Sunday June 19, 2005 Stecoa, NC to Crabtree Meadows, NC on Blue Ridge Parkway 250
It was a long day. I got started by 10, after breaking camp for the 1st time in 5 days! But before we continue on, it is story time. The night before, I had noticed a green Sprint ST outside the common room of the Iron Horse, but when I got to heading out there I could see the bike pulling out. Bummer. I hadn’t seen any Triumphs on the road. I was then delighted to look across the bank from my tent site later to see it was back, and the owner with a white beard was setting up camp. I introduced myself a bit later, and had a great chat. Now during the conversation it came out that not only did he own the same bike as I but he had just traveled up from Fort Meyers. He had left a couple of days after me and ended up at the Iron Horse on the same whim I had. A humorous coincidence that really struck me! What *are* the odds?
As I started packing, I thought I missed a chance to spread out the load and take a picture, because as my new acquaintance later said, “it is quite a sight to see you break camp, all the while I’m thinking how the hell is he going to get all that stuff loaded on that bike.” Well it all does fit, and it amazed me every time I had to break camp for the rest of the trip. As I was topping up the water supply and wetting down the evapodana and the long sleeve shirt for the days ride he walked over and had a another chat.
I told him I had to have a picture of him, to go with the story and also had him snap on of me, and I must say I get some dorky looking in a few of these shots. LOL
So, up to the BRP and off we go. Even though I had just run South on the BRP, I wanted to ride the whole length, and frankly the ride south is just noting like the ride north. I dare say you could ride it north, then south, and then repeat it and it would still be a new experience. I started in Cherokee and I took a few hours to get to the Asheville area. Just north of there, there is a washout in the BRP that required a detour, but I messed up the directions and went up the parkway instead of the detour, and toasted some time and miles, still it was a nice ride. I managed to back track and traveled in a northeast direction south of the parkway until I turned North on Route 80. This road is a hell of a ride. A nice curvy run up into the mountains on a tree shaded road. Unfortunately it has showered a bit during my ride over to it and the roads were wet. With my full load pushing traction is not a good thing, and too much power applied going up-hill is a bad thing. This road is a recommended side trip!
I finally, or what seemed like finally, made it back onto the parkway, and proceeded north to my destination, which was on the other side of both parkway closures. Yeah, another closure, was some way up the BRP, but the detour was easy schmeesy, with excellent signage for guidance. Of course it then occurred tome that I hadn’t seen any sign on the previous detour, and here were signs every miles or so, even when there were no turns on the route to take.
As I said, it was a long day and I pulled into the campsite around 7pm, but it was worth the trip as the camping area was deserted. I noticed 3 other site occupied amongst what had to be 150 available sites. It was a mostly cloudy, but also mostly dry, day and it turned out to be a good day for picture taking.
Here are a few shots...
This is one of my favorites and I think it deserves to be a book cover or in a large frame at the end of a hallway.
Better here..
Or here...
I like the second one myself.
A bike shot...
