Asheville

After driving north for a short part of the south end of the Blue Ridge Parkway, we pulled into Asheville in the evening hours. We stashed the trailer at the local Wal Mart and drove the Jeep into town for dinner. We ate pizza at the Mellow Mushroom, which was delicious and hippie-themed.

The next day we were going to go into the downtown district briefly, then leave town; but when we pulled away in the Jeep (without the trailer) the brakes were making an unusual creaking noise. It was not a normal brake squeak, and I could not identify it, so I took it to a mechanic. At first he was unsure, saying he could see nothing wrong but that it could be a worn ball joint. After a test drive and a second look, however, he said that the rotors were warped enough that it was maxing out the mount springs, causing them to creak. For $112 he 'turned' the rotors, which means he attached them to a lathe and planed them flat. He also adjusted the brake pads. I was very satisfied with the work: the brakes are perfect and smooth. It was money well spent.

The brake job, however, put us a few hours behind schedule. This was a problem because we had a strict deadline a day later near Washington, DC. To save time, Ashleigh convinced me to skip the next portion of the Blue Ride Parkway. Instead we cut over to Interstate 81 which roughly parallels the Parkway. On the Interstate we could drive 65, but on the Parkway you might average 30, so we saved a lot of time. We made it that nite to Lexington, Virginia, where we once again sought out our perennial home, Wal Mart.

Although we stopped in beautiful and touristy Asheville, North Carolina, we managed to get in and out without taking a single photo.