Coasting down-hill is easy, right? Well, not always.
Summer of ’93, give or take a year, our youth group took a trip to Gatlinburg. During the winter, I think it is a ski resort. During the summer it is very popular vacation spot, with cabins high up in the mountains looking out over the valleys below. It was a really nice area, but buses on winding mountain roads can present some interesting problems.
Our bus was not a full-size bus like a school bus, charter bus, etc., but it was it at least a 20 passenger. It did fairly well making it around the curves headed up the mountain to our cabins at the top, but coming down-hill was another story.
I am not sure what exactly happened to the breaks on that bus. I was not driving, and was really too busy talking to friends to care… at first. I did over-hear the bus driver say something about the breaks getting too hot, and I am not sure whether the brakes already had problems or getting too hot damaged them, but we did end-up having to get out and ride in taxis, while the bus was getting worked on.
But, before that, we had a pretty exciting ride.
It is interesting that both mountain stories so far have been about going down hill. That was not intentional. I had many others I could have picked. I guess things are just going down-hill for me right now. (insert sound of a drum-roll and a groan)
Along the road, I learned that what goes up most come down. So before you head up to enjoy the mountain-top experience, make sure you have sufficiently prepared for the trip back down.
This is my second entry for the What I Learned From a Mountain Top groupwrite project over at Middle Zone Musings.
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Good advice, Luke! Sadly, most folks don’t remember that truism, that what goes up must come down. I think most of the time we head uphill, thinking we’re going to stay up there forever. Alas, not so!
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It’s All Down-Hill by bicycle