Friday, September 21, 2012

From the Mountains of Tennessee to the Piedmont of South Carolina

We were loaded up and driving out of the parking lot of the Chattanooga Choo Choo at 8 am.  Miz B sputtered a bit until she warmed up.  So many of us got water in the gas, either by the ethanol drawing moisture from the air or by filling up at the Citgo station.  Several had to completely dump their tanks and refill.  We experienced two days with an accumulated total of 3.5 inches of rain.

We decided very quickly that we would follow US 76 all the way home.

We stopped in Ellijay, GA for a break and to purchase apples, cider donuts, honey, and pepper jelly.  The views of the mountains were breathtaking.  Our weather was perfect - bright sunny skies, a pleasant breeze and temps in the low 70's.

About noon, we stopped for lunch and enjoyed a nice break.  We had done some climbing on long stretches going up a few mountains.  But mostly, we had been coming down the mountains all morning on curvy steep two lane roads.  Several times we pulled over to let the faster traffic pass, there just weren't enough passing lanes along the highway.  Looks like the overheating issue with Miz B had been solved by cleaning out the Gano filter in Chattanooga.

Late in the afternoon we were going through Lauren's, SC, home of Bill and Fay.  We took a short detour through their son's neighborhood.  We cruised by their home, blowing our Ahooga horns, but it seemed no one was home.  Then, we were back on US 76 headed for Newberry.  We found a station that offered ethanol free fuel - regular at the price of premium.  We all filled up, the little cars deserved a treat for behaving so well all week!

We said our goodbyes and traveled on, parting ways in Ballentine.  Cockerill's and Booths continued on 76, while the Princes followed us on 6 for a short distance.

We arrived home shortly after 7 pm.  In all, we traveled a total of 757 miles.

We all agreeded it was a great week of touring in the Model A's.  Despite the torrential downpours in Chattanooga, everyone enjoyed themselves.  We saw a lot of old friends and made lots of new ones along the way.

No comments:

Post a Comment