My 52 GMC Build

[rusty76]

Its funny but I've never seen lake Fontana full. Every single time I've been up there it was always down. Way down.

[lower50's]

Originally Posted by RockinKees

Awesome pics Lower!!

I'm sure you have the time of your life!!

It was one of our best trips.

Originally Posted by rusty76

Its funny but I've never seen lake Fontana full. Every single time I've been up there it was always down. Way down.

Really I was wondering about that.

[lower50's]

Monday October 24 We left the trailer at the site and headed 45 min West,over to the "Tail of the dragon" It was a destination I wanted to drive the truck on. For those who don't know it is a drivers dream. 318 turns in 11mi right near the Tennessee border, quite well known with sports cars and bikes. I drove my truck as hard as I safely could, had to let the brakes cool twice. It was awesome who knew a 5000lb truck could corner that well There was one corner I dragged the front bumper on, such a rush.

Attachment 1588042

Attachment 1588043

Attachment 1588044

Attachment 1588045

Attachment 1588046

[lower50's]

After we drove the Dragon down and back we went to this cool place called Tapoco lodge and had a wood fired pizza sitting by a river. Saw a cool looking hydro dam on the way. On our way back to the trailer we stopped at the Fontana dam. We found out it is the largest dam east of the rocky's. It was built after Pearl Harbor to provide power to the Atomic factories that made the bomb that was dropped on Japan. The last pick is one of the impellers from the dam used to spin the generators.

[lower50's]

After we got the trailer we basically started our drive home. I wanted to drive the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Very scenic drive lots of lookouts, all uphill! There was 6 tunnels we went through. We had to stop twice on our climb from 2020ft to 5820ft in 18mi to let the truck cool down. At one point the motor was 230* and the exhaust was a steady 900* for 15 min, everything was hot. But so worth the drive. We hung out up there and watched the sun set then drove to our next camping spot.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Check out this Bad Ass carving up the tail of the dragon! Bob, you might want to get a print of one of these pics. I got one a few years ago when I rod up the US129 on my Harley. Its an awesome road... and lots of nice scenery.

Here's where I found that pic. http://xtremesportsphotography.photo...7&g=0QAK02JD01

[joedoh]

what a great trip, and documentary!

[Advanced Design]

Really great pictures and the truck was awesome! What a trip! Thank you for sharing.

[lower50's]

Originally Posted by Johnny_Lamebridge

Check out this Bad Ass carving up the tail of the dragon! Bob, you might want to get a print of one of these pics. I got one a few years ago when I rod up the US129 on my Harley. Its an awesome road... and lots of nice scenery.

Here's where I found that pic. http://xtremesportsphotography.photo...7&g=0QAK02JD01

Thanks John I think that is the pic I'm thinking of

Originally Posted by joedoh

what a great trip, and documentary!

Thanks joedoh

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Really great pictures and the truck was awesome! What a trip! Thank you for sharing.

Thanks AD

[lower50's]

Tuesday October 25. Had a slow start, did some laundry and shopping then hit the road. The tree colors where neat with bright red mixed into the hills. Went back into Tennessee up to Bristol where we missed the Virginia sign but stopped to see the nascar track. The gate was open so we started to drive around the stadium and saw another open gate so I checked it out. I was the only one in the stands.








Then we stopped at a rest stop and the truck boiled over. The cooling fan wasn't on!? After some troubleshooting and having power to the fan, I decided the cooling fan died, made some quick calls and found one close by. After pulling the old one out, the part that I knew would bite me one day did. The fan relay switches negative Turns out it was the fan relay that died. So a 10 min fix turned into 2 hrs, but we where rolling again and found a place to sleep.

[Dieselwrencher]

Man, great pics and trip! You sure did check out a lot of cool places. Usually my trips always turned into, get there, do what you came to do, and see everything at 70mph or more on your way home. That's a bad deal on the boiling over issue but at least you were able to fix it. We had some fans quit on us going to Texas once. That made for an interesting trip. Especially in traffic in Houston with no A/C, and in a traffic jam at 102*. Haha

[rusty76]

Beautiful places to see and go. I love the Blue Ridge Parkway. I used to play hooky from work and my cousin and I would go up there cruising and getting lost. One time we passed the same mill three times. Lol. I wondered if you got a pic of your truck from the tail of the dragon. Boy I work with got a photo of him and his wife on his bike. I swear he was dragging a pegg in the photo. I'm doing the tail of the dragon one of these fine days for sure.

[lower50's]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Man, great pics and trip! You sure did check out a lot of cool places. Usually my trips always turned into, get there, do what you came to do, and see everything at 70mph or more on your way home. That's a bad deal on the boiling over issue but at least you were able to fix it. We had some fans quit on us going to Texas once. That made for an interesting trip. Especially in traffic in Houston with no A/C, and in a traffic jam at 102*. Haha

We like that part of road tripping, stop and see the sights. My opinion if I wanted to go A to B I would drive our Mazda. Yup I'll take a breakdown I can fix in a parking lot.

Originally Posted by rusty76

Beautiful places to see and go. I love the Blue Ridge Parkway. I used to play hooky from work and my cousin and I would go up there cruising and getting lost. One time we passed the same mill three times. Lol. I wondered if you got a pic of your truck from the tail of the dragon. Boy I work with got a photo of him and his wife on his bike. I swear he was dragging a pegg in the photo. I'm doing the tail of the dragon one of these fine days for sure.

LOL They where great places to drive with my fresh truck. Was a highlight of our trip for sure.

[lower50's]

Wednesday October 26
We woke up to a cold beautiful morning in Virginia, frost was everywhere. We passed a cool looking power plant just before we crossed into West Virginia. Why are the roads in Virginia so bad and as soon as we cross the state line they are all new? We traveled back to Grove City to the same friends where we spent our first night. Tomorrow is the last day of our adventure and had a very cool experience, stay tuned.

[lower50's]

So our last day of our adventure I had made plans to meet up with a board member a lot of you will know, "99 to life". We met up with Henry on the side of a rainy road and followed him to where he keeps his trucks and future projects. He has some great old iron. We got to meet Geronimo and his '51 that he brought out for a photo shoot. We spent 4 hours talking and checking out his stuff. He is a very busy man with all he has going on, I give him all the credit in the world for what he gets done. It was great to meet you Henry hope to see you next year. Oh and I bought some of his yummy coffee. Thanks Henry

[lower50's]

A couple more with 99's truck, then we hit the road. The blurry pic is our Welcome to New York sign lol. We got home at 10:00pm Thursday night as you can see we logged 44hrs of moving time and almost 3500km or 2187mi in 7 days pulling my trailer and spent about $400US on fuel. We had an amazing trip and met lots of very nice people. My truck ran way better than I was expecting and was so comfortable to drive at 65mph. A few times I forgot I was driving an old truck that I pieced together myself. I recommend a road trip to everyone.

[oldman3]

Thanks for the great pics and sharing your journey. It's great when you get a chance to met a member...Jim

[99 to Life]

Here are a few more pics, how'd I manage to get a photo of the 10 seconds of sun we got that whole day!!! Just wanna say this truck is very well built and you guys were so fun to talk to. Many of us wish we had the balls to do what you did. I couldnt imagine taking all that into another country. Glad you stopped by and made the trip a success. Your truck looked so killer in my rear view mirror. I must say also, I was never fan of LED lights until I seen them on your truck. The look on peoples faces when you roll into a gas station are hilarious. We will meet again!

[Advanced Design]

Lower, awesome that you were able to meet 99. He has a nice projects collection.
Thanks for sharing your picture and trip!

[RockinKees]

What a trip!!
Love reading your adventures and look at all the pics!

Awesome!!

[piratexpress1369a]

Looks like you had an awesome trip

[lower50's]

Originally Posted by oldman3

Thanks for the great pics and sharing your journey. It's great when you get a chance to met a member...Jim

Thanks Jim Driving these old trucks modified or stock is all about the journey.

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

Here are a few more pics, how'd I manage to get a photo of the 10 seconds of sun we got that whole day!!! Just wanna say this truck is very well built and you guys were so fun to talk to. Many of us wish we had the balls to do what you did. I couldnt imagine taking all that into another country. Glad you stopped by and made the trip a success. Your truck looked so killer in my rear view mirror. I must say also, I was never fan of LED lights until I seen them on your truck. The look on peoples faces when you roll into a gas station are hilarious. We will meet again!

Thankyou very much Henry. Nice sun pic lol. My thought is take an old vehicle you built or rebuilt or take a new one they can both brake down, but you can fix the old one on the side of the road with a bubble gum wrapper and a zip tie. I hope to remember to post tomorrow we had a list of thumbs up from our trip.

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Lower, awesome that you were able to meet 99. He has a nice projects collection.
Thanks for sharing your picture and trip!

It was very cool to meet. Your welcome we all need to post our adventures that one reason we build these things.

Originally Posted by RockinKees

What a trip!!
Love reading your adventures and look at all the pics!

Awesome!!

Thanks Kees

Originally Posted by piratexpress1369a

Looks like you had an awesome trip

We did can't wait till our next one.

[lower50's]

I found the list we made from our trip. We observed while we where in the truck traveling:
50+1- thumbs up, one from a corvette lol
7- comments
12- honks
24- gawkers
12- pictures
It was a fun little game.

[northern 49]

Your truck deserves all those thumbs up, there is just something so right about that big red front end so close to the ground.

[99 to Life]

hahahaha that is a funny game. you could add so many things to that list, but I won't even go there. Spectators can make or break a day!!