This trip was originally planned to be an exploration of South Carolina and
eastern North Carolina. Like most of the rest of my trips, it underwent
major changes on the fly...
The departure was normal enough.. down to the Ashland City post office to
mail some bills, then to the bank for some cash -- as always, the ATM was
down.. (the Ashland City ATM has failed for *every* trip I've taken since
moving up here -- but *every* other time I've tried to use it, it's been
working...) On down TN-12 to TN-155 into Nashville, a mile west through
heavy traffic on US-70 (Charlotte Ave.) to the nearest working Nations Bank
ATM, then back on 70 to 155 (less than one block) to I-40 east. I-40 east
to my "home away from home" in Knox County, the Red Roof at Cedar Hill Road
in Farragut. (a western suburb of Knoxville)
Ironically.. that night's syndicated episode of the Simpsons had Bart &
friends stealing a car. They were about to head for Disney World when (the
nerdy one - don't remember his name) found an AAA travel guide & discovered
the World's Fair was in progress. They took a vote; it was almost unanimous
(3 to Bart) in favor of Knoxville. (wasn't until after they knocked over
the gold sphere on top of the stolen car that they noticed it was a 1982 AAA
guide..) Anyway..
Tuesday morning, took I-40 east through Knoxville (construction downtown,
but no delays even though it was rush hour) to TN-66, one of the Smoky
Mountains exits. TN-66 through Sevierville to US-441, 441 through the Smoky
Mountains National Park. Spectacular as always -- but the tropo was more
spectacular than normal. (Nashville FMs in Sevierville proper -- not in the
mountains -- plus some FM from northern Mississippi -- and some Nashville FM
heard on the North Carolina side in the Cherokee area..)
This may have been the perfect time of year for this kind of trip. Traffic
was minimal, so I spent very little time staring at the back bumper of
slow-moving RVs. (my usual experience in the Smokies in summertime..) The
fact that most trees hadn't begun to bloom yet also helped quite a bit; they
weren't obscuring the views. For what it's worth, the road to Clingman's
Dome was *not* open.
Anyway, after exiting the park you almost immediately reach the Blue Ridge
Parkway. I'd
decided the previous night, in the Knoxville motel room, to make this the
focus of this trip. Got on the Parkway and headed north. (no choice;
Cherokee NC is the southern terminus of the road) I don't know of any words
that can do justice to this road. Every hill climbed yielded a more
fantastic view than the last. I would eventually have to stop on a ridgetop
in west-central Virginia, and just *stare* in each direction in disbelief.
I've visited 48 states, and the only more beautiful view I've ever seen was
from Mt. Davidson in San Francisco at sunset. (I would see the third-place
view on Thursday morning, more on that later)
Stopped for gas on Hendersonville Road in Biltmore Forest. Sorry Matt -- it
was about 11:00am, I'd forgotten to bring your phone number (not sure I have
it anyway!), and figured you were at work anyway. Continued running the
ridges across western North Carolina and into Virginia. My destination for
Tuesday night was Roanoke, which I reached in bright sunshine about 5:30.
Took US-220 (which becomes I-581) through town in search of a room.
Unfortunately, Virginia seems to have a billboard law; the motel billboards
common in most states are scarce here. Saw a nice Super 8 at Peters Creek
Road, but by the time I saw it I was already past the exit. The next exit
was the end of the expressway, at I-81. Went two exits south on 81; didn't
see anything promising, so I did a 180 at exit 140 and returned to the Super
8 where I spent the night. I took a ride into downtown Roanoke that night
on Melrose Ave. (US-460) and US-11. Roanoke's
downtown is taking a serious shot at revitalization.
Wednesday, it was time to complete the Blue Ridge trip. I had originally
hoped to finish the trip at Front Royal, cutting south through
Fredericksburg and Tappahannock. But Virginia is larger state than I
thought.. While the views got more spectacular as I approached Waynesboro,
so did my boredom. The Parkway studiously avoids towns, so just about all
one sees are natural vistas. When I reached the end of the parkway at
Afton, I just couldn't take any more. I got on I-64 and retraced a previous
trip to Norfolk.
My previous visit to Norfolk was to reach the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel,
and would
eventually result in my first completed state. (Delaware) This time, I
went the other way, taking US-60 around the ocean shores. Incidentially,
it's impossible to visit Norfolk without noticing the importance of the Navy
to this city! Between the military ships everywhere you look at sea, and
the naval bases everywhere on land...
US-60 ends in Virginia Beach. Followed VA-149 to VA-165 to VA-168. VA-168
becomes NC-
168 at the state line. Took it to Barco, where it meets US-158. Followed
158 to Nags Head in the Outer Banks, where I spent the night at the "Sea
Oatel" on the beach. Nice hotel (and nice off-season rate, literally 75%
off the price posted on the state-law notice on the door!) but don't stay
there during heating season.. the heater darn near shook the room when it
kicked in I was awakened that way several times overnight, and suffered
much of Thursday as a result..
The Outer Banks are deserted this time of year. I planned to look for TAs
Trans-Atlantics, AM stations from Europe) but found my headphones had died.
The phone book showed there was a Radio Shack in Kill Devil Hills (believe
it or not..), so I drove up there & bought a new set. Clerk seemed VERY
surprised to have a customer in March -- I have the feeling the $15 I spent
was more than he'd taken in in weeks.. I don't *think* I actually heard
any TAs, though I did hear something in either German or Polish on the low
end of the band, and there were a whole lot of Spanish-speaking signals.
(but they seemed to be speaking Latin American Spanish, not Spain Spanish..)
There were a bunch of weird heterodynes on the car radio, but they were all
on the
"wrong" frequencies for European 9KHz splits.
About 5AM, the heater woke me up again. Looked out the window, and noticed
the very
beginning of a sunrise. Bundled up (it was about 35°!) and went out on the
porch with the radio. No DX worth mentioning, but the sunrise over the
Atlantic was spectacular (constituting the 3rd best view..) as were the
antics of the seagulls. (I was surprised to see all the gulls disappear by
6:00)
Thursday was the grand tour of the Carolinas.. 158 to 64 to 264 to 17 at
Washington. My intent was to take 17 to Wilmington and then proceed west.
But no radio amateur can possibly ignore a sign that reads "Voice of
America"! I ended up wandering around a few roads west of Chocowinity and
eventually finding VOA's "Site B". (on appropriately named "V.O.A. Site B
Road". Yes, that's the official name of the road!) When I reached
Grimesboro, I realized it probably made more sense to proceed to Greenville.
Greenville, North Carolina is the "putt-putt" (20mph under the speed limit!)
capital of the South!
Took NC-33 to the NC-11 bypass there, then NC-11 to Kinston where I caught
NC-55 to Newton Grove, then US-13 through Spivey's Corner (home of the
National Hollerin' Contest!) to I-95.
I-95 took me into South Carolina, to Florence where I caught I-20 west. I
was running pretty early, so I got off on SC-277 and proceeded through
downtown Columbia to Gervais St., which I took across the Congaree River to
I-26. Columbia has its broken-down areas, but like most Southern cities
it's making a serious (and successful) effort towards revitalization. This
is most obvious in the club district along Meeting Street just east of the
river.
>From I-26, I went north back to I-20 and completed the 70 miles to Augusta,
Ga. Or at least, most of them. Less than two miles short of the Georgia
state line, the interstate came to a complete stop. After about 10 minutes,
I broke the battery-powered TV out of my luggage and went looking for a
traffic report. WAGT-26 was running Ricki Lake (ugghhh..), and WFXT-54 was
running traditional Fox stuff, but both WJBF-6 and WRDW-12 were running
local news at 5:00 pm. While both mentioned a serious tieup earlier in the
day, neither mentioned anything about the current problem. Radio (both AM
and FM) were essentially useless, though if I could have stood to listen to
Rush Limbaugh I might have heard something on WGAC-580. After watching the
entire early news on WJBF, the semi in the left-hand lane (I was stuck in
the right) pulled forward enough to reveal a gap and a crossing for the SC
State Police. The guy behind the semi was more distracted than I, so I had
enough time to drive across the median & go back west on I-20.
Went back to SC exit 1, SC-230, and proceeded (along with the rest of the
population of South Carolina!) to Georgia Avenue/Business Route 25. Took it
across the river into beautiful (no <g>, I'm serious!) downtown Augusta.
Right on Broad St., which becomes Washington Road, and just across I-20
(which by now was open again, though there is one exit between there and the
SC border) to the Days Inn. This motel also offered a 75% discount from the
posted rate! (I can understand it on the Outer Banks, but this was awfully
far inland.. maybe they only charge full rate during the golf tournament?)
Nice room, it even included a hot tub!
It seems the greater Augusta area calls itself "CSRA". Anyone (Matt?) know
what "CSRA"
stands for?
Friday AM dawned at 3:00 with a very close (and very loud) lightning strike.
Luckily it was the only one -- went back to sleep & slept until about 7:00.
Back on the road by 8:30, taking I-20 to Atlanta where I caught I-75 to
Chattanooga to I-24 back home. Actually, took a ride through downtown
Augusta on the way out, where Washington St. (a main downtown thoroughfare!)
was stopped for about 15 minutes for a train.. I snuck over to 3rd St. &
back to Gordon Highway. Should have stayed put, as the train cleared the
crossing about the same time..
Generic radio comments: (DX & changes to come..)
WLNI-105.9 Lynchburg, VA: "105.9 The Line". "Arbitron says we're not
number one. <BEEP> Arbitron."..
WMRA-90.7 aired a weather story from Mt. Washington (NH) where they said
space shuttle
astronauts found upward lightning (which many suspect causes Es) also causes
gamma
radiation.
Drive-through beer stores exist in Virginia Beach. (previously seen only in
Dayton, Ohio)
WKQT-103.3 Newport NC had an interesting contest, "Fax Basketball".. They
dropped a quarter on a piece of paper & traced its outline. Then, they
asked listeners to drop a dime on a paper. Mark the upper right corner of
the paper, trace the dime, and fax it to the station. If the fax of the
dime falls within the quarter, you scored a basket & you win something...
Many more to come once I digest it..
73 Doug
==========================================================================
Douglas E. Smith W9WI/4 desmith@Telalink.net.xxx
1385 Old Clarksville Pike (preferred for long files)
Pleasant View, TN 37146-8098 USA -or-
(615) 746-5205 72777.3143@compuserve.com.xxx
(preferred for time-critical info)
(.xxx added to end of email address to hopefully foil spammers)
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