Day Three: Cruisin' to Gadsden, Alabama

Saturday: Another beautiful day in the mountains, this time much more relaxed as we had no mechanical difficulties and could get off at 9 AM with the other BABE beater cars. Poor entry #13 had to be taken to the crusher, and that team showed up last night in a rented PT Cruiser. Also a pink car, but not the same. Very sad.

Early on I was driving, and Mandy the GPS took the Vegginator on a steep and curvy gravel road that we had no business attempting. It required a running start to get up the first hill, and we had to make sure not to lose speed around the curves as the steepness was too much for the Vegginator from a dead stop. Very exciting, and luckily no cars coming in the other direction around the curves. We were very pleased to get up and over the moutain and back on pavement.

Today's challenge was to find the oldest car along the route that still had four wheels on it. We were having no luck until we hit the jackpot in Smokey Mountain National Park: a Ford Model A Club heading in the opposite direction. We did a 180 and about 10 miles later they happened to pull over to have lunch. The enthusiasts were very friendly and even offered to let us take one of their beatifully restored cars for a test drive. Here is our entry, a Model A from 1928, the first year of production.

After lunch of blackened local trout and catfish we were off for Deals Gap, a famously dangerous 11-mile stretch in the mountains with about 350 hairpin turns going up, down and around. A favorite of motorcyclists, we were warned not to cross the yellow strip ever or leave any oil on the street that could cause skidding.

Here's a picture of the Tree of Shame, with many broken pieces of motorcycle attached:

The scene when we arrived at "the tail of the dragon" was memorable, with hundreds of bikers hanging around along with participants in a Dodge Viper rally. The sports bikes go roaring off from the start, and apparently there have been many unfortunate Darwin Award winners created at this site. Richard really wanted to test the Vegginator in Deals Gap, and after affixing the requisite bumper sticker we were off. He really put the Veg through its paces, showing off his excellent driving skills honed in his Mini. Richard's judgement: "well, we could have done it faster in a Mini, but this was so much better than that piece of %$#!@%$ van that Joe's driving."

We were so relaxed today we had time for a detour or two, so of course Kent took us to an airport. Specifically the airport in Athens, Tennessee that was holding the annual Swift plane fly-in. Kent is a club member and we got to meet the #1 flying ace of the Swift Magic Aerobatic Team. As we arrived the Ace took off with smoke coming out of the back and did a nifty barrel roll.

Here's the Ace and one of the planes.

When we pulled behind the Holiday Inn Express we were met with the sweet sound and poisonous smoke of the metal roof being sheard off of one of the cars. Ah, another night in BABEland! Richard is outside enjoying the pleasant evening and sharing war stories with the other rally goers.

Tomorrow, on to New Orleans. First stop when we arrive: Elmira, who has kindly offered to provide us with 50 gallons of veg oil for Richard's trip back to Cambridge.