Blue Ridge Parkway

[mlh]

And remember all of those low numbers are at the edge of the tunnel and the high number is the center of the tunnel. Unless you plan on scrapping the edge of the wall you have nothing to worry about unless you have a really high camper.
Lynwood

[jjwhite368]

Just FYI - at least in VA, the mile marker order is opposite of normal - 0 at the north end increasing going south.

[mlh]

Originally Posted by jjwhite368

Just FYI - at least in VA, the mile marker order is opposite of normal - 0 at the north end increasing going south.

Never thought about that but that is correct. I’ve been on the parkway for 60 years and never noticed that. The mile markers don’t start over for each state.
Lynwood

[Joint Venture II]

Originally Posted by mlh

And remember all of those low numbers are at the edge of the tunnel and the high number is the center of the tunnel. Unless you plan on scrapping the edge of the wall you have nothing to worry about unless you have a really high camper.
Lynwood

Trailer height is right at 13' so I should be OK. Looking forward to the trip.

[bigred715]

In 2019 we flew out from Oregon and rented a car in Savannah and went north to the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Went the full length of Parkway. We saw very few RV's on the drive. For both of you to enjoy the trip, stay in campgrounds and backtrack to see all the sites without having to pay attention of pulling a trailer or 5th wheel. A local through our trip said the colors aren't what they used to be because of global warming. Still, an excellent trip and well worth it starting in Savannah Georgia. Some of the pull off spots would not accomadate trailers. We booked motels along the way and just back tracked so we didn't miss anything. Just our opinion. Enjoy the trip.

[mlh]

You are in luck. Our local TV station just had a story that said peak color would be this weekend. But it looks like to me we are a week past peak color especially in the mountains. The leaves are half off the trees on our property here in the valley. Fall is creeping down the mountains fast.
Lynwood

[Joint Venture II]

The leaf colors are beautiful here in Martinsville and we'll be on the BRP come Tuesday so we'll know for sure. When we drove highway 58 from I77 at Hillsville we crossed the BRP and saw an access at Meadows of Dan so we'll be driving back on 58 to that point Tuesday morning. This part of VA is a beautiful part of the state and enjoy meeting the local people.

[Joint Venture II]

Got on the BRP at Meadows of Dan MP177 and headed south till we had to get off at MP248 due to road closure. Bridge being replaced and will detour around. Very little traffic, speed limit 45mph and it's a very pleasant drive with beautiful fall colors. Stopped at a pull out for lunch and enjoyed it while parked by Little Glade Mill Pond MP230. Road is generally good condition and I'm enjoying the drive very much.

[mlh]

We are glad you are enjoying the Parkway. We certainly think it’s pretty. I have a friend in Dubois Wy. We showed him some pictures of the Parkway and the Peaks of Otter he wasn’t impressed. He said everything in Wyoming was prettier than anything in Virginia. He is still my friend.
Lynwood

[twindman]

Originally Posted by mlh

We are glad you are enjoying the Parkway. We certainly think it’s pretty. I have a friend in Dubois Wy. We showed him some pictures of the Parkway and the Peaks of Otter he wasn’t impressed. He said everything in Wyoming was prettier than anything in Virginia. He is still my friend.
Lynwood

Sorry Lynwood - I agree with your friend. I sort of think BRP is 'pretty' but Rockies are gorgeous!!! At least one step up in the beautiful scale. I know you camp at Union pass, so would you prefer that location or somewhere along BRP?

(of course I could be biased, as I have relatives near Cody so have been to Yellowstone AT LEAST every 5 years since I was 5.)

[mlh]

Wyoming is a beautiful state. If I had to move out of Virginia I’d go to Wyoming. But is everything in Wyoming more beautiful than anything in Virginia, no.
Would I rather camp on Union Pass than the Parkway? Yes but it’s 2000 miles away. I like it because there is almost nobody up there and I can fish the streams, the lakes see the game, moose, elk, deer, antelope. Another one of my favorite places is the Shirley Basin, 440,000 acres of prairie dogs, antelope and not much else except wide open spaces.
Would you rather camp on Union Pass or the Parkway in February?
Lynwood

[Joint Venture II]

Well in my mining career I was fortunate to live in Douglas and Gillette WY for a total of 12 years. Know the state well and met some very fine people there. The state has many fine qualities and beautiful places to see but the local people I met around Martinsville were some of the friendliest people we've met on this trip. VA countryside is beautiful as is the NC we're seeing from the parkway.

[mlh]

I was prairie dog hunting in the Shirley Basin. A friend from Laramie brought a guy to hunt with us that worked in the mines in Gillette. He said the seam he was working in was a hundred feet thick and I said WOW. Oh that’s he said nothing the next seam is 500 feet thick. Where we live a three feet thick seam is thick. I learned something WY coal can’t be exported, it has a short shelf life. Shelf life? Do what never heard of such a thing. I don’t know if our coal has a shelf life. When they get done mining a seam in SW Va they blast the pillows that hold the mountain up and set the mountain down the thickness of the seam.
Lynwood

[Mikendebbie]

Warning: Off-topic for Blue Ridge Parkway - but does coal have a shelf life?
I googled it and found a forum all about coal (for real? go figure).
If I found it on the internet it has to be true.

From the forum CoalPail.com
Does anyone have any experience with old stored coal? I have a chance to buy a bunch of old coal that has been stored in buckets for several years. I have heard and I think read somewhere on here that coal looses its volatiles over time. Does coal loose any of its properties during storage? Does it still burn as well as fresh mined coal?

I believe it loses some of its oomph but you can probably burn it forever. I believe there was post here a year or two ago where someone had burned some coal they found in bin that they estimated to be in the basement for 30 + years

I wouldn't try to burn any coal that is older than.......Oh, say 3 billion years. & not a day older!!

Burning Stove coal recovered from an outdoor carving shack that is on stilts. New property owner's wife did not want all that 'black rock' that was under the shack. So...I helped them out! That coal has been outside mostly covered for 25+ years and burns just fine.

I suppose if you refrigerate it, you could extend its shelf life another 3-400 million years. If it gets to warm and under enough pressure it just turns into diamonds. That diamonds are useless as you can't burn them in a coal appliance.

Well, I picked up about 1000 lbs of old nut this week, all in 5 gallon buckets. Guy said it came with his wood stove 13 years ago and was not sure how long previous owner had kept it around. It seems to be burning just fine, maybe a few degree drop in temp but not much. What the heck, its free, I'll burn it while the temps are warmer this spring and don't need max heat. He had an old Dutchwest wood/coal stove with all the coal parts, but just didn't want to burn coal, I guess.

Well, I've burned about half of the coal and I can definitely say that it does not have as much heat in it as new coal and stinks as well. I think it may even have a bunch of Bit. mixed in with it, as I am getting a lot of yellow flames like from sulfer. I imagine someone at sometime may have cleaned out the last of a coal bin. But hey, it was free and it burns. Wife noticed it right away. Wanted to know what stunk outside

[mlh]

Let me answer your question in a round about way. We live in the western end of Roanoke country south side. It’s limestone county. Limestone was formed at the bottom of an ocean, no coal. The north side 3 miles away is shell rock county. You might find a tiny amount of coal but you pay a heavy price for that. Most of the water has iron and sulfur in it. It’s worse than horrible. It will stink up your house and ruin your bath tub sinks and everything else it touches. Don’t even try to drink it.
Our coal is different than western coal. Ours is much harder and has more BTUs. It’s used to make steel because it’s burns hotter. Western coal is softer and is used to generate electricity. Of course there is exceptions to this. I know our coal will last for years and probably decades where the western coal has a shelf life of weeks and will or can spontaneously combust if it gets wet. According to the guy we hunted with.
We live about a half mile from Norfolk Southern’s main lines, yes three of them. I’ve watched coal trains go by every hour or so for over 60 years. There aren’t as many now but each train will have up to 200. cars with 200,000 pounds of coal each. That is a lot of coal but after 60 years there hast to be a giant hole somewhere up the line from us.
Lynwood

[Ram Montana High Country]

Not sure about Blueridge but most of Skyline is 36 mph - how far do you want to go at that speed? Yes pretty but with a fifth wheel?? Food for thought.

[mlh]

For those of you who don’t know the Skyline Drive is the northern end of the Blueridge Parkway in the Shenandoah National Park. I don’t think it’s actually part of the Parkway.
Lynwood

[mlh]

Inquiring minds wont to know. How did your trip down the parkway go?
I was on the parkway today. All the leaves are gone but that’s not bad. You can see things you can’t see with all the leaves on the trees.
Lynwood

[Joint Venture II]

Originally Posted by mlh

Our coal is different than western coal. Ours is much harder and has more BTUs. It’s used to make steel because it’s burns hotter. Western coal is softer and is used to generate electricity. Of course there is exceptions to this. I know our coal will last for years and probably decades where the western coal has a shelf life of weeks and will or can spontaneously combust if it gets wet. According to the guy we hunted with.
We live about a half mile from Norfolk Southern’s main lines, yes three of them. I’ve watched coal trains go by every hour or so for over 60 years. There aren’t as many now but each train will have up to 200. cars with 200,000 pounds of coal each. That is a lot of coal but after 60 years there hast to be a giant hole somewhere up the line from us.
Lynwood

Being a retired Electrical Supervisor for Peabody Coal employee I can attest to the fact western Subbituminous coal has a much longer shelf life then "weeks" and in fact is shipped to the Orient by ship loads for use in electrical generation plants.

Anthracite coal has the highest BTU rating per ton of any coal and used primarily in metal industries. 99% comes from mines in northeast PA.

Bituminous coal is used mostly for electrical generation and five states accounted for most production: West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky, and Indiana.

Lignite coal production had about half mined in North Dakota and about third was mined in Texas. The remaining was produced in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Montana. Lignite is mostly used to generate electricity.

ALL coal trains leaving WY had 110 coal cars and each was loaded to about 100 tons of "black gold" and pulled by 4-5 engines. Most eastern coal is high in sulpher which burns hotter then low sulpher western coal.

[mlh]

Thanks Joint Venture
We’ve watched a lot of coal go be here in 76 years. It’s nice to know more about it. 200 cars here is the norm. We now see 3 engines in the front of a train and 2 in the middle. That’s a lot of horse power. The Norfolk and Western now Norfolk Southern was the last major RR to stop using stem engines.
Lynwood