What a day. It rained all night, with thunder, lightning, and wind and didn’t let up until about 10:30 am so we had a slow start to the day. I wandered up to the office and checked that my registration was OK (it was) and it was funny that the manager told me when she saw I was from Billings she wondered if I was from corporate as Billings is home to KOA.
We had a nice chat and it sounds like Boone, NC is having the same problems as other places: shortage of housing, fast growth, high home prices, and skyrocketing property taxes. Sounds just like Montana.
We had a picnic shelter that provided cover from the rain so we hung out there while having breakfast and I updated yesterday's blog entry. Ideally, I’d write these up at the end of the day but when that arrives there is a tent site to set up, a meal to cook, and before you know it, it’s too dark. I have a light in my tent but it’s just not a comfortable position for writing. I think I might get a small light that can illuminate the keyboard for me and then I could sit outside and write after dark.
Moving along, we finally did and left he campground at 11 am.
The weather was supposed to be variable and with a slight chill in the air and more rain predicted so I donned my thermal layer in my jacket and wore my rain gear. We got back on the Blue Ridge Parkway, heading south, to ride the 2nd half, and were not disappointed. While there was a 5-10 mile section with some major potholes, the road was in good shape, however, with last night’s storm the road was wet and there were plenty of leaves and branches scattered around. The center of the lane had a mush of leaves and such and I tried avoiding that but hit part of it in a curve and felt the bike slip a bit. Other than that, it was lots of fun hitting the twists and curves which were a plenty in every mile.
We took some breaks, pulling over into the many scenic overlooks. These are all named and indicate the elevation and, sometimes, with an interpretive plaque. Some photos:
Somewhere along this portion of the ride, Dan was in the lead and as he headed into a curve he exclaimed (over our intercom) “A bear!” One had been crossing the road and was just clearing a guard rail as he rode past it. It was a good sized black bear. Sorry, no photos.
We decided to go for lunch in Asheville, a town that Dan visited recently while on a recent car trip, and he knew of a good vegan restaurant, Rosettas, so we got off the Parkway and rode into the big city. The road in was extremely twisty and took us through a very upscale neighborhood with massive houses, some behind walls. After being out with almost no other traffic, it takes some adjustment to get back into dense civilization. But Asheville is a pretty place, with hills and curvy streets, a college town, and had a nice feel to it. We parked across the street from the restaurant and went in for a feed.
It was sort of hard to decide what to get because everything looked so good and it was a treat to be in a vegan place, not something I’d find in Billings. Dan ordered up the nachos and I got the tempeh Rueben with slaw on the side. Both were excellent. They do their own kraut which was pink, probably using the purple cabbage. It was served on a split and grilled focaccia that was perfect. We sat outside and it was fun just watching the people go by.
When we got back to our bikes I shed the thermal and rain gear as well as my sweatshirt as it had warmed up quite a bit. We stopped for gas and then headed back toward the parkway on a route that had us miss a few miles of it but that’s fine as we are getting most of its 469-mile length. The riding was great and the scenery fantastic.
At some point I took the lead when Dan said he wanted to get some photos of me riding ahead of him. Not too long before I did, I saw a black bear coming down the embankment to my right to cross the road. It was standing there looking like it was waiting for us to go by. Then, a few miles further on, a tree fell into the road right after I passed it giving Dan a big surprise as he swerved around it, We pulled over for a break after that one.
I’m not sure, butI think we’ve been traveling on the dark blue line.
Here are the images Dan got:
We’d only gone a few more miles when a muscle-type car going in the other direction flashed its headlights as we rounded a curve. I thought it might be a warning about a speed trap (although we have seen no law enforcement on this route) but when I came out of the curve there was a black bear standing in the other lane, so close that I could have brushed its nose as I went by. If I’d been in a car I might have stopped for a photo but not on a motorcycle.
Before long we arrived at the unceremonious end of the Parkway.
We consulted our phones as to what to do next and as it was 7 pm we needed to find camping for the night. As cell service was weak, we rode a few miles into the town of Cherokee and pulled over to look at our options. Some of the nearby campgrounds had bad reviews online and I opened the HipCamp app and found Conley campground the same time that Dan found it on a Google search. It looked good so we rode the ten miles or so to it that took us on some backroads through beautiful farmland.
We found the place and met the owner who showed us to the tent area, a large grassy field right next to the river. He pointed to two single-wide trailers and explained that one was the bathhouse and the other was the game room with a pool table. We got registered (hand over the cash) and got about setting up our site. We had it all to ourselves. After our dinner we checked out the game room and shot a few games of 8-ball but we were both getting tired and it as about 11 pm so we turned in for the night to the sound of the nearby river.
It was a 217 mile day.
No comments:
Post a Comment