TTS Hop 5
279 miles via I-81 and I-26. Cumulative tow miles: 1,171.
This was another “easy” hop in terms of navigation: down I-81, then down I-26 to Asheville. But it was a long trip, with a refueling stop, and a couple of problems arose. First, some rubber molding on the RV came loose several times, requiring uncomfortable emergency stops on I-81. After the third failure I had to dig out some Gorilla Tape to keep it in place. Second, I changed the refueling stop and made a mental note of its location: Exit 63 on I-81. But Mile 63 came and went and there was no Exit 63. So we kept our eyes open and picked a Petro Truck Stop at Exit 26. We got fuel and lunch at the Iron Skillet (a first – they make a pretty good grilled chicken sandwich) and got back on the road. Later, in Tennessee, we passed Exit 63. My memory had the right exit but the wrong state.
I had never traveled I-26 before and was surprised at how rugged the mountains were and at the steepness of the grades. For the first time since the Grand Canyon I kept my eyes on the engine temperature (it topped out at about 200 degrees – about 10 degrees below “hot”). I also had to watch the tach. Because I was in “towing mode” where the engine helped brake. On some of the downslopes the RPMs exceeded 3500, well above the 3000 RPM start of the “red zone.” In short, I-26 was very hard on the truck. But the repaired engine performed well and we arrived without incident.
Our one-night stay in Natural Bridge was at the KOA there. Like most KOAs, it was an older park, in decent but not great shape, with fairly tight sites. This one also had some pretty dramatic hills and dips, which made getting into the site interesting. And, for the second time on the TTS, I had to use multiple wood blocks to level the rig.
Jett still wasn’t feeling well, so we did takeout from a Wendy’s in Lexington, VA, about 10 miles north. I didn’t mind the extra driving as it gave me a chance to look around the area a bit. Lexington is a very pretty small town with some very narrow streets. The narrowness was an issue because I was there around 5pm on Halloween and there were oodles of youngsters trick-or-treating. I tried very hard to avoid running them over and mostly succeeded.
The extra 20 miles – after refueling – was the reason that I had to change the refueling stop. No big deal, but getting the state wrong added a bit of drama to the trip.
KOA office
Hilly terrain
Pool
Our site