The other half

 11/12- Lynchburg VA

   Last night was not quite as cold as the furnace actually shut down on occasion. The morning was slightly warmer as we could see somewhat out of the frozen windows. The van did really well while the furnace struggled with the cold we didn’t freeze. It only used about a third of the propane and the battery was down to about 42%. I thought about hooking up the solar panel but you can’t charge lithium batteries below 32 degrees. 

    We drove off down the Slyline Drive twisting and turning and stopping at more lookouts. We stopped at one place and decided to do a quick hike. The sign said it was a half mile in and out. Turns out it was about a half mile up also. It did lead to a very pretty lookout at the top of a big cliff. 

    We got to the end of Skyline Drive and then had to decide where we were going next. After lunch we headed right onto the  Blue Ridge Parkway. Here we go twisting and turning again. This is not a road to lose concentration on as there were no guard rails and some very steep drop offs. Some places they carved the road out of the cliff on the side of the mountain. 

     Both Siri and google did their best to try to get us to not use the parkway. The parkway was not even shown on the map. Even with their best efforts they eventually realized we would not be stopped and they finally stopped trying to turn us around. Turns out the parkway was closed just after our exit. We ended up camping at a KOA in Lynchburg. The campground is closing in a couple of days so they were giving ice cream away for free. 

   Today was much warmer as we headed south with it getting into the 60’s. It was much appreciated especially as we got reports from home of a large snowstorm creating all kinds of traffic problems. The ski area is planning on opening on Friday. That’s a real good place for that crap!!

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