This is my story of my trip to Deal's Gap last Saturday... All I wanted was a relaxing weekend. I didn't get it. 
So after a hellish week of studying for yet another craptastic pharmacy test here in medical school, and then proceeding to do quite poorly, I decided I’d take a couple of days off and go terrorize the roads of East TN and NC in my now running NSX. The plan was to leave out Saturday A.M. with a friend to keep me entertained and head for Deal’s Gap and points beyond. The last attempt I had at a spirited drive through the mountains a couple of weekends before ended abruptly when a pebble lodged between the heat shield and CV joint and started a ruckus that sounded like the whole drivetrain was about to explode. Yes, it IS possible for a pebble to fit into that ¼’’ slot; you just have to be ME for it to happen.
Well since the weather was forecast to be sunny and beautiful that Saturday, I washed my car and headed out. Of course, it almost immediately turned rainy and overcast (and remained so for the rest of the day) but I was undeterred. I stopped for lunch in Maryville with a classmate and then made my way down US129 towards ‘The Dragon.” Now this isn’t my 1st trip down it by a long shot, but it would be the first with my new brakes, wheels, tires, and lowering kit so I was excited to say the least. As I drove along the edge of the lake on the TN side of US129, I began to notice a vibration in the seat and floorboard. Within a couple miles it had become VERY noticeable thru the seats, but the steering wheel was dead smooth. With visions of a destroyed CV joint in my head, I pulled over and looked through the wheel as best as I could to assess any damage. I couldn’t see anything, so I decided to check the lugnuts on the rear wheels just in case (I’d torque them TWICE to 75 ft/lbs since putting the new wheels and lugnuts on.) Well the lug nuts were nice and tight so I hopped back in and drove another mile or so, only to have the vibration worsen. I noticed that it would go away in any sort of curve, and come right back on the straights so I pulled over just before Tabcat bridge at the ‘start’ of the Dragon for another look and tow truck call… On a whim I decided to check the front lugnuts and lo and behold, the front passenger wheel was MISSING two and the other three were at least THREE full turns backed out!! Now I KNOW I torque them the weekend before, so I was a little miffed. I DID take the car BACK to the alignment shop the day before b/c when they aligned it the week before, the steering wheel was at least 15degrees off center when I picked it up. The guy actually attempted to convince me that was ‘normal’ with a lowered suspension!!! After I raised hell they realigned it (and STILL have the wheel a couple degrees off center). I wonder if maybe they ‘assisted’ the lugnut’s in coming off….
Well as I torqued the last lugnut down (all 4 wheels, and took one lugnut from a rear wheel), the skies opened up with the rain that wasn’t forecast and I began my slow run down the dragon. All went well despite being stuck behind four Harleys that never exceeded 20mph the whole way down. After a brief stop at the Crossroads of Time to buy yet another shirt, we set off for a nice long looping route to Robbinsville, NC from which we’d head back up the Dragon and home. Well that was most uneventful aside from honestly getting stuck behind EVERY slow moving RV, Utility truck, Semi, and Wide-load vehicle in the mountains. My GPS showed an average moving speed of 24mph… Then the trouble started…
I made it to Robbinsville, NC w/o incident and prepared to turn onto US129 one last time. At the red light I was behind a single silver Toyota truck covered in “Go Obama!” stickers waiting to make a right turn. Well the light turned green and he didn’t budge. So we sat there. The light stayed green. I indulged in a brief use of my “BUTTONS OF FURY” (horn) and still he sat there. Another salvo of fury buttons resulted in his STILL not moving and the light turning back to red. By now there’s a car behind me so I’m stuck… Finally the light turned green AGAIN and still no movement. Mind you, this was a RIGHT turn, with NO traffic coming at any point. I finally expressed my displeasure with one last Volley of Fury, which FINALLY elicited a response. The door of the truck opened and out got a 60+ y/o redneck who was all of maybe 5’6’’ and 120lbs in the rain. Well I stand up out of my car as he approaches and he says “What the f*cks yerrrrr problem?”
I replied, “Sir you’re stopped at a green light…”
Then he said, “No I ain’t!”
“Yes, yes you are…” He then turns and points at the NOW red light and says “see the damned light’s red!”
I replied, “Well yeah, it is NOW…”
He stood there and stared at me for a few seconds and then said “Yer a stupid mother*cker ain’t you?”
To which I responded, “No Sir, YOU are the one who’s stopped at a green light, not me…” (Yes, I REALLY was polite during this entire exchange. My parent’s raised me to respect people older than me, even if they’re @ssholes.)
Well he stood there again and said “ok then” and then pulled a knife out of his front pocket and tried to STAB ME IN THE STOMACH!!!!! Thankfully, my quick aviator cat-like reflexes (and the fact that I was 31 years younger than he) got me back in time. I pushed the door into him and collapsed into the car as I rolled the window back up and locked the door. Now, I like my car. A lot. But I REALLY enjoy NOT crapping through a colonostomy bag for the rest of my life. So after the door gets shut, he proceeds to start KICKING the crap out of my driver’s side with his gravel covered cowboy boots. I was furiously dialing 911 (or what more accurately turned out to be Reno 911!) Well he drives off and I follow trying to get his tag number. He pulled off into a strip mall and I pulled in behind him but about 75 feet away. As I’m getting his tag number, he gets back and pulls a rifle out of the back of his truck. Well, if I don’t like getting stabbed, I REALLY don’t like getting shot, so I tore off for the other end of the lot. The 911 lady asked if I had his plate number and I told her no… She then asked if I could go BACK to get it. I asked if she missed the part about ohhh… you know…. THE GUN. Finally he got back in and I circled around and got the rest of the plate #.
Well now we set off on an “OJ Style” low speed chase through the mountains of North Carolina, with me staying quite a ways back so as not to get ‘stuck’ somewhere while updating the local 911 as to our whereabouts. He made a few turns onto dead ends, which I opted NOT to follow him down b/c the banjo’s from Deliverance were playing loudly in my head. Finally after FORTY MINUTES a local sheriff caught up to us and took over the chase. At this point the 911 lady said “well have a nice day” and tried to hang up.
WTF???? I asked her about filing charges etc to which she replied “oh you wanted to do that?” Wow… Ultimately I ended up at the county courthouse where I spent several hours filling out paperwork as they tried to explain that “now if you file charges you realize you’ll have to drive all the way BACK here for trial ok?” Yeah, that’s fine. The officer finally explained that I needed to get an estimate for restitution of the damages and fax it in. Then, if found guilty (charged with 'intent to kill'), the Judge would order repayment and the state would cut me a check and he’d have to repay the state. The only ‘good news’ of the day I guess… I’m pretty sure he SHOULD be found guilty since he ran from the cops, was drunk as could be, and I had a witness to it all. That and the fact I’m a retired Army officer and not some ‘punk kid’ should help, too. So now I have to go get an estimate and deal with all this… All because I wanted to have a NICE RELAXING WEEKEND!!!
Cliff notes: Went to Deal’s Gap. Nearly lost a wheel when lugnuts all ‘mysteriously’ loosened after argument with alignment tech. Nearly got stabbed by old redneck b/c he passed out at a red light.
ALSO! If anyone has two black Spline Drive lugnuts for sale, PM me!!
So after a hellish week of studying for yet another craptastic pharmacy test here in medical school, and then proceeding to do quite poorly, I decided I’d take a couple of days off and go terrorize the roads of East TN and NC in my now running NSX. The plan was to leave out Saturday A.M. with a friend to keep me entertained and head for Deal’s Gap and points beyond. The last attempt I had at a spirited drive through the mountains a couple of weekends before ended abruptly when a pebble lodged between the heat shield and CV joint and started a ruckus that sounded like the whole drivetrain was about to explode. Yes, it IS possible for a pebble to fit into that ¼’’ slot; you just have to be ME for it to happen.
Well since the weather was forecast to be sunny and beautiful that Saturday, I washed my car and headed out. Of course, it almost immediately turned rainy and overcast (and remained so for the rest of the day) but I was undeterred. I stopped for lunch in Maryville with a classmate and then made my way down US129 towards ‘The Dragon.” Now this isn’t my 1st trip down it by a long shot, but it would be the first with my new brakes, wheels, tires, and lowering kit so I was excited to say the least. As I drove along the edge of the lake on the TN side of US129, I began to notice a vibration in the seat and floorboard. Within a couple miles it had become VERY noticeable thru the seats, but the steering wheel was dead smooth. With visions of a destroyed CV joint in my head, I pulled over and looked through the wheel as best as I could to assess any damage. I couldn’t see anything, so I decided to check the lugnuts on the rear wheels just in case (I’d torque them TWICE to 75 ft/lbs since putting the new wheels and lugnuts on.) Well the lug nuts were nice and tight so I hopped back in and drove another mile or so, only to have the vibration worsen. I noticed that it would go away in any sort of curve, and come right back on the straights so I pulled over just before Tabcat bridge at the ‘start’ of the Dragon for another look and tow truck call… On a whim I decided to check the front lugnuts and lo and behold, the front passenger wheel was MISSING two and the other three were at least THREE full turns backed out!! Now I KNOW I torque them the weekend before, so I was a little miffed. I DID take the car BACK to the alignment shop the day before b/c when they aligned it the week before, the steering wheel was at least 15degrees off center when I picked it up. The guy actually attempted to convince me that was ‘normal’ with a lowered suspension!!! After I raised hell they realigned it (and STILL have the wheel a couple degrees off center). I wonder if maybe they ‘assisted’ the lugnut’s in coming off….
Well as I torqued the last lugnut down (all 4 wheels, and took one lugnut from a rear wheel), the skies opened up with the rain that wasn’t forecast and I began my slow run down the dragon. All went well despite being stuck behind four Harleys that never exceeded 20mph the whole way down. After a brief stop at the Crossroads of Time to buy yet another shirt, we set off for a nice long looping route to Robbinsville, NC from which we’d head back up the Dragon and home. Well that was most uneventful aside from honestly getting stuck behind EVERY slow moving RV, Utility truck, Semi, and Wide-load vehicle in the mountains. My GPS showed an average moving speed of 24mph… Then the trouble started…
I made it to Robbinsville, NC w/o incident and prepared to turn onto US129 one last time. At the red light I was behind a single silver Toyota truck covered in “Go Obama!” stickers waiting to make a right turn. Well the light turned green and he didn’t budge. So we sat there. The light stayed green. I indulged in a brief use of my “BUTTONS OF FURY” (horn) and still he sat there. Another salvo of fury buttons resulted in his STILL not moving and the light turning back to red. By now there’s a car behind me so I’m stuck… Finally the light turned green AGAIN and still no movement. Mind you, this was a RIGHT turn, with NO traffic coming at any point. I finally expressed my displeasure with one last Volley of Fury, which FINALLY elicited a response. The door of the truck opened and out got a 60+ y/o redneck who was all of maybe 5’6’’ and 120lbs in the rain. Well I stand up out of my car as he approaches and he says “What the f*cks yerrrrr problem?”
I replied, “Sir you’re stopped at a green light…”
Then he said, “No I ain’t!”
“Yes, yes you are…” He then turns and points at the NOW red light and says “see the damned light’s red!”
I replied, “Well yeah, it is NOW…”
He stood there and stared at me for a few seconds and then said “Yer a stupid mother*cker ain’t you?”
To which I responded, “No Sir, YOU are the one who’s stopped at a green light, not me…” (Yes, I REALLY was polite during this entire exchange. My parent’s raised me to respect people older than me, even if they’re @ssholes.)
Well he stood there again and said “ok then” and then pulled a knife out of his front pocket and tried to STAB ME IN THE STOMACH!!!!! Thankfully, my quick aviator cat-like reflexes (and the fact that I was 31 years younger than he) got me back in time. I pushed the door into him and collapsed into the car as I rolled the window back up and locked the door. Now, I like my car. A lot. But I REALLY enjoy NOT crapping through a colonostomy bag for the rest of my life. So after the door gets shut, he proceeds to start KICKING the crap out of my driver’s side with his gravel covered cowboy boots. I was furiously dialing 911 (or what more accurately turned out to be Reno 911!) Well he drives off and I follow trying to get his tag number. He pulled off into a strip mall and I pulled in behind him but about 75 feet away. As I’m getting his tag number, he gets back and pulls a rifle out of the back of his truck. Well, if I don’t like getting stabbed, I REALLY don’t like getting shot, so I tore off for the other end of the lot. The 911 lady asked if I had his plate number and I told her no… She then asked if I could go BACK to get it. I asked if she missed the part about ohhh… you know…. THE GUN. Finally he got back in and I circled around and got the rest of the plate #.
Well now we set off on an “OJ Style” low speed chase through the mountains of North Carolina, with me staying quite a ways back so as not to get ‘stuck’ somewhere while updating the local 911 as to our whereabouts. He made a few turns onto dead ends, which I opted NOT to follow him down b/c the banjo’s from Deliverance were playing loudly in my head. Finally after FORTY MINUTES a local sheriff caught up to us and took over the chase. At this point the 911 lady said “well have a nice day” and tried to hang up.
WTF???? I asked her about filing charges etc to which she replied “oh you wanted to do that?” Wow… Ultimately I ended up at the county courthouse where I spent several hours filling out paperwork as they tried to explain that “now if you file charges you realize you’ll have to drive all the way BACK here for trial ok?” Yeah, that’s fine. The officer finally explained that I needed to get an estimate for restitution of the damages and fax it in. Then, if found guilty (charged with 'intent to kill'), the Judge would order repayment and the state would cut me a check and he’d have to repay the state. The only ‘good news’ of the day I guess… I’m pretty sure he SHOULD be found guilty since he ran from the cops, was drunk as could be, and I had a witness to it all. That and the fact I’m a retired Army officer and not some ‘punk kid’ should help, too. So now I have to go get an estimate and deal with all this… All because I wanted to have a NICE RELAXING WEEKEND!!!
Cliff notes: Went to Deal’s Gap. Nearly lost a wheel when lugnuts all ‘mysteriously’ loosened after argument with alignment tech. Nearly got stabbed by old redneck b/c he passed out at a red light.
ALSO! If anyone has two black Spline Drive lugnuts for sale, PM me!!
