| Stone Mountain Trip Report [message #295573] |
Mon, 15 February 2016 17:17  |
jknezek
Messages: 1057
Registered: December 2007
Karma:
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Senior Member |
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Left Saturday morning to take the kids to Stone Mountain for the annual Snow Zone. Towed the HHR because they don't shuttle people around inside the park this time of year. With my new vacuum gauge and tachometer I was amazed how much time I spent in the yellow or red ranges, even knowing I was towing the HHR. Seemed I was out of the green zone on every little hill in the low 60s. Made the campground despite a detour on the ring road to visit my favorite salad bar restaurant, that extended the trip and landed us in a pile of traffic, but we got there none the less. The campground is a nice one. A little sprawling and the sites aren't particularly level, but the bath houses are nice and the campground edges along a lake. With 400+ spots it is fairly empty this time of year.
It was cold for this part of the country. Mid 20s at night both Sat and Sun, days in the 40s. Kids had a blast toasting s'mores and loved the snow zone. The tubing was pretty neat. The gondola to the top of Stone Mountain is a little underwhelming, especially for the price, but fun to do once.
On the ride home we had a bit of an adventure. About 20 miles west of Atlanta I took off the electronic cruise and tried to hit the gas. The pedal went to the floor with no resistance and obviously no gas. Coasted to the side of the road and peered at the pedal for a minute. Realized the problem was the cable, but wasn't real sure how to fix it. A 5 minute conversation with Jeff at Alex Sirum had me straightened out. I think when the vacuum and tach gauges went in, the mechanic forgot to put the little clip back on that holds the accelerator cable to the carb. Eventually the cable worked itself free. Since the cruise has a different cable, I could have gone until the ramp to I459 if I never had to take the cruise off! Fortunately I found the clip sitting on top of the engine.
Of course, in the process of putting the cable and then clip on, I dropped the little clip straight out the bottom of the coach. Parked on the side of I20 it was a bit of an adventure to get back, but I pulled it back with a broom and installed it. Rest of the drive went well.
I did find the throttle was quite a bit more responsive and that I was in the yellow and power zones of the vacuum gauge less with the cable properly installed, though still more than I had thought I would find. If it ever happens again, I'll have a better baseline to realize when something is wrong.
Overall a good trip. A little adventure, and a little more knowledge, isn't really a bad thing!
Thanks,
Jeremy Knezek
1976 Glenbrook
Birmingham, AL
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