Things got a little heated at the Mountain View Speedway.
A first place win was petitioned by another drivers to determine if any cheating was involved. A petition like this cues an ordeal where the motor needs to be pulled, flywheel weighed, and the valves and crankshaft inspected for modification.
Meanwhile, people gathered around swearing up a storm, getting in each other’s faces, and lifetime bans to the track were threatened.
After a couple hour fiasco the motor was deemed legal and the first place position stood.
All in a night at the race track.
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Probably our biggest complaint about the Great Smoky Mountains - at least near Pigeon Forge, Tennessee - is how crowded they are. After driving a loop that felt like standing in line at Disney World we consulted the map - aha! A twelve mile dirt road that is rarely driven! We’ll be away from the crowds and into the mountains! Perfect!
Now, if you’ve been following along with our adventures at all, you’ll notice one consistency: our adventures tend to get really exciting when the van misbehaves. These adventures have ranged from the amusing (like the time we almost ran out of gas when we discovered that the gas cap locks itself from time to time - requiring a special key, which we didn’t have on hand at the time) to the less enjoyable (like the time we were nearly stranded in Pennsylvania with all of our treasured belongings and two cranky travel cats).
It should probably come as no surprise to you that this adventure followed along these rather predictable lines: a mile and a half up the mountain (on a one way road) we heard a giant clunk. Five minutes later, and we noticed the oil gauge was rocketing towards what mechanics officially call “WAY TOO HOT.”
We pulled over, popped the hood, and noticed the fan was, well, no longer there.
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Charlie’s been in the hot air balloon business since 1973 - he was born into the trade. He works now with his son, his father, and other members of his family to run middle Tennessee’s hottest hot air balloon company.
Check out the photos from our adventures at the Mt Juliet Hot Air Balloon Festival to see Charlie at work!
If you’re one of our backers who signed up for prints, you might have received one of these prints in the mail. If you’re not a print backer - don’t worry! You have options!
For monthly prints, you can back us on Patreon! We love our print backers - for one, there is nothing better than holding a photo in your hand. We love pushing ourselves to find the photos that will look best on your walls, working with a printer to make sure each photo is perfect, and carefully signing, packaging, and sending your archival print along.
Each person who gets prints monthly receives prints based on their personality - we do our best to send something that you’ll truly enjoy. We make decisions based on what we know about you, what you like (or don’t like) of ours on FB, and an idea of creating a cohesive and customized collection from our year of travel.
If you are interested in one of these prints, you can order some off of our gallery. (We haven’t fully migrated to our Tendency to Wander gallery - so don’t be fooled by Jordyn’s name here. These prints come from both Jordyn and Justin.)
Click here to read more and to see more photos.
We’re discovering in Music City there is history everywhere. Earlier this week, on an unrelated trip across town, we found United Record Pressing.
The building doesn’t look like much, but it’s where, among other historical fetes, the first Beatles record in America was pressed. There’s also a small apartment upstairs - which served as a hotel suite when artists of color weren’t allowed to stay in local hotels.
Click here to read more and to see more photos.
