Yeehaw! Finally left Texas for an eight-month road-trip adventure in the USA and Canada

    
     Day two into my adventure, I passed a lady standing on the Natchez Trace in Mississippi with a two-foot long zoom lens. I parked off-road and walked back to ask her what was so interesting. She is a commercial wildlife photographer who exuberantly explained all the extremely noisey activity in this boggy area of the normally quiet bucolic forested Trace.

     Judy showed me the tree-top heron nests as well as the ducks and many different kinds of woodpeckers that were noisely fighting over home territories. I was amazed; so much to see when there's a knowledgeable guide. Just then, a pair of Canada Geese flew low into this busy boggy area, and the neighborhood became even more noisey with protests, hoots and hollers.

     Stopped at this overlook at the Ross Barnett Reservoir known as the Rez to take a quick bike ride on one of the Rez’ two multi-purpose trails. The pet ramp made this little excursion very pleasant and easy.

     A local I had met on the multi-purpose trail told me to visit the nearby Pearl River Water Management area. I found myself on a dirt road that paralleled the Natchez Trace and the Rez. It was a pleasant drive.

      Mississippi’s forest is beautiful and the weather was perfect that day.

      At Cherokee, NC is the very southern end of the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway and ends in Virginia where the Skyline Drive begins. It’s a scenic and colorful road in the Spring and Fall. 

Buds and flowers galore!

     I can understand why trailers and motorhomes don’t attempt the Blue Ridge Parkway. In addition to boulders, there are a couple dozen tunnels that are under 12 feet high. Motorcyclists and sports car drivers probably enjoy the parkway the most, and local folks who park at a trailhead for a day of hiking. I hiked one trail with Heinz an immigrant from Switzerland; he says he hikes there every year in the Spring or Fall.

       

     After driving almost six hours completing only 150 miles or so, I decided not to finish the entire Parkway because it was too grueling. Hairpin turns and switchbacks rule this parkway, with up and down-shifting constantly and lots of braking. I didn’t get beyond 35 mph in over six hours of driving. By the end of the day I could hear La Lair’s discontent. The next morning after a night at a Parkway Campground, the CEL (check engine light) came on which concerned me. There were no engine or driving difficulties, so I continued onward to Maryland to my sister’s place. I visited a friendly authorized ProMaster service technician found at a dealership in Catonville, Maryland. He explained that the emissions filter was throwing a code related to the filter not being cleaned. I suspect six hours of under 35 mph driving on the Parkway was the culprit. He reset the CEL; no parts were necessary.