jeff kushner
Full Access Members
Kerry and I recently got back from a trip to the Smoky Mountains and my truck was a beast....ok, it's only a couple thou feet high but still, lots of hills.....and 18.8mpg for the 1,800 mile trip overall.
I showed Kerry how well the Expedition, all 6,000 pounds of it drifts around the turns on the Foothills parkway but.......she was so "less than impressed" that she decided that she didn't want to end up at the bottom of a cliff so she drove...yeah, I didn't argue. ......<LMAO>.
Most of the roads down there are beautiful, well maintained and never saw radar.....but they are NOT for going fast!
Case in point....the Tail of the Dragon, while prominently discussed in any "best riding roads" discussion is a HORRIBLE place to ride fast! I used to road-race bikes...like 180mph racing......and I instantly recognized that the Dragon is filled with life-changing penalties.....like said cliffs, trees, other drivers.....all reasons NOT to ride that road fast yet we saw them. In NC "personal responsibility" means no guardrails to keep you at altitude if you overcook a corner....nope, you are going to shoot off the edge of the road into nothingness for a 1500 feet until you make a very quick stop. Jeff, a guy we met at the Pitstop told us about two guys that did just that 6-8 weeks earlier.....hikers found the one guy barely alive 3 days later....holding his dead buddy's body.
Driving the Expy smoothly over 311 tuns in 11 miles means using the select-shift while matching engine speeds. Kerry got pretty good at it by the time we left. In all fairness to her, I should have sprayed my TB before we left as there is some minor hesitation that I didn't get around to fixing before we left.
That engine sure was nice though. I had driven both of the previous Expys through the Appalachians before and this is by far the smoothest to me.
I went from 71K to almost 74k on this trip....we even WASHED it yesterday....for the first time in 16 months! I LOVE this truck!
Just look at that big sexy truck at Deals Gap at the Dragon!
jeff
I showed Kerry how well the Expedition, all 6,000 pounds of it drifts around the turns on the Foothills parkway but.......she was so "less than impressed" that she decided that she didn't want to end up at the bottom of a cliff so she drove...yeah, I didn't argue. ......<LMAO>.
Most of the roads down there are beautiful, well maintained and never saw radar.....but they are NOT for going fast!
Case in point....the Tail of the Dragon, while prominently discussed in any "best riding roads" discussion is a HORRIBLE place to ride fast! I used to road-race bikes...like 180mph racing......and I instantly recognized that the Dragon is filled with life-changing penalties.....like said cliffs, trees, other drivers.....all reasons NOT to ride that road fast yet we saw them. In NC "personal responsibility" means no guardrails to keep you at altitude if you overcook a corner....nope, you are going to shoot off the edge of the road into nothingness for a 1500 feet until you make a very quick stop. Jeff, a guy we met at the Pitstop told us about two guys that did just that 6-8 weeks earlier.....hikers found the one guy barely alive 3 days later....holding his dead buddy's body.
Driving the Expy smoothly over 311 tuns in 11 miles means using the select-shift while matching engine speeds. Kerry got pretty good at it by the time we left. In all fairness to her, I should have sprayed my TB before we left as there is some minor hesitation that I didn't get around to fixing before we left.
That engine sure was nice though. I had driven both of the previous Expys through the Appalachians before and this is by far the smoothest to me.
I went from 71K to almost 74k on this trip....we even WASHED it yesterday....for the first time in 16 months! I LOVE this truck!
Just look at that big sexy truck at Deals Gap at the Dragon!
jeff