Road Trip Day #5 (aka Tuesday)
We had 2 days in Knoxville so I got to plan one and my wife the other. So I did the right thing and took us to Windrock, which was only 45 mins away. The general plan was to see the scenic overlook on G9, grab lunch at the prison and possibly hit Caryville Flatts if time (and the tone of the day) allowed. My wife supports this crazy hobby but doesn't have much interest in participating so I was well aware that I needed to 'read the room' and make sure we weren't broken on the trail past dark. I'm not a fan of wheeling alone and was banking on the park being busy enough to make me feel better about being solo since it's always been busy when I've been in years past.
Side bar - My last trip here ended with a 4 seat RZR breaking an entire corner off the rig and having to be towed up the hardest trail in the park (Trail 39 to Cadillac Hill) by 2 RZRs daisy chained together. I walked most of the trail a few times over helping pull cable for 5 rigs to get us home. At 3am. The most fun I'd rather not have again for a while.
We started the day getting passes at the new General Store and were greeted with a mostly empty parking lot – I guess I'd never been here on a Tuesday before! I also found out the prison was closed during weekdays so we picked up some snacks for lunch. We made it up to the overlook on G9 (which is a paved road...nothing to write home about). This stop included the obligatory poser shots too.
G9 is a main access road and a former mining road, so the top gravels have worn off and left the large stone base exposed. I've only ever ridden Windrock in RZRs and take for granted just how good the suspension and ride quality is on those rigs. With that as my reference, I was severely disappointed with how the Jeep rode - even aired down the trip to the overlook was rough. Really rough. G9 is a large loop that goes back to the General Store, so I made the decision to head back to the store and re-group.
We bounced down a few more miles of trail and I hear the Jeep chime, look down and see the fuel gauge on empty (which I knew wasn't correct since I'd just filled up), and then the Jeep started to sputter and die, thankfully not in a mud hole. Keep in mind, we're well into the park and have barely seen anyone all day. So this was going swell. Since the fuel gauge and fuel pump both died I figured the wiring harness had come unplugged and sure enough, the connector had come unplugged. I was able to get us back running with a few zip ties to hold the connector together. The Jeep fired right back up so I put it in gear and kept making tracks toward the General Store, only to have the Jeep randomly sputter for a few seconds at a time on the trip back. But we made it.
I knew at this point it was best to call it a day and head back to Knoxville with my tail between my legs and feeling quite defeated. I'd hyped this trip up in my head and this was NOT the way I wanted it to go, but such was my luck today. The Jeep sputtered a few more times in traffic while getting onto the interstate but didn't miss a beat while cruising so we continued back to Knoxville.
Once back in city traffic, the Jeep sputtered again except this time it lasted for 30 seconds plus and wouldn't take any throttle until it all of a sudden cleared up and ran fine. 30 seconds feels like an eternity while sitting still in traffic with a dead engine, in case you were wondering.
It was at this point I knew we had a serious issue and needed to figure some stuff out.
We made it back to the Air BnB, unloaded and I headed to the car wash to clean the Jeep up before going to dinner that night. The Jeep acted up twice on the way to the car wash and once on the way back and was getting to the point of not being drivable. We showered and headed to dinner at Not Watson's (highly recommended, BTW) and the issue continued on the short trip there. I did get a good picture from downtown:
I tried for our predicament to not dominate the conversation at dinner but it was hard for it not to be. The next day was a trip to Dollywood in Pidgeon Forge and back, then to Nashville and then home so there was a lot of road miles ahead of us and I didn't want to have to fight the Jeep and risk getting stranded with my wife so we started scheming our next moves. The decision was made to rent a car for the day tomorrow, figure out our plan on the road and enjoy the rest of the evening.
And yes, the Jeep sputtered and tried to stall on the way back to the Air BnB too.
