The Plan: Ride the Blue Ridge Parkway for three days with nothing more than saddle bags, a duffel bag bungeed to the bike and no plans on when and where to stop for the night.
I left in the morning of August 31 headed out of Richmond on I64W to knock out some miles on the super slab. For some reason I chose that direction because I wanted to start at mile marker 0 the BRP. I was in cruise mode on 64W taking in the cool morning air when over my shoulder comes a very nice motor coach pulling a pickup. My first thought I was impressed at the speed that it was traveling but than I started thinking what two vastly different ways to travel. Me on a motorcycle with duffle bag and them having all the amenities of home, what a great country we live in with freedom of choice. After about an hour I decide to get off the super slab and take 250W through Charlottesville to the BRP. 250 west of Charlottesville is a nice ride through the country as you slowly gain some altitude. During my first gas stop I ran into some riders that suffered from selective brand blindness, after stretching my legs I gear up and start heading out of the parking lot when a dad jumps out of his car with his son and starts pointing at me. In my mind he was most likely telling his son “at one time I had a Triumphâ€. The sun is now starting to warming things with not a cloud in the sky so its time to unzip some vents in the jacket. I arrive at mile marker 0 on the BRP to one of the most stunning days I have ever experienced. I stop at the overlook to stretch my legs. While walking around I noticed the parkway is busy today with other motorcycle, cagers, bicyclists but who cares. I am thinking how great it is to have a wife that understands the need to get away by one self for a few days.
Now it is time to start the real part of the trip so I pointed the bike south and let out the clutch onto the BRP and started enjoying the slow (speed limit 45) meandering curves (okay some are less meandering than others). I usually do not mind sharing the road but it always gets under my skin when people think they are the only one on the road. While I was stretching my legs as a group of bicyclist come zooming by taking full advantage of the downhill slope with chase vehicles it tow. Well about two miles down the road while I was coming around a blind curve I see the group bicyclist heading in the opposite direction; luckily one had the sense to give me a signal to stop. As I am slowing down, into my vision I see that one chase vehicle has completed their three point turn while the other one is setting perpendicular in the middle of the road blocking both lanes.
I have to wonder with all the overlooks why they thought this was a good idea. Wait I know. Is it that a lot of people think the world revolves around them. No need to let people ruin a good trip so I continue on and now I am getting really relaxed thinking only about the task at hand and all the other daily stresses are gone. The stomach starts talking to me so I decide to have lunch at Otter Creek one of the BRP restaurants’. I have a nice lunch with a great view looking into the woods. I come out of the restaurant and there is a rather large group of dew ragged bikers setting about 20 feet from my bike. I can tell they are of the species that suffer from brand blindness as I walk up and gear up. I point the trusty stead south again and enjoy the rest of a beautiful day. It’s getting around 5 o’clock and I am around the Roanoke area and I have never been further south on the BRP. Like I said in the beginning I took off with no plans but riding south for a couple of days, so I am not for sure if there are any available accommodations ahead. We have an old joke in Virginia about the state ending at Roanoke. So I stop for the night. Once I get settled in I am now wishing I would have push on because the biggest problem that I thought I would have is coming true, boredom in a hotel room over night. Now I am wishing I would have manned up and camped but this is my first overnight trip on a bike and I thought I did not want the hassle.
I sleep in a little the next morning having dreams of another beautiful day of riding. I wake up and throw open the curtains to let the beaming sun in, but to my surprise I see grey clouds and then I look down at the payment and its wet. I walk outside, it is raining and the temperature has dropped. Now I am thinking I am glad I did not camp and today’s ride is no big deal as I did pack my wind liner for my jacket and a fresh new set of Frog Togs. I also remembered that at the last minute I threw in my armored riding pants. I decided not to put on the Frog Togs because it a light rain. As I am getting the bike ready for the days travel I notice a couple of Goldwinger’s decided to use the same place as a nightly stop over and were packing up things for the ride ahead. Once again I was thinking about the difference in how people travel. They were stowing their stuff in nice hard luggage to protect it from the rain and I was bunging my duffel bag to my bike with the space aged rain protector I brought with me (a Hefty garbage bag). I point the bike south once again and on to the BRP. I was so into the riding yesterday that I told myself tomorrow would be picture day and I would take lots of them and now it appears that today will suck for pictures but hey I might ride out of this. As I headed south for about 20 minutes I thought that riding in the rain might not be too bad. Since getting on the BRP I have had my own private road. I stop at an overlook and while enjoying the cloudy view a guy on a BMW pulls in and we chat a while. He is traveling north back home to New Hampshire, I think. He inquired about the Triumph America as he has a friend that is buying one. I look at my map and wonder how far I will get today. I see Mabry Mill is down the way and we all know this is a must stop. After Mabry Mill I stop and have lunch at another restaurant on the BRP called Doughton Park. I can not remember what they called the lunch I had but it was BBQ between to pancakes and a bowel of pinto beans. I should have known better to order BBQ I am little snobbish about BBQ but that’s another story. But the pinto beans were killer. After eating lunch a couple pulled in on HD’s that did not suffer from brand blindness and had a nice conversation with them. I had gotten a little cold before lunch and the pinto beans helped warm me up. I remembering back to the last minute I threw in my riding pants looking at my winter gloves and thinking I should throw them in my saddle bag, I then said no my self that full finger summer gloves will be enough. Now I kind of wish I had them but no big deal. As I continue riding south through the changing elements of rain, fog and sun I am thinking it does not get better than this (rain or no rain, hot or cold). After leaving the lunch stop I only see a car or bike every now and then. Around 3 o’clock I started seeing deer, turkey and chipmunks. I am happy to report that all the animals behaved themselves as they allowed me plenty of time to slow down. I stopped a lot more today but it just was not a picture type of day. I have a few that I will post later. I looked at my map on one of my stops and noticed once again a place call Little Switzerland on the BRP that was further down the road and it looked like an interesting place to stop for the night. I made it to Little Switzerland around 5:30 p.m. and got a room for the night. The inn is a nice stop over with a restaurant and bar on the same property. After a little rest I headed over to bar for some drinks and food. There were a few locals in the bar and they were very nice, they were telling me about a loop I should ride the next day that they call The Diamondback. Evidently their vision is for it to be the next Tail of the Dragon (post card posters and web site). I wish I could have ridden it so I could give a report on the route but I needed to start heading back home and it would give me another reason to head down here again.
I wake up the nest morning load the bike and go off in search of gas. While gassing up I look at the map and see if I want to make it home today it will be a long trip if a want to stay off the interstates. So I point the bike north on the BRP and start heading home. This morning it is a little colder and getting colder as I head over Linville mountain and I am really wishing I had packed my winter gloves and a sweatshirt but very thankful for the full face helmet, Olympia jacket and riding pants. I then pass a couple on a Road King traveling the opposite direction that looked like they were not having any fun at all. They only had on a long sleeve t-shirt with a short sleeve t-shirt over top and half helmets. I actually saw their face first because they were so red. We are talking the kind of cold that makes your nose run under your helmet. I continue heading north knocking out the miles on the BRP stopping every now and then to warm up by running around an overlook. I get to Fancy Gap, VA which is just off the parkway to have lunch and gas up. While gassing up a guy riding a Road King that was adding layers of clothing comes over and says he is heading south and wants to know if I am heading north. He wants to know if it gets warmer further south and I tell him this is the warmest I have been so far and he was not too excited because he did not pack any cold weather gear. I get back on the road with the plan on riding the BRP to Peaks of Otter and then continuing on to 460E, 307 and then 360E into Richmond. After arriving at Peaks of Otter the rest of the trip was all about the miles and my sore butt. I finally made it home at 7:00 p.m after riding that day since 8:00 am. I can tell you the last few hours were painful
with the stock seat. It took a couple of days to get over the pain but the entire trip was well worth it and I would do it again in a heart beat.
