It did not take long to load up the final electronics, diddy bag and misc items into the RV, unhook the water and electric from the home port, raise the Jacks and bring the slides in and ready the vessel for departure. The GPS was set for the days destination of a KOA near Black Mountain, NC. The Toad was attached and a few final photo opps were snapped as Jack was abandoned to hold down the Tasman Fort!
Departure was at 9:47 and progressed directly West on I40. After 40 miles into the trip a stop was made for fuel at the Mebane Pilot station for the Smitanic's inaugural pit stop. The Smitanic left home port with only half a tank of diesel. The familiar I-40 route headed west past Greensboro and would normally lead the duo to Snaggy Mountain Retreat near Boone NC, however this trip would remain on I-40 and miss the turn off on 421 towards Boone. The Smitanic would now be pointed further west to Hickory and on into the high country. The elevation changed dramatically about 60 miles east of Asheville. Kevin felt like Chris Froome on stage 20 of the Tour de France picking his optimum assent path up Alpe d’Huez calculating speed and matching effort to make a smooth effortless climb with the Smitanic. The assent began to strain the Smitanic engine as Kevin's observed the engine temperature climbing ever so slowly from 200 to 203, then 204-207, now 213. Around the bend there was a semi truck up ahead with four-way flashers illuminating to warn of a slower speed. Kevin thought there was plenty of time to make a lane change, so the turn signal goes on, then a car in the distance behind the Smitanic rushes forward and traps the not so nimble vessel behind the semi truck!
The Smitanic quickly looses all momentum dropping to 30 mph and putting the engine in a lower RPM. Just as the passing car clears the right shoulder of the Smitanic driver he throws the helm hard alee, the Smitanic responds by yawing left and is forced to swerve to avoid the semi truck. Then the dash board lights up, the computer starts blinking --- maximum engine temperature reached 220° with just a half a mile to go to the crest of the hill there was no choice but to back off, keep going, engine lugging at a lower RPM resulting in even higher engine temp … damn the torpedoes! Once the crest of the hill was reached (which happened to be the Eastern Continental Divide), the pressure was taken off the gas pedal, the RPMs returned to a higher rev, and the engine temperature began to decrease back to normal. Yikes, what will the Rockies be like?
Since the destination was going to be in Black Mountain area the team texted Steve Cope, to see if he was in town. Steve was a Founding Father of the Thorns N Roses Bicycle group. In that group Steve was known as the Chipmunk. Unfortunately he had just left the day before so they have to catch him on the switchback.
Camp was set up by 2:15, and much to Kevin and Theresa's delight the first train rolled by 15 min later blowing its horn to announce its arrival not more than 100 feet of the campsite! Got to love campground logistics.
The park was a nice KOA with a stream running through it for tubing as well as a lake for some of the tent sites. The Smitanic was docked poolside, nice!
Lots of shade and the convenience store was just steps away. Upon check-in an additional $2.50 was paid for 50 amp. To make for a quick exit in the AM, just water, electric and cable were hooked up! No sewer was connected, so the team will hall all their (shxt) with them to the next port.
Dinner/lunch was centered around a bag, discovered during the refrigerator clean-out, of 'freezer surprise' that Theresa thought was precooked ground turkey, but instead was 1year old + BBQ pulled pork from the 2014 KASMAD fund-raiser last June. Theresa thought for only a moment about the risk of eating year old BBQ, but the hunger prevailed ! It was awesome between some miscellaneous hamburger buns also cryogenically frozen for some indeterminate time period. A salad would round out the meal fit for a king & his queen.
What an awesome first day!
Kevin was exhausted from the drive and Theresa promised a very short drive the next day of just around 100 miles to Pigeon Forge, TN. The quest is afoot.
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