June 4, Waynesboro, VA

Engine room is rather busy.  But the plugs were easy to change.

Today started with a nice Shoney's breakfast buffet with Holly and Nance in Knoxville.  It was followed by a quick driving tour of the downtown area.  I was drawn by a rather striking gold ball overlooking waterfront along the Tennessee River.  It is the Sunsphere, a remnant of the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville.  It's just a passive ornament now, what ever happened to those World's Fairs?

Today's tech session started at Auto Zone.  I bought a set of spark plugs and a 13/16 sparkplug wrench (can't believe I didn't  bring one).  I was prepared for a miserable day of finding and changing the plugs on this big V-8 that barely fits under the hood.  It was not to be.  I was shocked, shocked to find all the plugs quite accessible and easy to get a wrench on.  I had them all replaced in about 30 minutes.  The plugs were obviously old but didn't look too bad (can't believe I didn't change them BEFORE leaving home).  But, the new plugs did the trick, the engine roared back to life on all 8 cylinders.  The idle was still a bit flakey.  The engine runs about 2000 rpm when cold complete with disturbing surges.  Once warm, it drops to about 500 rpm and feels like it wants to stall.  But, she doesn't actually stall and runs strong and smooth otherwise.  So we said good bye to Holly, loaded and left Knoxville around noon.

Bristol: a deep aluminum bowl with
cars whirling around the bottom.

We continued E on I-40 until turning NE on I-81.  I-81 headed for Virginia and the beautiful Shenandoah valley, paralleling Lee Highway (US 11) and the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We made great time on I-81, but the heavy truck traffic combined with all the hills and turns made driving rather busy.  We took breaks at the Bristol race track (a NASCAR icon and quite an architectural edifice) and Natural Bridge in VA. From Natural Bridge, we decided to escape the traffic and switched to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The Mercedes and us enjoyed this twisty ribbon and the views from the ridge were just outstanding.  No traffic here, a welcome relief from the trucks on I-81. Saw a few deer, no bears.

It started to rain a bit and was getting dark.  We decided to stop in Waynesboro at a clean and reasonably priced Super 8.  Managed about 350 miles, not bad considering our late start.  Tomorrow, we will tour Monticello, something I have always wanted to see.  And hopefully we can weather the heat and traffic around DC and  visit some friends there...    .