Fall drive from PA to Maryland? Why yes there are non- Interstate routes for that.

I had fun weekend with the '69 Dart, I took this car for no good reason except that the '64 Grüne Hölle '64 Dart is Broken. :-(

I was headed to Vintage Restorations Ltd, in Union Bridge, MD for their Open House / Car show.
My Friend's family owns the shop and their primary business in in vintage British / imported cars, but All makes and models are welcome.

I decided to take US 40 From About Uniontown, PA to Hagerstown, MD as I had some business to attend to in Waynesboro, PA before heading to the show.
Here is the Route:

I was taking the Old Alignment of US40 / National Road through Maryland which is signed a few different ways..
It may be known / signed as:
US 40
US 40 ALT
US 40 Scenic
MD 144

Much Of the Route Runs Parallel to I 68 and I70 in Maryland, and It Goes up and down over the ridges instead of cutting through the mountain like the interstate near it.

Some Highlights:
Somewhere in western Maryland During the blue Hour:

a respit from travel .. the outlook looking east from the historic Town Hill B&B in Western MD:

Night is tuning into morning:

Seems that a Corvette Club was at the B&B This morning:

Can't help taking pics during the blue hour:

On my way again:

West of Hancock MD:

Got to the Show, and for a small show it was fantastic with an eclectic mix of cars and people.


Lots of different cars can be found in the Album Here.
A few of my Favorites:

Back on the Road to Pennsylvania to Get a hike on the Appalachian Trail..
Had to stop in the state forest for some pictures:

Found the Trail and Did some hiking:

Found a few high points on the return trip:

It was a fantastic weekend for a fall drive and a car show.

Greg

4/25/23:

Different Slant 6 car this time, and Different Route / Destination... Same Vibe... Less than 100 Miles of interstate on a 7 hour drive and it was peaceful and glorious.

I had a nice Trip through the mountains over the weekend with the '79 Volare
/ Duster F body coupe.
The route I had planned took me through the mountains and highlands of
Western PA, extreme Western Maryland, Eastern / Central West Virginia, and
Central Virginia.
Mountain Peaks and Twisty Roads abound everywhere, as I only ran about ~20
miles of interstates on the trip south.

It seems that The Megasquirt II EFI is running pretty good.  I had a little
hiccup on the way to my destination where the sock filter in the fuel tank
pickup came off and then allowed some  trash to get lodged in the fuel pump.
I was able to nurse the Car about ~100 Miles south on US 220 Through WV and
VA until the Traffic Lights got dense and the car was unable to safely run
in traffic at 17-22 AFR..I pulled over and it was towed the last 60 miles. I
got 21-23 MPG  through the mountains and was not using "OD" on the return
trip back to PA.

We dropped the fuel tank to find that the spectra premium fuel sending unit
lost its' sock filter -It was replaced and clamped back onto the the pickup
tube.. I guess it's a pretty poor fitting part as I have never seen that
happen before : :shock: We flushed the gunk out of the fuel pump and
reassembled pump and tank as needed.

That solved the issue - the Return trip home was all good except it wanted
to get stuck in "OD" and not shift back to 3rd gear.... Issues caused by me
not checking engine block / to bell housing runout  when I installed the OD
trans about 20 years ago.  That all needs fixed now...  Or I might just fix
the bellhousing runout and put a T5 Transmission in the car. ( that's what I
should do).

Some trip documentation:
Got an early start from Home:

Trip Included US 219 in Maryland and Seneca Rocks in WV - Stopped for a
morning hike to the top of the rock. I had it all to myself :-)

US 219 In Maryland Near WV Border:

Seneca Rocks, WV

A Nice Vista on Mountain Valley Road / VA 39:

A Cool old Sign in NC..

Morning Hike to an old Water Mill Site:

On the Way Back - US 33 in VA then WV.

Some Glamour shots of my rusty old daily driver along some beauitiful valley pulloffs on the route:

770 Miles Round Trip, not extensive but a good spring trip.

Looks like a good time overall, shame about the issues with the Aspen. 

Such a beautiful part of the country. Cool cars too

In reply to yupididit :

Thanks, It is more interesting to ride inside WV rather than bypass it on I81.

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

Thanks,

Yep, when I drive with the old stuff you have to roll with the punches and allow for things to happen.. it's part of the adventure.

I did the trip again sort of..2 weekends ago, with the destination of a nice local show in Union Bridge Maryland.
I took the "Disco Wagon" and the family this time, and a few more miles of interstates, but still with some back roads too.

We explored Catoctin Mountain National Park, Cunningham Falls, and the Greater Waynesboro Area around Camp David, MD.

We started out Saturday Morning around 06:00 - quite a feat to get the girls in the car and on the move that early.
It rained through all of the elevation gain to and past our highest point, Keysers  Ridge in Maryland where we stopped for breakfast.

The leaves were changing and falling.

We got to the show mid morning on Saturday.. Here are some of my favorites..
the full album is Here.

Then we explored the area a bit..

Some one had to use a rotary phone:

I had to take some glamour shots of the disco wagon in the forest:

On the return trip we did take a bit of MD-144 / US 40 Scenic for a while.
We stopped at the Town Hill Bed and Breakfast for a picnic. It was cold and windy, but at least the rain had ended.

I 68 Takes a giant slice out of the mountain pie..

Wish I knew about this show, it's about 20 minutes from us.  The last 2 weekends we've made some drives around Maryland, out through Cunningham, down to Middletown, and out to Patapsco.  The foliage this year was spectacular.  One weekend Mrs. VCh drove us in her Camaro, and last weekend, when it briefly hit 80 degrees, we took the droptop Corvair out for one last fling with the sun.

Amazing the difference a few days make.  It was 26 degrees this morning, and most of the trees are more barren than not.  November is here.

This Sunday is supposed to be pleasant, though, and the Mid-Maryland Ford club is hosting their annual "Show Before the Snow" at the Westminster, MD Town Mall.  We go most years, there's usually a few hundred cars, and despite the host's name, it is an ALL MAKES show, so there's a good variety of stuff.  Last year an '85 Fiero won Best of Show.  You'll see everything from pre-war cars to modern stuff, there's no rhyme or reason.  $15 to enter, and trophies if you care, but free to just go and poke around if you don't want to enter your car.  I usually pay the $15 and enter some LeMons car, and then wander off a few isles to watch people's reactions to the junk.   

not a bad drive at all