth so we stopped off at his house and hung out for about a half hour. We met his family and ate some delicious cheesecake.
Shortly after leaving a rest stop near the Pennsylvania border we made the potentially fatal mistake of taking route 643 instead of route 70. While climbing the mountainous terrain we averaged a whopping 18 mph(hitting a low of 15) and amassed a plethora of angry drivers who could not pass us on the winding road. On the down slope (18% grade for 1.5 miles) I was forced to ride the brakes heavily to navigate the hairpin turns without flipping the RV.
As we pulled up to the tolls for the PA turnpike we noticed smoke coming from the front left wheel. After pulling over for half an hour to let the breaks cool. Due to their overuse on our decent, we resumed the trip for about 2 miles before realising that the breaks might fail if we continued.
After 3.5 hours we finally made it to the auto shop where we would spend the evening. Hopefully the next post brings happier news.
States Travelled: Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania
Miles Travelled: 220
Miles Towed: 25
Breakdowns: 1
Miles on Towtruck: 799,800
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2 comments:
So what was the make of the tow truck? That's a lot of miles!
I vote for Dolly (she's a little screwy like Aunt Eleanor - Aunt Mar); Tim has a new one "Waitress Magnet" - keep wearing the shirts and maybe you guys will get some free food!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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