Blue Ridge Parkway

July 25, 2009
Every day people look at us funny and some ask us what the truck is and what it does, 4 people asked us today. One guy said very loudly over the roar of the diesel "hey mam, what is a road analyzer"? He was reading the label on the truck. I walked over there rather than yell back and explained we collect surface pavement data that includes rutting, roughness and video. I don't get much more detailed than that unless they ask more specific questions. He said something like "oh, so you know when to rip them up" and I said "yes, but we only work in the national parks and we were collecting Blue Ridge Parkway right now." He replied "oh, I'd be in heaven with that job". I just laughed. I'm pretty sure what he really meant to say was...If that truck never broke down, it never rained, and I worked 9-5 then I'd be in haven with that job. This week could be an 80 hour work week for me and sleep does not include as many hours as I'd like.

We collected a crazy route today that went up Sharp Top Mountain, elevation 3875. It was once thought to be the Virginia's highest peak. An interesting note: inside the Washington Monument in DC there are state inscribed stones on the walls. The Virginia stone came from this mountain. Anyway, the route is a narrow 2-way, one lane road. Typically 2-way and one lane don't go together. Luckily this route was closed to the public but an unlucky guy gets to drive tourists to the top of this thing every day/hour in a bus. Luckily the bus driver was at the bottom of the mountain when we got there so we could talk to him. If we would have met on the road (one going down and the other going up) it would not have been pretty. We ended up following the bus driver up the mountain. Two big vehicles at the top in a small parking lot was pretty crazy but we all made it. Jeff and I decided we wanted to go to the very top to the lookout...how far can 1,500 feet really be anyway. We decided to run up to the top and get some quick photos. Needless to say running uphill was not the smartest idea I ever had and it is times like this I am quickly reminded I still have exercise asthma. I did finally make it and I did get some photos, although I'm sure people could hear me gasping for air a mile away.

The visitor center near the James River has a cool walkway under the parkway road. I posted a photo because I thought it was different and pretty cool. You can see the people on it but I didn't get a chance to walk on it.

The truck has been pushing through the past few days with no real breakdown issues. We have had some collection errors to deal with that causes re-runs. I'll take those errors any day over changing an alternator belt!