Leaving the Big Apple behind, we drove to the mountains of Virginia, 300 miles away. Since we were in the land of tiny states, we caught the top of Delaware and Maryland before driving through Pennsylvania and West Virginia. As we drove, we enjoyed the state welcome signs…
Maryland – If It Weren’t for Washington, You Wouldn’t Find Us
Delaware – Small Wonder and It’s Good Being First
Pennsylvania – Things Look Different Here
West Virginia – Wild and Wonderful and Open for Business
and finally, Virginia is for Lovers
The best one we have heard but not yet seen is Nebraska…Honestly, it’s not for everyone, We don’t want to be here either. I guess we won’t be going to Nebraska. Arriving at our campground, we were greeted, and blocked, by a herd of cows. We were definitely not in the city anymore.
Front Royal, Virginia is at the north end of Shenandoah National Park, and the only road through the park is Skyline Drive. With the high predicted to be 55, we put on as much warm gear as we had and took off for a freezing ride along the top of the Blue Ridge mountain range. It was a very good curvy road, 105 miles long, with paved turnouts every mile or so where we could see spectacular views of the Shenandoah valley on both sides. Beyond the valley floor rose layers of mountains in the distance. The ride was great, and the road is called Skyline because it runs along the ridges at elevations up to 3,650 feet. Bill only had summer mesh gloves, and I had thin leather gloves, so our hands were frozen the whole ride. In addition, he was almost run over by an old man pulling out of one of the scenic overlooks without looking. Being retired and traveling to all these tourist areas during the week means we are in the company of some old codgers that shouldn’t be on the road. Guess that will be us someday (hopefully not too soon).
From Front Royal, VA we moved to Greenwood, VA, and it was finally a drive completely without any low bridge stress. It was great to be out of the North East and back to where the roads are wide and the bridges high. Even so, we did still have one lady that was so determined not to be behind us that she clipped our side mirror squeezing past. Witch! (that’s not the word either of used at the time). Greenwood’s location allowed us to ride the bottom of Skyline Drive one day, and the top of the Blue Ridge Parkway the next. It was much warmer, and we enjoyed the long sweeping turns. The Blue Ridge is part of the larger Appalachian Mountain Range, has more than 125 peaks over 5000 feet elevation, and took over 50 years to complete. Starting in Afton, VA it runs for 469 miles to Cherokee, North Carolina. Unlike Skyline Drive, there is no fee for driving the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was beautiful.
Taking a break from riding and the country life, Bill booked us five days in Greensboro, NC. We went to their free arboretum and it was not great (to be fair it was October). However, we did discover Dame’s Chicken and Waffles, and that was fantastic. Another good find was The Cherry Pit Pie Shop, where we bought FOUR pies. They were on special, and they were very good. (if you’re in the area both deserve a visit)
The Tail of the Dragon in North Carolina was our ultimate motorcycling destination, and I did not want it ruined by cold or wet weather, so I convinced Bill to move on to Bryson City two days early. This was the ride I missed back in May when I flew home for my Mom’s surgery, and I was determined to experience this road, billed as THE top ride in the United States. It is only 11 miles long, but that 11 miles includes 318 turns. It was fantastic all five times we rode it. (we used the Go Pro on top of Dessa’s helmet so check out the video. And yes, she really is driving that fast, she’s a maniac) 🙂
We saw a few wrecks, but it was late in the riding season and we had very few other riders to deal with so that was a bonus (I hadn’t seen any in May, thankfully). The Dragon has several permanently stationed photographers at some of the sharpest curves, and we bought a couple of their pics. I think the photographers probably cause some of the wrecks since riders are either distracted by them, or showing off for them. I was super careful in those curves not wanting to become a poster girl for stupid women riders. In the souvenir shops, they had posted photos of some of the best wrecks (and you’ll notice a lot of them are taken in those photographer turns as Dessa suggested). They obviously get some amazing photos of riders going down, and jackknifed 18 wheelers, and crossing the center line wrecks. I took some pictures of the pictures, so I hope you can see them well enough, if not check out some of these pics. Transport (and other long) trucks are now banned on the Dragon, but there are lots of warnings about those that still try to sneak through. We also rode the bottom of The Blue Ridge, Cherohala Skyway, Moonshiner 28, and my favorite Hellbender 28. In addition to the great roads, we had perfect temps in the seventies, beautiful fall foliage…finally, and not very many people on the road with us. It was great!! There are tons of great roads along the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, so we will definitely come back to this area to ride.
The Biltmore Estate was an hour away in Asheville, NC, so we took the one sunny but chilly day to go see it. It was pretty expensive at $70 each…yes $70. Crazy right? It is George Vanderbilt’s 8,000-acre estate, includes a tour of the 180,000 square foot house, the gardens and greenhouse, Antler Village, and wine tasting at The Winery. We got a $10 discount, but still outrageous, and neither of us wanted wine, so we skipped the Winery and the overpriced Antler Village options (overall a much better experience than Graceland). It is a beautiful place, and hello…flowers.
(Dessa and I often compete when taking pictures of particular subjects. Things like “I saw it first” or “I already got that shot so don’t bother wasting your time”. However, at the Biltmore, Dessa took it to a completely new level. She pushed me down the stairs as I was lining up to take a shot. As I tumbled down, crashing into several people I was shocked and dismayed but deep down maybe not that surprised!) Rebuttal: I barely touched him. How was I supposed to know he would be so clumsy? At least he was nice about it…I didn’t mean for him to fall.
With the mountains in our rear view mirror, we headed for Atlanta. I wanted to see the Georgia Aquarium where they have whale sharks and Beluga whales. They were not as big as the one we swam with in Utila, Honduras years ago, but still, very cool to see. Bill crawled into a kids play area to get a better look at some penguins, then ended up helping some of the little kids by lifting them up so they could see the birds. I watched from outside where some of the parents were asking “Who is that guy? Does he work here?”. I had to tell them it was just my big kid. We had a long list of things to do, but really did not feel like doing much. We were ready to be home. (We did manage a bit of shopping and Dessa was happy to see the original Chick-Fil-A. It’s her favorite fast food restaurant and being the home of the chain there was one on almost every corner)
Louisiana roads are in terrible condition. We hopped and bumped and banged our way down the interstate for almost 200 miles. After spending the night in Shreveport, we headed out for what was supposed to be the final, easy 4-hour drive. Shortly after crossing back into Texas, we stopped at a rest stop in Van, where Bill discovered that one of the trailer tires had lost about 60% of its tread, and the second tire on the same side had some damage as well. We called for roadside assistance, but after an hour with no contact from them, Bill used the trailer’s hydraulic system to change the tire on his own. After changing the first tire, he decided we still were not road worthy. The front and rear trailer wheels were offset about two inches and were actually touching on the side with the spare. Turns out we had broken part of the suspension and the rear axle springs were now resting on the sub-floor of the trailer. (It’s actually possible that the axle link broke the day before, those wheels are so far back we can’t even tell when something goes wrong and the truck is strong enough to drag the trailer down the road. Fortunately, we stopped when we did. If those tires had blown, it could have been a lot, lot worse.)
We made another call to roadside assistance, this time after finding our own roadside repair company, then sat in the truck to wait, and wait, and wait… Almost seven hours after we stopped our help arrived with another tire and the parts to repair the axle (the tire they brought wasn’t what I wanted. It would just barely support the weight of the trailer but it was all they had available. I’ll essentially be throwing it away once I can get a replacement Goodyear). They told us we were the fifth call they had gotten from people coming from Louisiana that month. Damn those Louisiana roads! Instead of getting home at 1pm, we arrived at 10pm, and had to park and set up in the dark.
The life we have chosen is not all fun and games…but it is always an adventure.
It turned out to be a lucky break that we started moving up our travel plans to get home a few days early. We barely escaped being caught in the icy weather that brought horrible road conditions to the north east. We are grateful to be home safe and sound and so happy to see family.
You can see our travel photos here.
I really enjoy your blogs. brings back old memories