Ack!!

Plans were laid.  Routes were uploaded to the Garmin's.  Reservations at a cute little B&B procured.

We were going to do Cherohala Skyway and The Dragon the "proper" way.  In the past we have always rushed through the miles and the day to make it round trip home again.  This time we were going to slow the day down, stop and smell the spring flowers, run Cherohala one day, stay at a little bed and breakfast centrally located, run the Dragon the next, and actually hit a new road through Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  A road that we have wanted to do for years and haven't been able to.

It just wasn't meant to be...

A not-so-little landslide on the Dragon.  No one was hurt, but it will be closing the most sought after road in the area for a couple of weeks.

This isn't a heartbreak for us.  After all, we have ridden this a couple times.  It's just that it was the shortest route to get us around and over to the Smokies and headed back home in the proper sequence.  Now we have to navigate the Smokies south to north...then find an easy way to head south again.

It went from something like this:

View Larger Map

To maybe something like this:


View Larger Map

Or maybe we will wile away the day and ride through Cades Cove:


View Larger Map

I don't know.  If we spent our time in Cades Cove, we just might have to head back and hit the last few miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway again.  Wow.  Life would be rough.  :)

I hope that your weekend will allow for some good riding plans that pan out.

Again: Can the Blue Ridge Parkway be Ridden in an Extended Weekend?

Adventures of Day One

Adventures of Day Two

Day Three dawned after another wonderful night in a hotel room with air conditioning and a comfy bed with sheets.  Oh yeah and a running shower.  I didn't have any difficulty sleeping after my cocktails and dinner last night.  I woke up refreshed and ready to climb onto my mighty steed and get moving.  Oilburner was ready, but I still chuckled at his groans of soreness.

Forecasts were predicting chances of rain today.  We didn't take that seriously for the morning hours that had a very low percentage.  We were more concerned with the evening hours when the percentage was nearing 70% at home.  So we left the hotel with a light heart and light clothing under the armor.  We quickly became aware of the error of our ways since the ridge road we were on was shrouded in a cold, damp fog.

Why is it "fog" when you are in it, but someone looking up from the valley would say the mountain was shrouded with clouds?  No need to answer, I looked it up and it has something to do with how it was formed (four types of fog formation) and proximity to ground.

Either way, we stopped and climbed into warmer gear.

Our biggest dilemma for today was defining what it meant to "ride the BRP".  We had ridden a large portion from the bottom up last year.  did we just need to ride what we hadn't ridden to say we have "ridden" it?  or did we need to ride the entire BRP in one shot to claim that victory?

Technically speaking we only needed to ride a handful of miles now to reach the spot where we had turned around last year.  We could do that and then do whatever we wanted.  But we were a mere 180 or so miles (290 km) from the end.  At yesterday's average we should be able to do that in 4 hours.  (Then home would be another 2 1/2.)  Or...we could just stay on the Parkway however long we felt like it and get off when we wanted.

Funny.  We were both still on our high from the twisties yesterday and really wanted to say we had ridden the entire BRP on this trip.

We will not go into my stubborn insistence that I don't really feel like we can say we rode the entire BRP this time.  I mean there is an 18 mile (29 km) section that was closed for renovations that our tires have not touched before.  Can we, in all good conscience, say we have "ridden" it?  I think it might be a different in definition.  Legally we were not allowed to ride this section.  Which is very different from choosing not to ride it on our own accord.

I took "riding the BRP" seriously and would always backtrack us to the location we exited from.  And my strict nature still wonders about the 20 to 50 foot (6 to 15 meters) difference of where my tire turned to leave versus where it was when we re-entered.  Yes.  Sometimes I can be very exacting.  hehe.

The bragging rights won out and we thrilled at the prospect of riding the entire BRP in two days.  As I asked last year: Can the BRP be ridden in an extended weekend?

Why yes.  Yes it can.  IF you don't dawdle with all that sightseeing stuff and are willing to ride a teensy bit faster than the posted speed limit to make up for all the times you are stuck behind someone going far below it.

We had a few slow drivers.  But generally the Parkway was quite empty since it was mid-week.  What really slowed us down was the fog.  We encountered some wispy fog that just blew across our path. 

And we encountered thick, pea soup type of fog that reduced visibility to 20 feet (6 meters).

The temperature plummeted from 68F (20C) to 53F (12C).  We had shrugged into the warm gear already, and now it was time to wriggle into the rain gear.  This was thick, dense fog that was producing some good rain or clingy water droplets.

Strange how our eyes have a more difficult time penetrating the fog, identifying objects, seeing, than the cameras do.  The pictures don't do justice to how much [human] visibility was impaired.  We had been crawling along with our flashers on.  This was my first time in fog.  What an interesting experience.  I discovered that I had a tendency to hover near the center line simply because I could not see the right edge well.  (The BRP doesn't paint a white line on the edge of the road.)  We can also attest to the light reflecting quality of the newly painted center stripe on a section that was recently repaved.  Much easier to see!

After squinting to see I remembered we had amber lenses and we had to stop yet again to install them.  Hopefully someday I will figure out to do these all at the same time.  I can also attest to the beneficial difference an amber lens makes for visibility in fog.  I was able to make out more looming objects in the fog than before.

We rounded a mountain into an unexpectedly clear zone allowing a glimpse to an adjacent peak still shrouded in fog, with a dense field flowing down into the valley.  I stopped at the next overlook to see if we could capture it.

It was breathtaking to see the blue sky, wisps of fog swirl around, dense banks down the mountain that were bright white as the sun reflected off them, but gray ones up the peak that the sun wasn't reaching.  This unexpected reprieve led us to find a comfortable spot on the bikes and close our eyes for a few minutes.

What can I say?  The remainder of the trip was perfect.  Aside from a few people that refused to let us pass, it gave us the chance to slow down and look around.  Otherwise it was a perfect trip carving some twisties.  In our ever ongoing discussions of riding technique through the helmet communications Oilburner reminded me of another "form" of connecting with the bike for better turning.  It had been on my mind the day before, but I wasn't sure how to go about implementing moving my tush across the seat into a lean.  He gave me a pointer of not "moving" but at least "shifting" the weight to that cheek a little.  WOW!  Huge difference that made me feel a more solid connection with the bike.  I was able to lean and turn into the curve without any handlebar input.  Then, if I felt I was coming in a little hot and fast I still had full use of the handlebars to push down and steer a little more into it.  It instantly transformed how I felt with the bike through curves.  Much more solid and stable.

Talking about it over lunch I was very aware of the thought processes behind this that could lead someone into trouble.  While I had much more confidence in the turns and was taking them at speeds I had only dreamed about before, I was completely conscious of the fact that I didn't have the experience to recover from a road obstacle at those speeds.  So don't think that I am getting a swelled head and will be running the Dragon at 60 mph or anything.  I will fold this new knowledge slowly into my arsenal and practice, practice, practice.

And Yes, we did ride the entire Blue Ridge Parkway.  :)

More images available on Flickr.

Blue Ridge Parkway: The Second Adventure

After riding 521 miles yesterday "someone" luxuriated in a little extra sleep.  I was game enough since the bed was comfortable.  And I didn't bother masking my chuckles at his repeated exclamations of how sore he was.  After all, that wasn't my longest day on the bike.  It might have been his though.  :)

The hotel we were staying at offered a continental breakfast.  A must for getting an easy start in the morning.  I need my breakfast before crawling onto the bike.  But that led us into an entire dialog on the merits of pulling clothes on and getting breakfast right now versus showering and dressing first.  As a girl I have a very different perspective than Oilburner.  And I can only attribute it to a difference between the sexes right now.  Oilburner just wants to throw shorts on and run out the door.  Girls don't always have it that easy.  Buxom ones need to install and position over the shoulder boulder holders.  If long hair is present brushes and combs need to be employed.  And some people of the South cannot be seen in public without some form of female war paint on.  (Thankfully I am not of that variety!)  If I am going through all that work it would be easier to just do it once.  We will agree to disagree on this subject.  Just another area we have discovered as a traveling difference.  So I effectively booted him out of bed, told him if it was so easy go ahead.  Then I crawled out of bed and happily toodled around in my PJ's just gathering gear and packing up electronics cords.  Another point for hotels versus camping.  hehehe

We knew we needed to hit the road soon.  We had 280 miles (450 km) of parkway ahead of us.  And we also knew that was an aggressive distance at 45 mph (73 km/h) max.

The last time we were on the BRP our distance to time ratio was out of whack due to all of the sightseeing at all of the overlooks.  Aware of the distraction this time around we vowed not to pull into every single one.  And certainly not the first one!  We succeeded.  We did turn around twice when an "exhibit" sign looked interesting.  This sign caught our eye in passing.  Just had to go back and read what that was about.  Unfortunately, the 20-minute cliff has nothing to do with it's height in relation to any falling objects flung (or pushed) from it.

Down the road a little further the stone steps caught my eye making me back track.

We were able to forgo many overlooks soon.  The day was warm and humid.  Our temps at the ridge remained an enjoyable 74F (23C).  However, the humidity was relatively high.  The views from any overlook was hampered by the high moisture content.  There wasn't much to be had in long distance viewing or blue skies.  It also didn't help that the trees were in full leaf and difficult to see through.

We stopped at Otter Creek since every overlook leading up to this was "Otter" something or other.  Great little rock dam.

Oilburner wouldn't let me turn around for Purgatory Overlook.  But I surreptitiously steered us to Devil's Backbone.

We were actually making pretty good time without all of the stops.  I did force us off the parkway to get fuel.  I get antsy when the gauge shows two bars remaining.  Holding my breath that the fuel station on my GPS still existed I led us into the unknown in the wilds near Floyd, VA.  Wow.  Nice scenery.

Our luck was in and the fuel station was still in business.  Great place that the current owners have had in the family for 31 years.

I inquired about the "number of hot dogs sold" count.  Seems that figure is a count of 31 years!  We had already eaten lunch but ordered two for the road in case dinner was delayed.  Unfortunately we never had the chance to eat them.  :(  Have to go back!  :)

The convenience store is one of those throw back in time places that city dwellers don't usually have the opportunity to enjoy.  Among the floating cooler ball for beer storage and canned goods stood the beautiful antique glass and wood cases.  And within these cases were the hunting guns and ammo.  We didn't even recognize the pattern on some of the boxes, making us wonder how old they might have been.

From the beginning Oilburner repeatedly drilled into me that our exit was at 280 (miles).  A nice, even, round number to remember and day dream about as the road weary set in an hour before quitting time.  (The Parkway has placed wonderful stone markers with the mileage etched in at each mile of the route.  Therefore it is easy to pinpoint your location.)  It was with a heavy heart that I had to chastise him when marker 280 came and went with no hope of an exit.  The next marker came and went with my hopes dwindling more.  Then the next...  Oilburner lied to me...  He had some making up to do.  Which he achieved quite nicely with the fabulous strawberry martini that he had to force me to drink.  Then the second one.  Tsk. Tsk.  Luckily the hotel was a short saunter away through a parking lot.  The short climb up a 3 foot slope was navigable with him pushing my tush up the hill and my grabbing his arm and pulling so he didn't have to put much weight on his bum toe.  We made quite the sight and laughed the entire walk "home."

It was a spectacular day.  The weather and temps were perfect.  The roads were spot on with curves and fun to be had.  There was time enough for the few sights that caught our interest.

---

Interestingly, one of Oilburners headlights was out yesterday.  We should have hit the parts store as soon as we reached Waynesboro, but the heat was just begging us to get off the bikes.  So it was very interesting to see that he lost his second light today.  He was running blind!  A portion of the parkway was closed for renovations, detouring us through town.  We made a quick stop at the parts store to recover two headlight bulbs.

Last Minute, Crazy Ideas on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Divine inspiration was lacking.  Champagne did not fall from the heavens, doors did not open, velvet ropes did not part to help us on our way.  Months and months ago plans were made for a "one big happy family" July Fourth weekend.  Those fell by the wayside when health issues for some came up that inhibited long distance travel.  Then heavy work and work travel schedules prevented Oilburner and I from coming to a decision of what we might actually do now with that time.  The ideas swirled in our heads, but one aspect always seemed to prevent "final approval."  Many times it was "the dog."  I didn't want to subject her to the scorching heat that is blanketing the South.  She wouldn't have done well in the truck, that doesn't have air conditioning in the covered bed.  Which means I didn't want to rent a cabin or house someplace to sit on their sofa either.  It would have been difficult to get anywhere in the heat, and the separation anxiety she has means we wouldn't have done much so as not to leave her alone.

The decisions became infinitely more difficult when Oilburner decided it would be a good idea to break a toe while he was traveling for work.  That efficiently put the kibosh on any idea I had of installing the master bath shower that has been hogging garage space for the last two months.  I know we can be lazy, but I haven't wanted to demo the bathroom until I knew we had a chunk of time to work on it.  Since we knew work travel was coming, there hadn't been an optimal time.  And now it looked like vacation time was also going to be out.

The pet sitter was an option...during the week.  She had already been booked for the weekends.  However, I was not too keen on figuring out where to ride in 95+ F (35+ C) heat.  It was simply impossible to stay cool.  Besides, Oilburner's toe wasn't quite fitting into a boot yet.

Much nap time and movie watching was to be had.  But there came a point in time that napping and movies just weren't cutting it anymore and we were both anxious to get out.  The plan hatched and came together overnight.  The Blue Ridge Parkway pull finally snagged us.

Oilburner's idea was to hop on the parkway, see how far we could get and then run the freeway home.  I had a simpler idea that had higher motivation.  How about running to the top of the parkway?  Since we had already covered the closest 200 miles why do them again immediately?  Wouldn't it be more enjoyable to see somewhere new?  And...that would mean a less stressful last day heading home since we would be closer.  Better than some mad dash from "wherever."

My idea won out and the plan was implemented.

We left early Tuesday morning and pointed the front tires towards Waynesboro, VA.  (Yay, this will be my 7th state.)  We had a long day ahead of us, but we had packed the night before and were well rested.  Having the tanks already full made it doubly enjoyable to just be able to get on the bikes and go.

For a day that was going to be in the low 90's those gray clouds threatening rain were keeping it a cool 75F (24C). Wasn't doing anything to help the humidity though.  After an hour the cold was getting to me and I made a deal with myself to put on my liner if it dropped one more degree.  It did.  this was a good thing since the rain started spitting down soon after.

We rode on in the drizzle for another hour or so, enjoying the empty roads.  Traffic wasn't too bad on the major North/South Interstate 81.  There were semi's to dodge and speeding cagers to avoid, but we managed quite well.  Until...  Construction of some sort had the two lanes almost at a stand still.  It was an easy decision to speed down the breakdown lane.  This act of defiance worked will for a couple miles.  (Though we surmise now that this is probably where I picked up that stupid rod/nail in the rear tire.)  We would pop back into traffic when we crossed a bridge.  The shoulder wasn't quite wide enough and was completely littered with fairly large chunks of concrete that had come out of the bridge surface.  Reports say that many bridges in our country are averaging 30+ years and many are in desperate need of repair.  It is something that I think about, but usually speeding over them at 65+ mph doesn't require you to ponder it for long.  The Minnesota bridge collapse does sit in the back of my mind many times, but I push those thoughts away.  However, it is highly unnerving to crawl across a concrete bridge that is missing fist sized chunks of material!

We took the first off ramp to discuss if we wanted to continue in this manner or find a back road.  This is where Garmin fun begins, as Gary France has discovered.  Oilburner and I have different Garmin GPS units and have speculated for awhile about the difference in route calculation between the two.  Oilburner's GPS directs us to turn left.  Mine, that has been told to avoid unpaved roads, directed us to the right.  Deciding on a course, we followed my GPS.  Hmmm...that is normally correct.

About a mile and a half down the road we lost the pavement.  Another two miles down the gravel my GPS directs us to turn left at the dead-end.  But the sign in front of me clearly states it is not a through road.  Well, in for a penny, in for a pound.  If we head right it appears to connect up with a nearby interstate.  Three more miles down this gravel road and I have the sinking suspicion that our little gravel road will be going over the freeway and not connecting with it.  I am not too proud to admit I don't want to go forward anymore and promptly stop to turn around.  However, I'm a little frazzled on this gravel and just park the bike, letting Oilburner know that he will be doing the work.

I happened to stop directly in front of a worn out, pieced together house with a large lab crawling out from under the non-working truck, barking menacingly with his hackles up.  Then the screen door opens and a child of about 7 stares at us.  As Oilburner is maneuvering my bike the mother also  comes onto the porch squinting through the light at us.

I gave the universal sign of confusion...lifting my shoulders, head titled to the side and yell that we are a little lost.  Oilburner was a little concerned over possible Deliverance encounters, but I still like to think most people are good.  And this lady was very nice, telling us what we already surmised about having to back track.  On the side, Oilburner had an entire conversation with the boy about motorcycles and tractors.  And the dog had gotten one good sniff of Oilburner and just rolled on his back exposing his tummy for scratches.

Funnily enough, we made it back to the interstate and decided to roll with traffic since it was moving.  Turns out the construction was only 5 more minutes up the road. If we had just remained on the interstate we would have saved a 30 min adventure.  But who would have thought we would be "off-roading" in Virginia anytime soon?

(Yes.  It was also proven that Oilburner's GPS would have been better to follow in this instance.  We watched the frontage road parallel the interstate to the on ramp directly after the construction.  Now why wasn't that road on my GPS?!?  I wouldn't have missed the old mill, cow on the side of the road and the Rock and Roll Mansion for the 30 minute savings.  It was great!)

We continued down the road and finally experienced some of those highs we were expecting.  My bike registered 100.4F (38C).  Oilburner's consistently shows higher and he firmly believes it was 104F (40C).  Either way, it was hot!  We "enjoyed" a few more GPS mishaps reaching our destination.  They were only time eating and not time wasting.  But it sure was good to slip into the pool at the hotel and cool off.

The Parkway awaits the morning...

Can the Blue Ridge Parkway Be Ridden in an Extended Weekend?

It was time.  We have been putting it off for years and we had to stop making excuses.

We would be committing ourselves to our first ever motorcycle weekend together!!  The dog sitter was booked, the destination was set and we would work out sleeping arrangements on the way.

Given it is actually Autumn and the leaves here are actually changing, we thought a great destination to take a relaxing ride to enjoy the weather, season, people, scenery, location, et. al. would be the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It would have all the adventure and mind-relaxing we could handle.  It starts in Cherokee, NC and winds its way 469 miles north[-ish] to Virginia, just south of Shenandoah.

Blue Ridge Parkway

We figured that 469 miles wouldn't be too difficult, even given the avg 45 mph speed limit on the parkway.  We were thinking we could get maybe a third of the way up on the first day and could reach the end on the second.  (I was secretly hoping to ride through Shenandoah as well.)  We could then hit the interstates for a long, but satisfying, ride home on the third day.

That is what we figured...as we all know...theory and reality rarely coincide on a motorcycle. :)

We weren't in any hurry, but managed to start out an hour later then we had hoped.  (As usual.)  We were hoping to make it to Cherokee before stopping for lunch.  Instead, we stopped in Clayton because we knew the lay of the land.  Wendy's was a welcome respite from the saddle and the manager was a fellow rider that enjoyed jawing some time away.  He introduced himself by way of asking who rode that pretty little blue bike out there.  I corrected his obvious lapse in judgment and told him the pretty little bike out there was the crystal gray one...and that I rode it.  He liked Mr. Oilburner's blue RT because it reminds him of his ST.  But he definitely wanted to know what I thought of the R since his friend had recently purchased his second one. 

Back on our way, we were headed for Cherokee and the start of the relaxing portion of the ride.  Cherokee, the little one-horse town, has turned into a one-stoplight town and is the gateway to the Smokies.  Knowing the season and the weekend we figured it would be busy, but didn't anticipate the tremendous traffic caused by mis-synced lights, road construction and vehicles.  Everyone and their mother was passing that traffic light today.  (In all fairness, Cherokee has more then one-stoplight.  And other people more interested in gambling would quickly point out the casinos.  Since I am not of the casino variety it doesn't top my list of things to mention about the city.)

While everyone else moving in our direction maintained a course towards the Smokies, we hit the shunned Blue Ridge Parkway.  The parkway is gorgeous, but it's max speed is 45 mph.  Dropping to 35 mph in many key areas for long stretches.  It is definitely not a highway that many people would take for any length of time if they needed to get somewhere.  If the intent is to actually enjoy the parkway it is perfect.  As quoted in the Disney movie Cars, "Cars didn't drive on it to make great time. They drove on it to have a great time."  That was all we set out to do: Have a great time.  If we made it to the end, we made it.  If not, oh well.

First Overlook...first stop...among many.

Our destination for the night was New Switzerland, NC, 135 miles up the parkway.  Add that to the 145 already ridden and we shouldn't have a problem.  Right?  Right??

If you want to enjoy any of the scenery by stopping at overlooks and taking pictures, breathing the air, stop at museums and craft centers and information kiosks...there is going to be a problem.  In addition, it is almost impossible to maintain 45 mph looking off into the horizon and seeing row upon row of peaks fading off into a blue haze.  Cagers have an easier time gawking and driving then motorcycles.  It is difficult to recover a motorcycle from a simple 2 second delay when returning your gaze to the road.  So we weren't quite as enraptured with the scenery, though we were doing our share of gawking.  But following cages doing this had our avg speed down to 35 mph.  Sometimes they would pull off and let us pass.  Sometimes we would pull off and let them get way ahead.

Ridge upon ridge disappearing into the blue haze of the atmosphere.

Sidebar: Is it my imagination or have people forgotten the simple courtesy of pulling over when 5+ cars have fallen into a line behind them?  I remember it being drilled into my head in drivers training to pull over and let people pass if I have built up a following.  People out here either never learned it, don't care and/or aren't courteous.  Many a time we experienced long lines of vehicles because someone couldn't or wouldn't maintain the speed limit AND refused to pull over at overlooks to allow people to pass.  Rant over...thank you.

The views were spectacular.  The colors weren't quite what we had hoped for as the trees were mostly green with a few beginning to turn yellow and many others opting to go right to brown and crispy.  We also didn't have our expectations very high knowing that next weekend was supposed to be peak for autumn colors.  We just felt lucky to be getting away and see the beginning of the color changes.

The colors are starting to show.

Our time [mis]management was apparent when calculating our arrival time at 7 PM.  That broke down to 5 hours on the parkway to actually cover 135 miles...  Which, as we found out, is reasonable if you actually expect to see anything and enjoy yourself.  Again...have a great time, not make great time.  :)

And as predicted, we arrived at the Inn near 6:30, a little saddle sore and ready for some libations to ease the muscles.

 

Dinner is served...with drinks...

Fried Green Tomatoes

Bourbon Pecan Trout for me.  Filet Mignon for him.

We were slow starting the next morning.  It was just beautiful and relaxing to sit on the patio and watch the leaves in the slight breeze.  The predicted 45F temps were nowhere around here, and it was an enjoyable 63F.  Yes, 63 can be very enjoyable when you are expecting 45!

 

We relaxed over breakfast and discussed our goals.  We had hoped to ride the entire parkway.  However, given our distance to time ratio from yesterday we weren't holding our breaths for that anymore.  I was game to try and make 120 miles and at least cross the Virginia border.  (One more state that I could add to my belt.)  We calculated that out and figured 3 hours one way, without breaks.  Hmm...we would give it a shot, but I wasn't going to be disappointed if we didn't make it.

It was blatantly obvious immediately that we were not going to stick to any type of time table since we only made it 5 miles down the parkway before having to stop at the Mineral Museum.

I've always loved peeling Mica.  Good thing this one was locked up.

Mr. Oilburner learns that sugar actually starts
out as a vegetable.  See Mom?  He does eat his veggies...

Beyond the perfect temperatures and the perfect, cloudless sky, north was definitely the direction to be traveling in as more colors were coming out.  We stopped at many overlooks (some not so much overlooky as looky-into the mountains above you) and had to take the required autumn colors or motorcycle shots.  I won't bore you will all of them, but will share some of my favorites.

Hungry is as hungry does...so our next mission was Lunch!  Slightly unsuccessful as we chose a small city vs a big city of Boone, NC. The small city, Blowing Rock, was nice.  It is more of an artsy-fartsy town like Highlands, NC.  Which I normally wouldn't have any issues with.  But the wait times for even the pizza joint were 45 minutes!  We decided to order our pizza to-go and take it to the park up the street.  Half blessing, half curse because we probably would have been seated by the time we actually did receive our pizza...but at least we weren't going to have to wait another 45 minutes after being seated.  Unfortunately, I kinda pushed us into the decision because we were nearing the "full moon" phase of my hunger.  Either feed me or suffer the consequences...cuz I don't know exactly what will happen and I cannot be held responsible...

The pizza wasn't bad.  But I don't think it was worth a 45 min wait.

Discussing our options over lunch, Mr. Oilburner was leaning a little towards heading back to the Inn.  I was not game for this plan at all!  We had only made it about 40 miles down the parkway (in 3 hours!!) and I wasn't ready to turn back.  I wasn't willing to still try for the border, but didn't want to just head back.  So we agreed to continue up the road apace and just turn around when we felt like it.  Which turned out perfectly!!  We meandered up the road and passed a museum that I really wanted to stop at, but wasn't ready to stop after only 2 miles...  So we just rode and enjoyed the scenery.  It was changing a little up here in that there were houses and farm fields and horses along the road instead of the wide buffer of untouched forest.

When we felt the shadows getting a little long and thinking it was yet another 3+ hours back we decided to turn around.  And the next overlook to allow us this had these:

Though they were all beautiful, my favorites:

Edit: 1938 Chevy (Thanks Dad!)

Edit: 1931 Model A Ford with a '32 Grille Shell (Thanks Dad!)

aaahhhhhhhhhh...

We made it back to the Inn in decent time.  We did stop at the Moses H. Cone Park and Craft Center.  We lightened our bank account a little and took up some saddlebag space with a wonderful plate for my collection.  Now to get it home in one piece...  Otherwise the trip back was uneventful.  We did eat at a fast food joint to avoid the prices of the Chalet at the Inn.  And I tried a fish sandwich for the first time.  This trip was proving to bring out some interesting food desires in me...

Monday morning dawned perfect once again.  Mr. Oilburner stepped onto the patio a little before sun up and thought it was overcast.  Luckily it wasn't, and the stated 45F temps were still not there and we enjoyed another 63F morning.  We decided to snatch breakfast from the nearby Walmart last night and dined on Cheese Danish and bananas on the patio.  Yet again allowing us to be super messy (unintentionally...those danishes are difficult to eat without utensils, plates or napkins...) and people watch!

Breakfast of Champions.

Champions making horrible mess on the patio.

Just can't imagine drinking coffee from a pot that is
stored in a bathroom. Blech!! 

Packing up was like stuffing 10 pounds of shite into a 5 pound bag. We didn't purchase too many souvenirs...but we have never had a chance to get the packing down before. So this was a learning experience. It actually wasn't too bad, but I wanted pictures of our brightly colored stuff sacks.

Mr. Oilburner swears that bag liners will be his next purchase.  I'm not sold on them, but will see what he thinks of them.  It would be nice to just stuff it all into space bags in a bag liner and know it will fit instead of trying to determine which bags will squeeze, which won't and which ones will go together to balance the weight on each side.

All bags neatly stowed.

Required morning maintenance: check tire pressure.

Required ritual of lens cleaning.

Before shoving off, we patted ourselves on the backs for not being the last bikes out of the parking lot today.  The other couple hadn't even put in an appearance!  Yay us!  But we did take time for required safety inspections and tire pressure testing.  All good.  Even took the time to clean helmet lenses.  Usually they aren't already installed on heads...but you do it when you can.  :)

South was definitely the direction to be traveling in today!  The weather was absolutely perfect!  When we started seeing the colors we couldn't convince our selves they were hear when we came up two days ago.  We did confirm our suspicions that these hills were mostly green on Saturday by looking through the videos.  They may have been green two days ago, but they sure weren't any more.  These colors were bright and rich and just spectacular.  We wanted to stop everywhere!!

Mr. Oilburner insisted on a side trip up to Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi.  I was a little skeptical thinking about the switchbacks up Grandfather Mountain I saw the day before.  Or thoughts of Brasstown Balds numerous switchbacks.  But I swallowed my fears and am glad I did.  We frittered away another couple hours with the small hike to the observation deck and just sitting with snacks and drinks soaking up the sun and surroundings.  It was totally worth it.  In so many ways it reminded us of Mt. Katahdin in Maine.  Just beautiful.

Wow.  Just wow.  We arrived just in time.  The peole started showing up as we were hiking down and the parking lot was getting busy by the time we had finished our snacks.  Time to hit the road.

We opted to ride the parkway home again.  It was a completely new experience riding towards the south with all of the autumn colors.  We knew the speed limit would delay arrival home a little, but the dog was taken care of and we weren't in a rush. 

Some leaves were starting to fall and previous cars vortices were kicking them back into the roadway.  Mr. Oilburner nicknamed me Dancing Leaves for the effect I had on them, swirling them around me when I rode through.  I enjoyed the couple of times I was able to ride through a new falling cache as a wind swept through.  A couple of leaves even managed to hitch a ride, we noticed as we stopped for a stretch break.

We were saddened that the weekend was over.  Both wishing this trip would be so much longer and the roads would continue to unfold beneath the tires and we could continue discovering new sights.

Real life intrudes, and it isn't a bad thing...just a necessity...for the next time we can take such an adventure.  I hope your travels are good and full of beauty surrounding you.

So.  To answer that title question.  No, it is not possible to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway in an extended weekend if you want to see the sights, enjoy the culture and soak up some beauty.  We managed to ride about 400 miles of the parkway...which translates to 200 miles one-way.  But we do hope to go back soon and finish it up.  Many, many more pictures are available at Flickr in my Blue Ridge Parkway set.  Can also view them in slideshow format.


Things I learned on this trip:
-Find smaller "dress" shoes.  Not ones that take up 1/4 of a saddle bag and are inflexible
-Add eye wash and antiseptic cream/ointment to the first aid kit
-It is infinitely easier to repeatedly mount and dismount a bike in jeans instead of armored pants...but safety exponentially decreases (Thankfully nothing bad happened.)
-pack water and snacks :)
-laugh lots, lay down on picnic tables and look up