July, 2008
Despite
the high cost of gas Jim and I regularly hit the roads of this beautiful state with one of
the Vettes. Sometimes the cruises are planned and sometimes they are mystery
cruises. The mystery being 'where are we' and 'how did we get here'?
Luckily in those cases all we have to do is hit 'home' on the GPS and off we go.
We
recently took a tour to Banner Elk, Blowing Rock and Boone. On our way, we found
some unbelievable back roads with hairpin turns so tight they would make grandma's topknot
squeak. 194 to Banner Elk was awesome. The scenery breathtaking.
We found a little road off 105 called Shulls Mill road. That road was made
with Corvettes in mind.
We both
noticed and commented on the lack of cars and traffic on the roads. Places and
communities that normally are bustling this time of year with tourists were unusually
quiet. I don't think we met two cars on the Blue Ridge. Mind you the open
uncrowded roads made for some good driving.
This
state is so gorgeous and has so many beautiful places and so much so see, I think I may
use my stimulus check just for gas (and Jim's for tires).
Please
check the website for details of all the great activities planned for July
July 4-
Parade
July
12- Club picnic at Oak Hollow- pot luck with the club supplying fried
chicken
July 13-
Road trip to Morrisette Winery
July 19-
Car display with Triad Corvette Club -details to
July 20-
Cody Creek
July 30-
Tex and Shirley's
Articles for next month’s newsletter should be submitted by July 22.
Check six! That’s
airplane talk for “check your six o’clock position”, meaning “lookout
behind you”. I do that a lot while
driving, especially since moving here. I did
so, reactively, about four weeks ago - - right after the impact.
Y’see, I was just returning home after having six staples
pile-driven into my scalp (no anesthetic) after a falling tree branch center-punched my
head (but that’s another story for another time.)
It was about 5 PM, heavy traffic, and the adrenaline from the tree branch
incident had evaporated. While approaching a
traffic signal, the guy in front of me locked ‘em down. Accordingly, so did I. The guy behind me didn’t. I’m OK; my truck isn’t. But here comes the reason for this article.
Right after the hit, I dutifully pulled over to the right to get out
of traffic. He went around me as if to pull
over in front of me… or so I thought. Instead
of pulling over, he just merged over to the inside lane and drove off! Didn’t rush off or anything like that,
just casually rejoined traffic as if nothing had happened!
Didn’t even seem concerned about the damage to his car (a late-model,
gold four door). There had to be considerable damage to the front of his
car because my truck took an eight hundred-buck plus hit.
Bent and buckled my rear bumper up, warped the bumper mounts and bent the
right tailpipe downward. I can’t open my
tailgate, and there’s considerable gold paint where there used to be chrome.
When I realized what he had done, traffic behind him and beside me
blocked my view of his license plate and car make. By
the time traffic allowed me back in, there were about 5 or 6 cars behind him in the lane
he was in and about the same number in front of me in the lane I was in. Undaunted though, I took chase (just followed him
actually) trying to get a better look at his car while pounding 911 into my bat-phone.
Long story short - I never got close enough, and the 911 dispatcher eventually told me to pull over, get out of traffic, and wait for the officer she had just dispatched. (Had I been in the Vette I would have chased him all the way to Key West and back….) The officer wrote it up as a hit-and-run.
When I told my story to Randy (Harb’s Body Shop in High Point -
whom I highly recommend for auto body work) he told me he wasn’t surprised. He said there are more hit-and-run incidents
around here than one could imagine. He told
me - - and get this now - - he sees fifteen to twenty hit and runs - - - - A WEEK! And his is just one body shop in the area! I speculate that’s why the police here
actually have an official “Hit-and-Run” report blank.
The moral of this true story? I
guess if there is one, it is to frequently “check six!” For, in this part of the country at least, it
seems that following others at a safe distance is a sign of weakness. And so is stopping after being involved in an
accident….
NATIONAL CORVETTE MUSEUM
ACTIVITIES
EVENTS:
For those of my family / friends
that are mechanically inclined. I've discovered a procedure that will restore dead
Nickel-cadmium rechargeable batteries (Ni-Cads). I have a great old Ryobi cordless
drill, and one of the batteries would no longer take a charge. As many know, you
need to have 2 batteries on hand? onne to use, and one on the charger. In my search
for a new battery (at least $60), or a new drill (at least $100 for a good one), I found
this info. Cost me $4, but for you, free! I tried it this morning, and it
worked perfectly. My formerly dead drill battery has now taken a full charge,
and works like new. Procedure will work in as little as 15 minutes, and works on any
voltage NiCad battery.
If you're not mechanically
inclined, please buy a new battery.
Here’s the link for the info.
Also has info on restoring a dead car battery with bad cells:
http://www.ysuusy.com/YSUUSY_BATTERY_REPAIR.html
Enjoy, and be sure to read in its
entirety before using the procedure.
Saturday morning Dick and Gloria Lawrence (with their
grandchildren Caitlyn and Owen) and Charles and Carol Bernhardt caravanned to Pinehurst
and met Jim and Jean Harmston. The main restaurant at the Carolina Hotel was not open so
we hopped on a shuttle bus and were taken over to the Clubhouse where we had a nice
leisurely lunch. It was a very pleasant
trip even though there had been predicted chances of rain for the day. After lunch we were taken by shuttle back to the
hotel where we picked up our cars and continued on our ways. The Harmstons and Lawrences
continued on to Myrtle Beach and the Bernhardts drove back to Lexington. It was a nice refreshing getaway. It would have been even better if more people had
attended.
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Protection
Systems is owned by Clubvette member Mel Lohr