Is this a better clue?

By Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0

Looking forward to something

As (thankfully) you listened and put up with my last ruminations, we were trying to figure out how to take a vacation.  We desperately need time away to clear our heads and try to get ourselves back together.  We've tried to figure out a block of time that wouldn't inconvenience work.  (Why is work more important that my mental health?!?!)  We thought we had come up with a good 3 week period.  But then there was a shakeup at my work.  End of year separations, people not promoted that felt they deserved it, lost motivation, emergency family situations necessitating leaves of absence.  I wasn't sure I could pull it off.  Oilburner's boss was giving him a guilt trip.  Telling him he could have the time off in October...oh but wait...you'll be on an audit then...so that won't work.  Sigh.

We considered our options.  Would we go back up to Maine and possibly hit Labrador this year?  Should we do something unexpected and go to the Pacific Northwest?  Rent some bikes and force ourselves on Trobairitz and  Troubadour?  Go visit Vancouver Island?  Or do something completely off script and go to Iceland?  New Zealand?  Ecuador?

Or were we going to give that up and just put our heads down and work and figure out the mental health thing later.

Trying to make the decision weighed heavily.  What to do, what to do.

Oilburner cut the guilt trip and pushed for a 2 week vacation.  I bit the bullet and solidified the dates at my job.  Now to decide what to do.  We decided we want to do something completely unexpected, force us out of our lives and do something that would shake everything up.  Since Rogey was out of the country, we could wait on New Zealand.  We did a search on a motorcycle tour we have been researching the past couple of months.  We sent an email request.  We got an answer back.  And suddenly we are leaving deposits and booking international flights and trying to figure out how to pack our riding gear and get out of dodge in 8 days.

Wanna know where we are going?  I'll give you a clue...

Now this...this we are finally excited about.

 

Day 15 - Front Royal, VA to Otter Creek Lodge, VA

Yes, yes. I am sorry for the long silence. Life has been chaotic here. Oilburner and family continue to ask about the remaining days of the trip and I am attempting to get it written down. There are only a couple more days...and the last one is quite boring and will be exceedingly short. :) This, however, is not the last day. hehe (I promise this is the last long post, though.)

(Day 15 - July 27, 2012)

Ahhh....Shenandoah

The day was beautiful. And we weren't going to make very good time if we continued to stop at every overlook. But we can't help ourselves. It is too pretty of a day. Yes it is warm at the base of the mountains, but up here the temp was about 10 degrees cooler and almost perfect.

Overlooks and Vistor's Centers...it's all good. Of course, I snag my booty of books at the Gift Shop, while Oilburner gravitates towards caps and hiking stick pins. (He wants to see if he can attach them to the front forks instead of loading the motorbike up with stickers.)

We even took a little time to watch a new Ranger begin her presentation on the Black Bear.

Time marches on and so must our wheels. Shenandoah is 100 miles of scenic beauty. Yes, it seems alot like the Blue Ridge Parkway. But one of the books I picked up was the history of the land before the park was created. I looked on the area with an eye towards life here when people were making their livings off the land.

Reaching the south end of Shenandoah we jumped into the nearest city for lunch. Subway has been a mainstay for us on this trip. But my eyes spot an A&W. If I have ever been to one of these then I was too young to remember. And today Root Beer just sounded sssoooo good.

It was...EXCELLENT!!

Since I was taking forever to suit up, I sent Oilburner across the way to pick up a couple 5 hour energy drinks. When I finally pulled up to the door I had to laugh at the sign posted up. English classes are overrated anyways. :)

Oilburner and I are of a mind to spend time on the Blue Ridge Parkway again. We aren't in a rush this time. Or so we thought...

We can't agree on a place to stop for the evening. He was thinking Boone, TN. I'm pretty sure I will not be able to do the distance. We may have ridden the Parkway in two days last time. I'm just not up to that pace this time around. I was thinking Roanoke, VA might be good.

The decision is taken out of our hands.

We knew there was a chance for showers in this area. We just kept seeing the blue skies and not giving it much thought. I mean, we've ridden in the rain before. So what?

Let me tell you...big "what"... I'm a water baby. I love swimming or lounging or floating or lurking or kayaking in the water. I'll stay in water so long the depth of the wrinkles in my fingers and toes can be measured in millimeters. I'll walk in the rain, sing in the rain, dance in the rain. A rain storm doesn't perturb me.

We had stopped for a break, and not able to get any cellular connection on the iPad, we couldn't check the location of the storm. A text message had come into my phone from a friend watching our track, telling us the storm was near. The clouds were starting to cover the blue. And we decided not to put on the rain suits just yet. As we are preparing to leave we wave to two motorcyclists rolling by. They are important...

When we take a turn a couple miles up the road that finally brings us out onto the west slopes of the parkway, giving us our first look west in a long while, my heart plummets into my stomach and begins to burrow into my intestines.

There should be a beautiful view of the rolling hills across the wide valley 1500 feet below us. Instead we are looking at a massive rolling wall of the darkest grey imagineable. The part that impressed me the most was that it was below us! We actually observed the clouds shift and roll over the land toward us. Picture the billowing puffs of the leading edge of a sandstorm. It was like that, only black. It was rolling towards us and it was coming fast!!

I pulled into a turnout hoping Oilburner's camera was handy. (Mine was in the top box.) The 20 seconds it took him to fumble in his jacket convinced me that I didn't want to be sitting here when that wall engulfed us. I told him to forget the picture and took off. Yeah. We should have put the rain gear on. Minutes down the road the sprinkles started and the clouds could be seen rolling through the gaps. The next turn out was an exposed western overlook. Oilburner was able to get into his gear. I managed to get into my jacket and just said forget the pants. The rain was coming down hard and I wanted to get away from the exposure. I knew it wasn't an option to walk away from the bikes. Where could we have taken shelter from the lightning? I had known of two different people who were recently killed by lightning striking the tree they had taken shelter under (yes, away from the bike).

A turn down the road convinced me there was no "right" decision. Too much rain had gotten into my helmet and I couldn't see. The rain was coming down so hard I couldn't see. The wind was whipping the trees into a frenzy and leaves were whirling around like a tornado and I couldn't see. When branches started littering the road is when I started to seriously thinking about ditching the bikes to crawl down the mountain a little way.

Within 5 minutes the brute force died down and the rain stopped. Now we just had to avoid the downed trees and crazy drivers. Thankfully there weren't too many drivers. There were quite a few downed trees, though.

Another 5 minutes down the road and the Lodge at Otters appears. Hmmm...fate? Oilburner makes an executive decision to stay if they have a room. I don't disagree. Oilburner discovers that the couple that had passed us earlier had just checked in. They had gotten the brunt of the storm too and not faired as well. Hubby, in the lead, barely missed getting hit by a tree, by riding through the crown as it fell. Wife managed to hit the tree and fall off her bike. She was close to stopping, so no real damage. Thank goodness.

By the time Oilburner checked us in all of the clouds had cleared out and drifted away. It was almost making me regret our decision to stop. What's done is done and we are going to make the most of this and enjoy the evening.

The lodge is...interesting... It's from the 50's era and still lives there. Televisions do not exist, cellular coverage is non-existent, no phones, no radio's. (Please don't take that as a complaint, since I loved it.) I even think the air conditioner is original. There is even a bathroom tile with a slot for used razor blades! I grew up with medicine cabinets with razor slots, but I have never seen a tile. Surprisingly the beds are new and quite comfortable.

The heater works well to begin drying our gear. We're using every conceiveable space and Oilburner manages to optimize space. Gloves are draped over the lampshades. Boots are upended and wedged between the table and window directly above the heater. My jacket and pants are hung on the curtain rod above the heater, with the curtains pulled around them to trap the heat in a pocket. Since Oilburner managed to don his rain gear his armor wasn't too wet.

The room was harboring a few dead spiders and a severely musty smell. The smell was a well known issue since there was a "damp collector" and multiple air freshners in the room. The food at the restaurant was "so-so." The $29.95 AYCE (All-You-Can-Eat) Seafood bar was definitely not to my liking, in either taste or cost, but was definitely the freshest thing on the menu.

The evening lighting was spectacular and I was up for a walk around the lake, until the mosquitos decided that I made a great dining opportunity. We took shelter in the room and talked, looked at maps, and read the night away. The evening was blessedly uneventful and very restive.

More images can be seen by clicking here.

Day 12 - Bar Harbor, ME to Portland, ME

Yes. It is getting long in time and I tend to be verbose. You might be getting bored with the Maine excursion, but I'm darn well gonna put it down before my dotage takes hold and I completely forget it all. So on to day 12?  (July 24th)

Last night, we talked a lot about the journey towards home, even though we had planned to stay another night in Bar Harbor, we decided to cut it short and head out today. I just wasn't impressed enough with the area to stay. Not when we could start moving, and maybe spend one last evening with our Portland friends.

The riding gear dried overnight. Thanks to the old fashioned heat lamp/fan in the bathroom. We did get up a few times in the night to monitor progress and change variables, like opening the door a crack to let some humidity out, but it all worked out well.

Oilburner took our stash to the Post Office while I tried to get everything packed up and cleaned. An horrible experience at the Post Office convinced us we were making a good decision to head out. It was quick work loading up the bikes and getting under way.

We were determined to see the Loop Road in Acadia. We found it on the map last night. What had thrown me off yesterday was the lack of clear signage. All signs leading in have arrows pointing towards the Loop Road. But no sign saying "This is the Loop Road". It only read "One Way". Go figure.

No matter. Now we know where to go and have a great time. The drawback today is the weather pattern coming in. A chilly, wet fog is rolling in from the ocean, covering the islands. By itself this was gorgeous; lending an atmosphere of mystery. I loved it. It did hamper overall sightseeing of the waters and islands.

We didn't mind. Word of warning to learn from us. Acadia is not a place for motorcycle touring. It is for hiking, walking, bicycle riding. Its beauty is in the 45 miles of carriage roads and 125 miles of hiking trails. Do not just go and drive through the place and think you know it. Take some time and hit some trails. I would love to go back to explore the trails along the beautiful, rocky shore.

We also vowed to get to Lands End. Unfortunately, we couldn't live out Riepe's recommendation of a bottle of wine at sunset. I'll bet it is spectacular. The fourth best thing of seeing and enjoying it for a few minutes. I would say the first would be living on the house on the island, second wine and sunset, and third to be in a kayak.

The road out to Lands End is phenomenal. Full of ups and downs and twists and turns. So fun! We even had to cross this strange bridge to Bailey Island, called a cribstone design. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and said to be the only one in the world.

http://harpswellbusinessassociation.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/bailey-island-cribstone-bridge-harpswell-maine/

 We zig around the lanes just following the GPS. The roads are clear and we are popping in and out of showers on our way south. Rather annoying that just when we decided to put rain gear on it would clear up. And just after we took it off the drizzle started in just down the road. All's well though.

Since we were passing back through Camden we were hoping to go up Mount Battie. Unfortunately the thunder/lightning storms kicked back in and the mountain was closed.

We stopped for fuel, and to once again, don our rain gear, and spotted an x-rated machine. I didn't photograph the clutch and brake levers.

We stopped for bridge pictures after crossing this magnificent structure.

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful, riding between storms, to arrive in Portland and check into a Best Western near Mike and BRW. The ride was uneventful, but certainly memorable as the half clear skies produced the brightest, strongest rainbow. No easy way to stop. So that one will live in my minds eye and you will have to imagine it.

Once again Mike and BRW are wonderful and come pick us up to enjoy Grace. As Mike, from Scooter for Fun, wrote about it much more eloquently than I, I will not repeat.  The evening was over too quickly and it was heart wrenching to say good-bye to such good friends.

More images can be seen on Flickr here.

Mike and BRW are great. And us with our frizzy helmet hair. :)