Well another eventful couple of days here along the Parkway... the smoke that we saw on Thursday turned out to not be the air conditioner, sorry Winston-Salem Ford Dealer!... we were wrong, you were right. Did get to tour Wake Forest University while they were checking things out though.... nice campus.
The voltages were still dropping... so we still had to figure something out. We trouble-shot all afternoon in Winston-Salem. Eventually we figured out that one of our isolators had gone bad. An isolator basically takes current from an alternator and disperses it evenly to multiple batteries. All the while not allowing current back to the alternator.
Enough technical stuff... it's important basically. When it's not working, we're not working. This of course is happening on a Friday afternoon. And you can't just walk into a local Napa and ask for a 250amp isolator.
We started calling places that we found online to get it shipped overnight. However we couldn't call anywhere on the East coast since it was now about 430pm EDT (too late for FedEx or UPS to go out). Tried the Central time zone... thought we had one, but she called back... too late. Started calling California... found one after a couple of tries. Got it shipped overnight, Saturday arrival (not cheap). But we got it 9am EDT Saturday morning, after ordering it at 530pm EDT on Friday. Amazing what those shipping companies can do these days. And thank you Jared at Buchanan Auto electric in Oakland, CA.
Installed the isolator by 10am and started working. Got a lot done yesterday, most we could've hoped for.
Today was another pretty good collection day. We have all the routes through about MP 289 on the Parkway (goes to 461). So we're making our way. Doesn't look like I'll get to finish it off though, kinda sad about that. I'm heading back to Denver on Tuesday for a little vacation and to celebrate Megan's 30th birthday... Feel free to send her a Happy Birthday message on Thursday (mmcgrew19@gmail.com).
Had to go through a couple of construction areas today. Got to one with a huge rock slide... see below.
You can see the van in the back for scale... crazy. Don't think that section is gonna be open for a while.
We're staying in Boone, NC... nice town. I mostly like it because it's a small college town, home of the Appalachian State Mountaineers. Well ok, the only reason I'm fond of them is because they pulled off the biggest upset in college football history... beating Michigan in the Big House a couple of years back. Still brings a smile to my face... Town really is nice though, would definitely recommend it for anyone thinking of visiting the area.
Ok, good enough for now. Last day of collection for me tomorrow. Don't think I'll have time to post, but maybe is something cool happens.
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