A Trip to the Mountains

I grew up in Colorado and have missed the Rocky Mountains ever since I left. So when it comes to choosing between a trip to the beach or a trip to the mountains here in North Carolina, the mountains win out just about every time. One of our favorite mountain destinations is Asheville, NC. Filled with history and good restaurants, what's not to like?

We have been traveling to Asheville every autumn for several years and have traditionally stayed in one of the downtown hotels. Now that we have the bus we thought it would be nice have our own digs while we visited. There are several campgrounds within a few miles of Asheville and after researching them online, I chose one called Mama Gerties in Swannanoa. From the user comments it looked like everyone enjoyed the accommodations and although a few people commented about the steep access road, most said it was no big problem. I made our reservations and started preparing the coach for another trip.

A few weeks before we were heading out, I received a call from a prior employer and they offered me a 5-week project. Since I had been out of work for 20+ weeks I jumped at the chance. The prospect of seeing the bank balance increase for a change did not seem like a bad thing. The only problem was that the scheduled Asheville trip fell during the second of the five weeks. I talked it over with my project manager and we agreed that because the nature of the work did not require me to go in to the office every day, I could pretty much do the work from anywhere; so it was all set.

Flora did her usual great job of planning all of the meals and laying in supplies and before we knew it it was time to head out. I got the car loaded on the dolly and we were on the road by about 10:00 as planned. As usual, I pulled off at the first rest area on I-40 and checked the car only to find out that the tie-down straps had loosened a bit and the car had shifted some on the dolly. I tightened everything up and we got back on the road.

I-40 between Chapel Hill and Asheville is somewhat hilly but when you get within a few miles of Old Fort there is one part in particular over which you climb for a few miles at a 6% grade. In our bus that requires second gear, which limits the speed to 39 MPH. We climbed that with no problems but I kept an eye on the heat gauge; the engine temperature climbed about ten degrees but then held steady at about 170 degrees.

We exited I-40 and headed for the campground access road. The grade got steeper but the engine was pulling fine in second gear when we rounded a sharp corner and the grade went to something like 15%. By that time my RPMs had fallen well below where I usually downshift and in the blink of an eye we were stopped in the middle of the narrow road on the steepest hill I had ever driven up. We were now officially in what could easily be termed "a pickle". With a 25,000 pound vehicle and a standard transmission it is not possible to start from a stop on a steep hill. The two-lane road was paved but the lanes were barely a foot or two wider than my coach, which meant that backing down the hill towing a car was not a possibility.

I attempted backing up anyway and all too quickly I literally ran into a brick wall (with the side of my coach). Trying to get away from the wall, which was grinding into my bus, I ended up blocking the traffic going both directions, a steady procession of school buses and people trying to get home from work. About this time a guy from the campground showed up on a golf cart. Together we tried to back up farther but it became clear that it was a losing battle and that the only way to back up effectively meant first uncoupling the car.

One issue with that process is that there is no way to hold a 25,000 pound vehicle on a steep hill with the emergency brake. Fortunately I was able to engage the air brakes with the fast-idle switch, but the idea of trusting it while I crawled under the tow dolly to unhook things was not sitting too well with me. So I had Flora sit in the driver's seat just in case the bus started to move and I got out and started to unload the car. I got the straps off of the wheels but when I crawled underneath to remove the safety chains that were wrapped around the car axles, I found that when the car had shifted slightly earlier in the day it had pull those chains tight and there was no way to loosen them. I was lucky to have a hacksaw in my toolbox and so I got it out, got back under the car, and proceeded to saw through the chains. I was then able to back the car off the dolly and out of the way. Tom and I then removed the dolly and rolled it into a nearby driveway.

At that point, with Tom guiding me and directing traffic, I was able to roll the bus back down the hill for about a quarter mile to a spot that was not level but was not nearly as steep as where I had gotten stuck. I was then able to start back up the hill, and let me tell you I did not slow down to enjoy the view. The bus pulled the hill fine in first gear and I cruised on up to campground registration. Tom showed up a while later towing the dolly behind his golf cart. I could then see that the entire campground was built into a steep hillside with steps carved out for each RV site so I knew I had some more work to do.

I was still a bit on edge as I signed in and paid my money for the week. When I was done we started back up the hill and with the mighty 8v71 cranking out the horsepower we negotiated the hill and pulled into our space. I could see that when it was time to leave, making the turn and getting up enough momentum to pull the hill but not so fast that I could not make the tight corner was going to be tricky, and there would be no second chances; with that we unpacked and hooked up the utilities. I lost sleep all week dreading our exit form that space.

We got there on a Monday and would be staying through Friday morning. I was hoping to be able to work everyday and enjoy the evenings. Fall in the mountains is a glorious thing and this place was situated in middle of a gorgeous forest with leaves of every hue. During our stay the people were friendly and the campground was kept spotless. Flora had a multi-day seminar to attend and while she was gone I set up my workstation and spent my time converting a MS Word formatted 200-page book into DITA XML. The work went well, the bus was comfy, and I got to camp with my family (Flora, Diezel, and Opal) for the week. Each day Diezel and I took a nice walk into the surrounding hills and enjoyed the spector of it all. Each evening we enjoyed each other's company and the joy of camping in such a place.

At night the temperatures were falling into the lower 30s but a small electric heater kept us toasty and in the mornings we could quickly heat the place up with our propane furnace. We ate well (as always) and twice during the week we traveled up to Asheville to dine at Doc Chey's Noodle House, one of our favorites. Before we knew it the week was over and it was time to head back home. After dreading the exit all week long we were able to accomplish it with no big problems. Back on I-40 the only worry left was that of going back down the long 6% hill. I followed the advice I had been given, which was to go down a hill in the same gear you go up in, and so we went back down at 39 MPH and made it down just barely having to use the brakes. I was careful because that is one of the maintenance tasks I have yet to do: replacing the front brake pads. The drive home was easy; I have now driven the bus over 5000 miles and am pretty comfortable with driving it except on steep hills.

Our next trip will be to the Bussin 11 rally in Florida around the holidays and after my 5 week job is done I will have to complete the dashboard conversion and replace the front brakes. With a 50 year old bus there is always one more thing that needs to be done.