PART TEN-The road to Martinsville

 Wednesday August 21 2024

We left Damascus and drove to Martinsville this morning. We traveled a different route on this trip. Instead of taking Hwy 58 all the way across the bottom of Virginia we drove northwest to Abingdon and got on interstate 81 heading north. We drove the interstate up to Fort Chiswell a distance of 60 miles, then took I-77 south to reunite with 58. This long yet faster route eliminated the very windy section of 58. 

Dark blue is our route

On 58 we traveled east stopping for a short break the Poor Farmers Market in Meadows of Dan. It’s an old country store that’s been there forever. We bought some fresh tomatoes and peaches before continuing our trip. 

Felicia Shelor, owner of the market

On this next leg we were looking forward to see the progress of the new road being built at Lovers leap, a spot known for the obvious legend as well as the treacherous mountain crossing. 

Moving a mountain

They have shaved a good deal of mountain top and filled in some valley but they still have a long way to go, they haven’t even started any of the bridges needed to fill in the gaps. We will remember this passage for a different reason, as we came off a very steep grade we had to stop for a one lane section. There were 3 vehicles already stopped by the flagman, I think they were all construction trucks.

Carving out 7 1/2 miles of mountain to widen and straighten the road.

We were maybe four lengths behind and approaching the last vehicle at maybe 20 mph when the brakes just faded away. I quickly engaged the emergency park brake, and our rig slowed but I could see we would not stop in time. The escort truck had not arrived yet with the oncoming traffic so I veered into that lane, as we passed the stopped vehicles I realized I was going to stop soon so I went further left onto a shoulder so as not to impede the oncoming traffic. 

Brake fade is a real concern when you are traveling with a heavy load on long steep declines. The ironic thing is in all our tens of thousands of mile towing we had never experienced anything like that. I have automatic trailer brakes, and I could have locked then up with the manual control if I had thought of it. It all happened really fast. 

As soon as you stop and quit generating heat in the braking system the braking force returns so by the time the road cleared we continued on  down the mountain. We continued in 1st gear using the engine/transmission braking to keep our speed very low. 

I am going to do a couple things to the system to hopefully never have that happen again. In addition, I need to discipline myself to never take declines for granted. I could have used more transmission braking as well as increasing the force of the trailer brakes. I have a note on the dash now reminding me of our overall height. I guess I need another one with downhill procedures!

Update: I am certain the cause of our brake fade was due to the deterioration of the brake pads. I have since seen pictures of others with the same problem with the pads. We have replaced them with a brake pad made for heavy hauling and trailer towing. 

close up of brake pad