GPS

[corvettedad]

You're definitely HRPT ready!

[stroker al]

You're definitely HRPT ready!

I’ll second that!!

[pdub]

What we learned from this excursion: You can't get across the Mississippi River from here, not unless you are on I-40, which is what we didn't want to do this particular time. Don't take that lightly, that one river is a major engineering obstacle to mortal man.

Tennessee has some of the greatest driving roads in the world, away from the interstate. We made a whole lap around the perimeter of the state of Tennessee, in the car the all day for three days, and I've been in a "few" other states in the United States. I'll put Tennessee up against them all in that contest. Kentucky is pretty, too. Maybe everything away from any interstate highway is good.

[silver_bullet]

The Lincoln highway is a really cool adventure....just ask George(200wins)....

[pdub]

The new (to us) GPS has the great feature, take us there and avoid the interstate. We're on the way from Gear Head Inn to Jasper IN to start the Cars and Cones tour. Now, we have two GPS things in the car. One is great for finding back roads that actually go somewhere. The older one is the better one for finding motels.....sorry about that, New One, you can't find motels quite as well.

So stick them both to the windshield and we're bristling with technology, like a cop car. Unit likes the "little" motels, because there's a good chance we can smoke in the room. That's something that's unheard of in the big chain motels.

The new GPS took us down country cow roads all the way to Glasgow KY. I was plump worn out, time to stop. Hours behind the wheel. We were at a stoplight and I ground and shuddered the clutch because my leg was worn out, Unit said, "It's time to stop." So we lit up the old GPS. Motels close by.

That one sounds homey, okay, only about a mile away......

Roach motel, prison cells, but dirtier. Broken windows. No, we'll keep moving. About a mile away, we found a better one. Better. We were getting out of the car and a guy pulled up in a car, he said "I seen you at that other motel, you'll like this one a whole lot better. That one where you was at is not somewhere you wanna be." Okay, thanks Brother!

So we checked in. Yes, it's much better, light years better. We've found a home for the night.

[pdub]

Unit has a great plan. We'll tie all of the nasty bedsheets and linens together into a rope, tie that to Red's front end, and run that through the window and tie it to my hand so I'll wake up when they start to tow Red away to the thief world.

[pdub]

I can't say ENOUGH about the GPS ability to take cow roads to any destination from wherever you are. That's just an out of sight feature. That is just way too cool. Next we're going to Pittsburgh from here. And see what the scenery really looks like. And never touch the 4-lane. Old farts with nothing but time can do that.

When we left the C&C tour in Dandridge, cow roads all the way home. I had no idea you could bypass Knoxville and get all the way here without the interstate, just didn't realize, never knew. It went well for about an hour, and then everybody stopped. There was a wreck up ahead, we could see the cop car lights. Turn the engine off. Sit.....ohhhh deeee ooohh deee ohhhh, we've got all day. About 15 minutes, I'd rather be moving in some direction so we turned around in a driveway and got on a side road. A REAL side road. Through a trailer park, road getting narrower.

Prude (the GPS bitch) was saying, make a U-turn. No, we're dead reckoning, we need southwest, and this road hasn't run out yet. We finally got to a "T' intersection, and Prude said turn left. No, we're going to turn right, that's the direction we need. Prude finally gave in and plotted us a great trip home on US411. That is just too cool, but sometimes you have to override her judgement.

[RockJustRock]

As always, there's a SONG for that!

I'm a crossroader s Speedin' from town to town
I'm a crossroader Speedin' from town to town
I never ride the main highway So nobody can slow me down

I'm always travelin' Just a taste outside the law
I'm always travelin' Just a taste outside the law
If you come lookin' for some trouble I'm the man that you're lookin' for

When things ain't movin' fast enough I got to pick up and move
When things ain't movin' fast enough I got to pick up and move
They say it ain't no way for a man to be livin' It's the crossroader's blues Crossroader's blues Crossroader's blues

Even when the main is Hwy.69!

[pdub]

This one is for the folks who go down the road with the turn signal going.

[pdub]

Cow roads in West Virginia. Beautiful part of the country.

We thought about pulling up stakes and moving here. But there's no beer store. And it snows.

[pdub]

Oh, and we were cruising along in one of those itty bitty towns somewhere and there were flashing lights up ahead. Yep, it was an ambulance, No telling how far it had come to get there. And it was parked in front of a machine shop. That's not what you want to see.

[pdub]

The "Fix it" Tour. I never woulda thought.

At Unit's brother's house, he has about 8 acres. He's got some sort of great big tractor with a loader and a huge mowing deck. He got out there running that thing one afternoon while we were there and all of a sudden the noise outside stopped. I went out to his shop (40 x 40) to investigate. He was standing there holding a beer and staring at the tractor. He said it'll run for a little bit but when it loads up, it quits.

I started staring at the engine too. I told him, I don't know anything about engines and such. But I go philosophical and said there's three things - air, spark and fuel. If it's bad fuel, it wouldn't run great for a few minutes and then quit, I don't think. He said it's diesel. So I said TWO things - Fuel and air.

And we stared at it. I asked, "When's the last time you checked the air filter?" He said that should be alright, but he took the canister out and hit it with an air lance inside the shop. Huge dust cloud, one hit on one spot of that filter, it ran us out of there and he blew out the filter outside, a cloud you could probably see on weather radar. Fixed. It ran.

We got gas in West Virginia. Right away, Bluebelle all but quit running, right then. She was "running," but barely. 55 mph up the mountain with the gas pedal on the floor. Bad. She was making about 50 horsepower. I drove her for 80 miles that way and then poured a jug of STP gas treatment in there and it was fixed. Ready to race. I can't recall ever buying a jug of gas treatment in my life, but that fixed it.

[RockJustRock]

Did you put unleaded premium in BlueBelle? Not a good idea in a Podunk. Often they go months without selling any.

[pdub]

Did you put unleaded premium in BlueBelle? Not a good idea in a Podunk. Often they go months without selling any.

Yes, it was. Good call, it was rotten. But this was in the state capital. On a pretty busy road at a fancy intersection. Apparently they don't have lots of hotrodders there. But some of those little towns, the 25 mph towns on the cow roads, there was evidence they'd had burnout contests in front of "city hall."

[pdub]

We'll be home about lunchtime tomorrow. It's unreal the roads the GPS will take you down I'll cut it down to about 2 minutes, just for a look. Want some scenery? Well, here ya go.