Archive for August, 2006

So, they decided to throw me a hurricane 8-(

I’m in Pigeon Forge today and when I looked out my window this morning, there was a torrential downpour. Looking at the weather (on the computer and on TV), this is the first wave of rain being pushed north by Hurricane Ernesto. I decided to stay here through Sunday (tentatively) to hopefully let the storm move ahead of me and push the rain out of the way. The motel says that most of their guests either checked out and ran, or extended their stays to ride the storm out here. With an open car like the Atom, I’m definitely in the “stay put and stay dry” group.

If I leave Sunday, I can still make my ferry appointment in Delaware on Tuesday afternoon, but that means I’ll be taking the interstates instead of the scenic route.

Stay tuned for updates. I’ll also be filling in the details on the last few days, since I have time to waste now…

Update: Here’s what the weather looks like outside my motel window. It has been like this all day. Hopefully the hurricane will sweep all of this bad weather along with it, leaving me a few decent days.

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The tale of The Tail of the Dragon

Wednesday morning in Sweetwater started out nicely (see my previous post on replacing the instrument cluster) and I headed for Tellico Plains and the Tail of the Dragon. This was one of the places I was really looking forward to on this trip. First up, from Sweetwater to Robbinsville, I took the Cherohala Skyway. Here’s a shot from one of the high points in the road, looking out and down at the Skyway at a lower elevation:

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And here’s the Atom in the same spot:

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Next up was Wheeler’s Motorcycle Repair and Tail of the Dragon gift shop, where I picked up all the swag I could fit in the Atom (which wasn’t a lot – I got 2 T-shirts, a polo shirt, a patch, a 129 road sign replica, and 3 DVDs of Dragon runners):

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I also collected info from Dragon runners coming south on conditions on the Dragon. There were reports of several downed trees at blind curves which had only been partially cut away, as well as some wet conditions on the road from the previous night’s rains. 

Then it was on to the Dragon itself. The road and environment remind me a lot of the woods where I grew up, so I was pretty comfortable with the route right away, only lacking familiarity with the actual roadway itself.

This is a road that the Atom really shows its skills on. I managed to do an average speed of [censored] through the Dragon, and the only things that kept me from going faster were concerns for going around a curve and finding slower traffic / a stuck truck / a downed tree. This would be a great road to do faster runs on, as long as it could be closed in one direction and have spotters reporting that the curves ahead are clear. Given the amount of business that Dragon riders bring to the area, maybe they’ll consider this in the future. Though, since it crosses state lines, it may be difficult.

Again, about the Atom on the Dragon – no matter what the Dragon threw at the Atom, the car stayed glued to the road. I didn’t have any tire noise or loss of grip, even when going around 15MPH hairpins at 35MPH. And the car didn’t bottom out – ever.

Killboy was out at his usual spot, so there will probably be pictures of my Atom up on his site (http://killboy.com/) shortly.

At the Overlook I stopped and chatted with some bikers who were heading the other way. All of the following shots are from there:

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Lastly, here’s another “art shot” for the folks who keep asking for them. This one is of the “Ariel” logo on the driver’s seat as seen in the side view mirror:

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Sweetwater, TN (near Tellico Plains)

Wednesday is Tail of the Dragon day, assuming the weather is decent. I should have some good picures for you tomorrow.

I have a story to share with you now that it is over with a happy ending. On the way to Sweetwater, the Atom and I got thoroughly soaked (and dried out, and soaked – repeat over and over) and my SPA Microdash managed to get full of water (it wound up looking like one of those “executive desk ornament” wave gizmos). The elements on the bottom of the unit were completely inoperable, and the ones further up were flickering on and off and barely visible behind the condensed water droplets on the faceplate.

I called Brammo at 3:35 PM their time, and they managed to scrounge up a replacement display assembly and send it out to me, along with a tube of silicone goop, replacement cable ties and different screws, all before FedEx’s cutoff time of 4:00 PM at Medford. That means that they got this all together and driven up to the FedEx terminal at the airport within 25 minutes! (I bet they used an Atom to drive it there!)

The next day, Tom from Brammo called me back and asked if FedEx had arrived yet (they hadn’t). He said he’d arrived at the office early in the morning to talk to SPA UK and that SPA said the unit was completely waterproof and what happened was impossible.

When I received the new display and installed it (it worked fine), I called Tom back to find out how he wanted the old one sent back (what speed service, and to Brammo or directly to SPA). He said that SPA UK called him back and it turns out there was a newly-hired employee on the SPA assembly line in the UK, and that “some number” of Microdash units (for everyone, not just Brammo) are missing the sealing O-ring between the front and back halves of the display.

After all was said and done, I was able to get under way on schedule the next day, with no delays whatsoever.

This is outstanding service from Brammo and I can’t say enough good things about them. Occasionally I read on various boards how people are concerned about after-sale support for an Atom they’re thinking of buying, and I can say that you’ll have absolutely no problems. Brammo is a class act through-and-through.

Champaign, IL

I’ll be leaving Champaign in a bit, heading toward Lexington, KY. Unfortunately, the weather forecasts for the next few days along my route call for rain, thunderstorms, and more rain.

Here’s Amanda looking cool in the Atom:

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I’ll post an update when I get somewhere and get dried out…

Warrenton, MO

Another day of just driving. However, I did see something really cool while I was on the road – on I-70, just east of Concordia, MO I saw a B-2 Stealth bomber. It was turning when I first noticed it, so I had a great view of the whole surface. Once it leveled out it was very hard to spot, since it is thin and has no tail to speak of. It flew off to the south, presumably back to Whiteman AFB. No pictures, as I was driving at the time. This is the first one I’ve ever seen in the air.

Junction City, KS

Nothing much to report – I’m doing my drive from my last stop in Colorado to Champaign/Urbana, IL. I did about 400 miles today, and will do about the same tomorrow, leaving 175 miles or so for Friday.

Mount Evans

Today the car and I climbed Mount Evans (to be honest, the car did all the work). Mount Evans is the highest paved road in the US at 14,260 feet at the summit. So my Atom has now been on both the highest and lowest roads in the US.

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In front of the ruins of the Crest House:

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The sign in this picture is a warning about altitude sickness:

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I’ve had some requests for a few more “arty” shots of my Atom. Here’s 3 to keep you satisfied:

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This little fellow is a yellow-bellied marmot. They’re all over, and love to mug for the camera.

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And a mountain goat, busily ignoring me:

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Westcliffe to Glenwood Springs

The previous post just covered Independence Pass, one stop along today’s route. I figured I’d write another post with more general info. In Westcliffe this morning, I met up with another Colorado Atom fan who has a car on order, and I took him for a test ride.

I’m in Glenwood Springs now and will be heading to Mount Evans tomorrow. That’s the highest paved road in the continental US, at 14,260 feet (4 feet shy of the summit). After driving that, my Atom will have been on both the lowest (Badwater Basin, Death Valley, -282 feet) and highest roads in the US.

After Mount Evans, I’ll try to swing through Tiny Town, CO (just to get a picture of the sign) and stay the night somewhere near Denver. After that, it is a series of 300+ mile days to get to Illinois for the weekend.

Tonight I changed my trip plate (the first one actually expires tomorrow, but I swapped it a day early as the weather was good and I had lots of free time) and washed the car at one of those self-serve places with a pressure hose with various forms of goop. After filling the floorpan with water, I took it to the vacuum and emptied it with the vac.

Independence Pass

For a change, the weather today was great, other than a few drizzles before Independence Pass. I finally made it over Independence Pass (the last 2 times I tried it was closed, once for snow season and once for a rockslide). The Atom was a big hit with folks at the scenic overlooks:

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And in return, they took a picture of me:

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Here’s what it looks like over the edge of the above picture:

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There is still snow on the peaks, even in mid-August:

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Though much of it melts and creates these ponds:

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Taos / Angel Fire / Mora / Westcliffe

I’m in Westcliffe now – soggy but in one piece (and so is the car). The weather alternated from beautiful to horrific, sometimes within a half-hour period. Look for an update later tonight.

Update: Ok, both the car and I are somewhat drier. I left Taos this morning, where the car got a lot of interest, even stopping traffic on some streets so people could have a conversation with me about the Atom. From Taos to Angel Fire, the roads were very good – nice and twisty, with a number of 15MPH (posted) switchbacks.

From Angel Fire to Mora, things got interesting – apparently I had moved the route selection slider on my map software from “highways” all the way to “not really a road”. The road doesn’t even seem to have a name, just being referred to as “Local road” on the map software. I probably should have given up and chosen an alternate route when the sign that said “Unpaved road next 12 miles – may be impassable” came up, but being your intrepid correspondent, I gave the Atom a workout on it. The car performed wonderfully, on a road far worse than any of you would ever want to take. Here’s a picture from near the summit, where the road is in reasonably good shape:

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After getting through that, the rain increased to a deluge. Fortunately, by the time I got to I-25, the sun decided to peek out for a bit and I got dried off somewhat. This pattern of soak / dry repeated for the next 150 or so miles. When I arrived at Westcliffe, it was pouring again, so I landed at the first motel I could find. Of course, after I rushed to unload the car and get the car cover on it, the sun started to come out again:

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Since the weather had improved, I gave a pair of prospective Atom owners rides to check out the car, and spent an hour or so talking about the Atom and cars in general.