Day 1, Mile 570

Repairs complete.
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Today's first stop was Durham NC, at the Morgan Motors Jeep dealership.  Yesterday, I received in the mail a "Safety Recall Notice" from Daimler Chrysler.  It seems a glitch in my ABS system could cause the breaks to lock up all by themselves.  Yikes!  Good thing I don't believe in omens.  So I scheduled an appointment along the way.  After minor trouble at the dealership (they had some difficulty downloading the software patch from the internet) they got my ABS computer's BIOS updated.  And I was on my way once again.

Imagine working at a place so secret, even YOU don't know what you are doing!
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Coming through the Appalachians was an ear-popping experience, with some fabulous views...but they were brief because of the high volume of truck traffic on the switchbacks in high winds.  I briefly considered taking a few miles off to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway, or perhaps drive through Gatlinburg- but that town holds some bittersweet memories for me.  I hadn't realized that this is in fact my first trip back through Tennessee since I was "banished" from the state!  I decided dwelling on the past is not what this trip is about, and stayed on the Interstate.

Uranium enrichment equipment, circa 1943.
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The National Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge was a welcome stop to take a walk around.  There wasn't much at all to see, but the displays about life in this town during WWII were well done.  Oak Ridge still has reactors, they still do the kind of research that the US wants to deny to other, smaller countries.  The Cold War may be over, but Oak Ridge is a reminder that immense destructive power still exists right in our own backyard.  The purpose of the Y-12 reactor today is "stockpile stewardship."  I like that word, stewardship.  It means we not only maintain the arsenal, but we also continue to have a moral responsibility to ensure it is not misused.