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Need to add a tip about "Pulling Over" -- when there are more than 5 cars stacked up behind you, you can drastically reduce the stress level of your leisurely Sunday drive simply by using your indicator light, pulling over onto the shoulder, bringing your vehicle to a complete stop, and allowing those inconsiderate tailgaters to go past you... this will give you the complete freedom to drive 30 miles below the posted speed limit.
Ain't that the truth! It's state law here (actually I think it's 3 or more), yet I never see it enforced.
No, not all of us in tiny towns in the mountains think that you get points for hitting small animals.
Some of us live here in the moutains partly because we enjoy and have respect for wildlife no matter how small it is. Just drive like a normal human being so you have plenty of time to stop for them in nearly every circumstance (I've never hit one). Jeez.
On braking, on one of our trips to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, we took the tram from Gatlinburg up to Ober Gatlinburg Ski Lodge (Ober Gatlinburg Ski Resort & Amusement Park) The tram operator informed everybody you CAN drive up there, but do it in a rental car to save the brakes on your own! lol
There is a bird place there too with a hellish driveway. Since I live in mtns far from there, all I did was say Honey hold my beer, and watch this! As I raced down that drive..
I've had the "pleasure" of driving through pretty much every mountain range in the US, from rolling foothill types to ones so steep even cars have to downshift to get up them. I've driven them on motorcycles up to U-Hauls hauling a car behind. About the only time I really had sphincter factor were steep downhills, with sharp curves, in the winter, in the dark... can't say as I understand being afraid of them when the road conditions aren't seriously stacked against you like that.
I live in the middle of nowhere, 4 hours down a mostly gravel mountain road they euphemistically call a highway. There are few road signs, no painted lines or edge markers, and no guardrail once you get out off the portion that the semi's use to haul stuff up to the oil fields. You're lucky if there are shoulders and most of the worst curves are on steep drop-offs that fly off into ravines. Everyone drives those stretches slowly in the winter, but out-of-towners have trouble with it even in the summer. Nothing like a long, tight curve and steep hill together with both of them blind and a very good possibility that there will be a moose or bear right around the next curve. Ahhh --- keeps your blood pumping and your attention on the road!
Being terrifie of the drive in should be your first indicator that you are not cut out to live in a small rural town in the hills/mountains
LOL That Private Drive down hill is steeper than 60 degrees.... twisted some, not mich, certainly no switch backs and i have high doubts any 18 wheeler made could go up it. A real Yee Haw....
The only place I have been so far that made me worry any was going down thw west side of the Big Horns, on a bike towing a trailer. Bikes and down hill with a trailer are a whole other game. The bike and trailer were one thing, but the runaway pullouts were another in my head. I was all sorts of bothered about a semi coming down behind us. Then I caught up with a car. Minced meat if anything went wrong with a semi then.
Where you are, sounds like a place i could be, but I simply must have sugar maple.
1.)Say hello or good morning when someone says it to you
2.)Say thank you when someone opens the door for you
3.)Go a max of 5 over, beyond that, you can't blink slow enough to see everything
4.)Just because your giant SUV has 4 wheel drive doesn't mean you can stop on a dime.
Most people living in the small town can pick you out like a sore thumb by the way you act and mostly dress. Dress appropriately and don't be an ass.
Mac - hubby gets on fine with American beer... by not drinking it LOL Firstly it's watered down in comparison, secondly it's a weaker alcohol content, and lastly our pints are smaller. He'd end up drinking 3x as much for 1/2 the buzz, might as well save a step and pour it in the toilet! We're lucky enough that our one and only local pub actually serves Newcastle Brown, bottled for the US but better than American when he wants a drink Now, if I could just get them to stock Spaten (since I grew up in Germany) I'd be a happy camper... I just have to settle for American Heinekin, which isn't fair
ShipHead -- amen! 4WD just means you can GO, it doesn't mean you can STOP... seems to be a hard-learned lesson for some folks. The only stopping benefit of 4WD is if you've already mastered the concept of engine braking
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