The Blue Ridge Parkway

We have traveled the Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway many times, but, like the Natchez Trace, it is always enjoyable.

The Blue Ridge Parkway runs about 465 miles along the peaks of the Eastern Mountains beginning near Cherokee, NC near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to near Waynesboro, VA.  At that point, the Skyline Drive, a part of the Shenandoah National Park, begins and continues the “mountain peak” drive, and runs about 105 miles northward to Font Royal, VA.

When we left Williamsburg on Monday, we decided to drive northward for a while to pick up a part of the Skyline Drive.  There is a low clearance bridge at about the halfway point, so we entered just south of it, and traveled southward toward the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We entered the parkway on Tuesday about noon, and traveled it until Wednesday night, when the Bus engine began to give me the dreaded “check engine lights and alarm”

Here are some pictures of our ride.  The Fall colors were not at their peak, but we saw some great sites.  Here are the pictures from the Skyline Drive…….

   Along the way, I had to clean the bugs off the windshield from driving the night before on the highway so we could enjoy the views…..

   

They were selling ‘gas’ on the Skyline Drive, but no ‘diesel’….. 

    

 

    

During the afternoon, I was getting sleepy, and we saw a sign about a Blue Ridge Music Display.  While Patsy visited the display, I slept for an hour in the Bus……

    

    

On the way to Williamsburg, the Bus computer gave me a “check engine” light complete with an alarm.  I shut the engine down immediately on the side of I-81 and checked the fluids and the air filter gauge.  When all looked good, I started the engine again, and the alarm was off.  We drove another 500 miles without incident.  In the mountainous Blue Ridge Parkway drive, I was using the Engine Brake a lot, and I got a lot of alarms. 

We left the parkway at Lenoir, NC and stayed in a Wal-Mart parking lot.  On Thursday morning, I called Cummins and was reminded that I have a 5-year warranty on my engine, and they directed me to a Cummins facility in Charlotte, NC……. about 75 miles away. 

Tonight, we are parked on their lot with an electric plug, waiting and hoping to get into a bay tomorrow.  If not, we will stay here, and tour the Charlotte area by car on the weekend.  We may even drive up to the Raleigh, NC area and attend an FMCA rally there.

Nice setup, huh??  The picture was taken from I-85, and the concrete structure at the bottom of the picture is the median divider!!   At least we have electric, and it is free!!