Autumn Tour 2008
Graham and Elaine
Last update 18th November 2008
Pictures can be viewed here
Well, here we go again making another visit to the USA (we had to really to justify owning the second Trike). The plan this time is to start off with a visit to Jeff and Edith in Maryland where we’ll pick up the Trike before making our way across to Richmond Virginia for the NHRA drag racing on the second weekend of October. From there we plan to head down towards Florida for Biketoberfest and then, who knows, so, if you’re interested, keep watching.
1st October 2008 - Flight day.
Not overly impressed with Heathrow Terminal 5! Unlike Terminal 4 you can’t check in more than 3 hours before your flight so we ended up hanging around the check-in area for half-an-hour before we could go through. It also seems that their claims that you’ll be through security within 10 minutes were not entirely accurate, it took us around 30 minutes, longer than it’s previously taken at terminal 4. The flight itself was uneventful and after landing at BWI we were through immigration and customs and on the bus to pick up our rental car within 30 minutes, very impressive. We’re spending the night at a privately owned motel/restaurant (one that we’ve used before) just a short drive from the airport and close to Honda of Crofton so we’re intending to call in and see our friends Paul & Lorraine in the morning before heading south.
2nd October 2008 – Crofton to Ocean City Maryland.
We called in and had coffee and a chat with Paul this morning (Lorraine was at home today) before doing some essential shopping and making for the Bay Bridge to take us south. We made the shop (Haus of Trikes) by around 14:00 just as Jeff was heading for lunch so we tagged along before returning to the shop to collect the Trike and returning the rental car. Jeff had arranged for us to go out on a dinner ride this evening, it wasn’t too far and after a chicken dinner (they’d run out of most other things on the menu!!) we came back to the house for a fairly early night.
3rd October 2008 – Ocean City, Maryland.
When we collected the Trike yesterday we noticed a very loud and annoying ticking noise coming through the intercom and a rubbing noise coming from somewhere so we went back to the shop this morning so the guys could try to find out what was causing it. The rubbing noise turned out to be the fender extender touching the nice new front tyre (it’s a different type of tyre we’re trying out) so the extender was removed – problem solved. However, after much checking of the wiring, nothing obvious was found that might be causing the ticking and when Graham took it out to test-drive it he lost all of the communication systems and the indicators – oops! Back to the shop again where a further check of the wiring identified a blown fuse and a trapped wire. This cured all of the problems apart from the ticking so we decided we’d leave the Trike at the shop overnight and try again tomorrow. This evening was spent at ‘home’ just chilling and chatting- all very pleasant.
4th October 2008 – Haus of Trikes.
As the guys at the shop were busy, we decided that, with some guidance, Graham & I would remove all of the top covers on the Trike to make sure no wires had been damaged during the recent air filter change. I can now see why no one likes to change the air filters, they’re completely buried and you have to remove most of the front end to get to it. We managed it (with a little help) and, in the process, found a couple of wires that were loose, we refitted those and (eventually) put the bike back together but, unfortunately, we still have a ticking although it’s not quite so loud or intrusive. This evening we ate at a really good Japanese restaurant where your food is cooked at the table, this was followed by a drive through Ocean City and an ice cream before returning ’home’.
5th October 2008 – Ocean City, Maryland.
Whilst Jeff & Edith were at church this morning Graham & I completed some chores (grocery shopping, catching up on the blog etc.). The weather today was really good, hot & sunny so, once they’d returned Jeff suggested we went out on their boat (they have a pontoon boat moored just out the back of the house) so with the dogs safely in their life preservers we went out into the local waterways and got an entirely different perspective on the area. There are some fabulous properties to be seen and we had a really nice relaxing afternoon picnicking on the water before returning home late afternoon in time for dinner at a local restaurant. Life can be really tough!!
6th October 2008 – Ocean City to Emporia, Virginia.
It was warm and sunny as we left late this morning and we had an uneventful ride south through the Eastern Shore and across the Bay Bridge/Tunnel (a 13 mile combination of bridges and tunnels that crosses the Chesapeake Bay). It got rather busier as we passed through Norfolk (a big naval city) but traffic thinned again after a while, back on to wide-open roads through farmland. We made pretty good time and stopped after around 250 miles in the hope of finding a motel with a laundry – unfortunately we failed on that one but; not to worry we still have a few clean clothes!!
7th October 2008 – Emporia to Lewisburg, West Virginia.
What a lovely ride! It wasn’t quite as warm today but still in the mid 60’s so not bad (and much better than at home) and I managed to find a cross-country route north and west through Virginia and into West Virginia. For the most part the roads were full of sweeping bends and no traffic and we had a great ride taking in the first of the fall colours and the pumpkin displays. The only slight fly in the ointment was the school bus full of kids that kept stopping along one of the best, most twisty bits but we managed to pass it eventually. We’re now just inside West Virginia and we’re going to try to take in some of the Allegheny Mountains tomorrow before making our way back south for the Drag racing.
8th October 2008 – Lewisburg to Luray, Virginia.
There was a definite feel of autumn in the air this morning, around 50F with a light mist, it did warm up during the middle of the day but turned quite cold again later on. We found another really good road this morning, the 219 North that stretched around 100 miles, as far as Elkins. Once again there was very little traffic and lots of sweeping bends to enjoy. From there we turned back east along more pretty roads before we had to join I81/I66 for a short time so that we could get to the start of Skyline Drive (a 105 mile scenic parkway). We stayed on Skyline Drive for the first 31 miles and then left to find some accommodation (by now it was pretty cold again as we were riding through the cloud at 3200 feet) we may well rejoin the parkway again tomorrow but we’ll see.
9th October 2008 – Luray to Petersburg, Virginia.
We found a very nice restaurant last night complete with a guitar-playing singer, it wasn’t cheap but it was good. We skipped part of Skyline Drive this morning as the middle section has road works and “expected delays”, instead we took a parallel road and went back on for the last 45 miles or so. We then joined at the start of the Blue Ridge parkway for 40 miles or so before turning south and east. The roads from here on in weren’t quite as good but the traffic was still light so, no complaints (especially as the weather has been good all day). We’ve checked in to our ‘home’ for the next four nights and will be making the short journey across country tomorrow morning ready for some noisy, smelly racing – great!! Mileage to date 1013.
10th October 2008 – Virginia Motorsports Raceway.
It was wet when we woke this morning, not what you want to see on race-day but thankfully, it cleared up fairly quickly and we were in our seats by around 11:00 (they’re pretty good seats too, right next to the ‘christmas tree’ and amongst all of the Nitro fumes). As a result of the rain the race schedule had to be amended so it was well in to the afternoon before the Nitro cars started running but when they did they ran really well with a number of record passes. The weather forecast for tomorrow is looking good so, with luck, we’ll see more good times tomorrow.
11th October 2008 – Virginia Motorsports Raceway.
The weather was better today and there was more good racing but not the record-breaking runs of yesterday. We were trackside from around 10:00 until 17:30 when we left so that we would be back at the motel before Jeff and his son Gary arrived (they’re joining us for finals day tomorrow). Unfortunately, they were held up slightly but they still arrived in time for dinner and a beers or two at the bar next door.
12th October 2008 – Virginia Motorsports Raceway.
It was bright and sunny this morning but really quite cold on the toes (we rode to the track in sandals) as it was quite early when we left. After the usual opening ceremonies the elimination rounds started at 11:00and the racing ran through, pretty much without a hitch, until around 16:30. Strangely, there seemed to be less people at the track today than there were yesterday so it was pretty comfortable in the stands and we even made it out of the circuit and back to the motel in under 30 minutes – unheard of!! Just time for a quick shower now before we go and eat. We may just visit the bar too, who knows!!
13th October 2008 – Petersburg, Virginia to Lumberton, North Carolina.
Jeff & Gary left us shortly after breakfast this morning on their way home north and east to Maryland; we on the other hand, turned south through the rest of Virginia and in to North Carolina en-route to Florida. As usual, we decided not to use the Interstate but took highway 301 which runs pretty much in the same direction but has a lot less traffic and a number of small towns to pass through, much more interesting (although nothing special). We made good time despite having to spend almost an hour completing our first 7 miles this morning, not because of any problems with the trike or us but because we discovered when we tried to buy gas (petrol) that our credit card had been stopped because of ‘unusual activity’. It was no big deal and we do appreciate that the credit card company had our best interests at heart but it was a pain trying to find a working pay phone and get the stop lifted. Oh well, it all adds to the experience doesn’t it!
14th October 2008 – Lumberton to Jesup, Georgia.
It was hot & sunny all day today with temperatures reaching 86F – very pleasant. We took a slight detour from route 301 this morning as we had the opportunity to cut the corner and, as a result, a good few miles from our ride we then rejoined the 301 further south. This took us through the remainder of North Carolina, all of South Carolina and in to Georgia and included a strangely diverse range of areas with some very deprived towns where almost every store had closed down, being closely followed by obviously much more affluent areas and where cotton fields gave way to swamp. We are now only around 70 miles north of the Florida state line so we hope to be able to make it to Ann’s (Jeff’s Mum) house tomorrow giving us a day to get our bearings before we visit Biketoberfest in Daytona on Friday. Our plans are very fluid from there on in so we’ll see what happens once we get there.
15th October 2008 – Jesup to St Cloud, Florida.
We continued south in to Florida this morning and it wasn’t long before the increase in traffic was noticeable. We made the decision not to take the turnpike (toll road) and stayed on the highways instead, this may have been a mistake as, unbeknown to us; this took us almost right past the gates of Disney World so it was stop and start all the way. Still, we reached Ann’s house by early afternoon and were just settling ourselves in when Jeff’s Uncle Russ (who we’d met last year at Delmarva Bike Week) called around to make sure we’d found everything. Once we’d freshened up and Russ had headed home, we went to a restaurant called Beef O’Grady’s which just happened to be hosting it’s regular bike night so we got to chat to a few like minded people as well having some good food – very nice.
16th October 2008 – St Cloud, Florida.
The first part of this morning was spent fruitlessly trying to sort out a problem with one of our credit cards. Despite what we were told on Monday, all is not well as it seems that someone has tried to change the address on our account and get a new card issued, we’re getting conflicting stories as to whether or not one was actually sent out but, either way, our account has been cancelled. The moral of this story is; always make sure you have at least two usable cards when you travel, thankfully we have. After a lazy afternoon Russ came to pick us up and drive us out to supper at a local restaurant after which he acted as our own personal tour guide and showed us around some of the area including the Walmart parking lot next to a Sonic Diner which was host to a car show (sorry folks, I didn’t have the camera with me but there were some fabulous cars there).
17th October 2008 – Biketoberfest, Daytona Beach.
We left fairly early this morning to make the 75-mile journey across country to Daytona. Someone Graham had contacted by e-mail recommended that we use route 417 which was fine except that we didn’t know until we’d turned on to the slip road that it was a toll road and the only two options were ‘Sunpass’ a pre-paid toll or ‘Exact change’. As we weren’t prepared for a toll we stopped on the shoulder and scrabbled around to find the required 50 cents and were on our way, or so we thought!! A few miles along the road there was another toll but, thankfully, this on was manned. Again a few miles further on and, yes, you’ve guessed it, another toll. In total we stopped three times in not very many miles – and they call this an Expressway!! We finally reached our first intended stop at New Smyrna Beach at around 11:00 and discovered that the credit crisis is really having an effect. Sunrise Mall apparently had 40 vendors with stands last year and they only have 16 this year. Our next stop was the Daytona International Speedway (where the Daytona 500 is run) and there were quite a few vendors there but again, not as many as we’d expected. From there we went along to Main Street Daytona Beach which is where many of the bars etc. are and as this was quite a bit busier and they wanted $10:00 for parking a trike, we drove through and over the bridge to where other vendors, including Motortrike are based. We called in to the Motortrike shop and were impressed to find that Diane Vey, one of the owners, remembered us and even remembered our name. We arrived back at Ann’s house just after 19:00 and, although we haven’t done all that many miles they have been slow, hot miles (when we got back it was still over 80F) so we’ve decided to be lazy and order in a pizza.
18th October 2008 – Kissimmee area.
Russ collected us at around 11:00 this morning and took us to the Reedy Creek Swamp, an educational centre with a boardwalk through the swamp. In total the (slow) walk took us around an hour and a half and we saw all sorts of bugs and animals including a fairly big alligator, a turtle, numerous lizards, butterflies and dragons flies. It was a great place to visit and very relaxing. After we’d recovered from the walk by taking a drive around the area and we’d had some lunch Russ took us to Old Town, Kissimmee for the weekly cruise night. There were loads of really great cars on show and we spent a happy hour or so looking around before Russ dropped us ‘home’. It must be said that Russ makes a great tour guide – thank you Russ. We’re leaving here tomorrow and, according to the locals, we’re going to need our jumpers as there’s a cold front coming through and they’re predicting a sharp drop in temperature with highs only reaching 79F – shame isn’t it!!!
19th October 2008 – St Cloud to Juno Beach.
Russ called in this morning to take us to breakfast at a really good local café. We finally left Ann’s house (after doing the laundry and cleaning up after ourselves) at around noon and continued west then south through a large area of rough grazing followed by a huge area of citrus groves. Once we hit the coast we took the A1A that runs along a spit of land just off of the mainland and we finished up at a Holiday Inn on the coast which has a choice of restaurants in walking distance – very convenient.
20th October 2008 – Juno Beach to Key Largo.
We woke to find it had been raining, the sky was very dark and it was windy but the forecast was for improving weather – thankfully the forecast was right. The first hour and a half of this morning was spent making calls to the U.K. to try to determine, once and for all, what the situation was with our credit card; to cut a long story short, someone has, somehow, got hold of our details and our account has been cancelled. We now have additional security set up on our other card, have advised the companies who take regular payments from our card and all is well – at least for the time being!! We had already decided that we would make the effort and take to coast road wherever possible as this took in all of the major resorts you hear of on the T.V. etc. As it turns out this was a bit of a mistake as it took us all day to do very few miles (and it took us through Miami) but we did see some fabulous, very opulent houses, some huge boats and the famous Art Deco buildings of Miami Beach. It’s one of those things we can now say we’ve done but we definitely don’t want to do again! We’re now in Key Largo at the start of the Florida Keys and we’ll be heading down to Key West tomorrow where, unbeknown to us, they are holding a ‘Fantasy Fest’ which sounds pretty liberated if not a little bizarre – we’ll find out tomorrow I guess.
21st October 2008 – Key Largo to Key West.
Well that was an experience! ‘Fantasy Fest’ was interesting and definitely on the risqué side. We’d ridden down in beautiful sunshine and arrived at our hotel fairly early, luckily we were able to check-in straight away so got down in to town by lunchtime. There was little evidence of ‘fantasy’ by then but by the time the sun went down things had definitely changed. One of the themes was ‘Pirates, Pundits & Plaid’ so there were lots of people dressed (or in many cases undressed) as Pirates and/or in checked school skirts and kilts. When I say many of them were undressed I really mean it, in many instances the girls were wearing nothing but a thong and body paint (some of which was really good) and some of the guys were in nothing more than posing pouches. And we thought Americans were prudes!!
22nd October 2008 – Key West to Key Largo.
We were woken at around 06:00 this morning by torrential rain which was followed by a really mean thunderstorm, by 09:30 it was still pouring with rain so we grabbed the umbrellas the hotel provided and went for breakfast. By 10:30 it had almost stopped raining and we packed up and left which meant travelling along some flooded roads and passing an awful lot of very badly flooded side roads (according to T.V. reports Key West received 2.7 inches of rain in less than 2 hours). We managed around 6 or 7 miles before it started raining hard again and almost 15 miles before it got so bad (we could barely see a thing and there was a lot of standing water) that we had to pull up under the entry porch of a roadside motel along with a number of other bikes. The lady from the motel very kindly told us we could leave the bikes there and take refuge in their restaurant and this is exactly what we did for the next hour and a half so, numerous cups of coffee and a light lunch later, we tried again. It rained most of the way but at least we could see and after another 80 miles or so we decided to call it a day and checked in to the motel we’d stayed in on the way down. Unfortunately, the forecast for the next few days is still pretty horrid so we may just decide to stay put for a day or two – we’ll see.
23rd October 2008 – Key Largo to Bonita Springs.
As it was dry this morning we decided to leave and head further north which should (we hope) get us through this weather front a day or so earlier. Rather than go back the way we came we turned west towards the other coast and this took us across the Everglades National Park. Unfortunately, we hit another torrential downpour as we went across the Park which meant that we didn’t see as much in the way of wildlife as we’d hoped (2 alligators and a few turtles plus lots of birds). Last time we were in this area we found a really interesting loop road through the Everglades and we saw tons of critters, we did find the road again but having ridden 6 or 7 miles of it and ploughed (slowly) through two lots of floodwater we came across a ‘Road Closed’ sign so had to turn around and go back; even on the main roads the water was lapping the edges in places. We sat out most of another very heavy downpour whilst having some lunch and finally gave up after only completing around 160 miles – never mind we’re not in any real hurry.
24th October 2008 – Bonita Springs to Chiefland.
We spent last evening at the restaurant connected to our motel, it was a first for us as it was a Cuban restaurant; the food turned out to be really good and the house wine (which was 2 for 1 during happy hour) was also very drinkable. Having eaten we adjourned to the bar and spent a happy hour or two chatting with a young guy who was travelling on business and wanted to pick our brains on what to see and do if (as he hopes) he gets to spend his up-coming honeymoon in the U.K. It was still pouring with rain when we woke this morning and it stayed wet for a good few hours (and on and off for the rest of the day). As it seemed pretty pointless taking the coast road we jumped on to the Interstate which, although particularly boring and pretty unpleasant in the rain, did get us quite a lot further north. As tomorrow is our 10th wedding anniversary we’ve booked ourselves into a nice hotel/restaurant that we’ve visited before (although we didn’t stay there as they we’re full) and we’re hoping that we’ll get a dry ride for the 170 or so miles that see us reach the ‘Florida panhandle’ and Apalachicola where we’re going to be staying. Mileage to date 3097.
25th October 2008 – Chiefland to Apalachicola.
It had obviously rained again overnight and was still damp and drizzly this morning; thankfully the weather had cleared by lunchtime, which was just about as we reached the panhandle. Lunch was taken at a very friendly ‘Mom & Pop’ style restaurant on the coast and, from there, the road was really pretty with lots of woodland, coast and some absolutely fabulous beaches (they call this the ‘forgotten coast’ and I’m amazed it’s not more popular). We reached the Gibson Inn mid-afternoon, in time for a walk around town (it’s not very big and it’s full of craft shops) and a drink on the veranda before we cleaned ourselves up for dinner. For dinner we treated ourselves and had the ‘chef’s choice’ of 6 courses and accompanying wines (well it was our anniversary !), it included a number of things we hadn’t tried before (and probably wouldn’t have ordered for ourselves) such as oysters and clams and overall the meal was extremely rich so it was a good job they were what they called ‘tasting courses’ (rather like French food).
26th October 2008 – Apalachicola to Pensacola Beach.
Hoorah – it was warm and sunny this morning and stayed that way all day. Most of our route loosely followed the coast but for much of it, you couldn’t actually see the water so we made a few short detours and, once again, came across some fantastic beaches. We finished up in Pensacola Beach and checked in to a motel which turned out not to be much good; it’s in a good position and has it’s own very small private beach but the rooms are a bit rough. Our first room had a fairly unpleasant odour and a wet carpet (and I mean wet, not just damp) and the second one has bits of the bathroom door missing, still it’s basically clean. We took a walk out to the beach which was stunning, pure white sand for miles and with the sea looking like a millpond. We then went back to our room and settled ourselves in ready to order in pizza and watch the drag racing on T.V. only to find out that they’re not showing it but they’re covering a poker tournament instead (rather like watching paint dry if you ask me). Next time we’ll check the T.V. listings before we get too comfortable !
27th October 2008 – Pensacola Beach to Covington, Louisiana.
The sky was a beautiful blue this morning although it was a little chilly and very, very windy (winds were forecast at 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 37mph). We continued to head west, a little way inland for a while and then back out to the coast once we reached Alabama; we stayed on the coast through in to Mississippi (neither State is very wide at this point) and we learned something about both States as we went i.e. Mobile in Alabama has a really nice historic district and Biloxi, Mississippi which is being built in to a big tourist town with lots of Casinos, has one of the longest white sand beaches we’ve ever seen, fabulous! We finished our journey on the Interstate as we somehow lost sight of the road we were supposed to be on (I think we got distracted by the NASA space research centre we passed) and have found a much nicer motel than last nights - thank goodness! Mileage to date 3761.
28th October 2008 – Covington to Clinton, Mississippi.
Today was what I’d call a’ pretty’ day, beautiful blue skies all day long, the only downside was that it was cold, really cold with temperatures just above freezing first thing and rising to the giddy heights of 59F for a short time this afternoon. We left our motel fairly early and headed north and west back in to Mississippi and across to the Natchez Trace Parkway, a scenic/historic road which closely follows a route built in the early 1800’s to allow speedy and safe access from the south in to Washington D.C. In all the parkway is 430 miles long and we covered around 100 miles of it today before pulling off to stay at a motel we’d pre-booked (so that we could use up some of our reward points). The motel is brand new which is great except that it’s out on a bit of a limb and there’s no food close by so, once again, we’ve ordered in (pasta this time). We’ll be going back on to the parkway tomorrow and intend staying in Tupelo (where Elvis was born) tomorrow night.
29th October 2008 – Clinton to Tupelo.
It looks as though last nights ‘free’ accommodation is actually going to cost us around $45.00 as some ignorant b*****d decided to throw their lighted cigarette butts out of their upper floor window directly on to the trike and burned 2 holes straight through the cover (thank heavens the cover was on though otherwise it would have been the seat) if only we could have found out who it was…… Apart from that, we’ve had another really good day riding the parkway, beautiful blue skies and cold again, although not as cold as yesterday and this made for a very pleasant 170-mile ride. We will be riding the remaining 180 miles or so of the parkway tomorrow (all but the last few miles in to Nashville as we don’t want to end up in the city).
30th October 2008 – Tupelo to Franklin, Tennessee.
We were back on the parkway again today and, although still cold this morning, it was another fabulous, crisp day. On two occasions we had, and took, the opportunity to ride along sections of the original Trace; the first took us through a dense forest and along the top of a fairly narrow ridge – very pleasant. The second was slightly less wooded and definitely designed for four-wheeled vehicles as there was a very pronounced grass covered ridge all along the centre, that was interesting on the trike! Tomorrow we’re heading for Gatlinburg a very touristy town on the edge of the Smoky Mountains, we’ve been there before and always found good food and, very often, live entertainment so we’re hoping there’ll be something on for Halloween.
31st October 2008 – Franklin to Gatlinburg.
The weather has been great again today and not quite so cold, at least until we reached the shady areas in the Smokies. For the most part we had a pleasant ride although there were one or two busy towns to negotiate and one in particular that seemed to have a ban on road signs, needless to say, we got mislaid and had to double back a bit but, never mind. The very last part of our journey was through the foothills of the Smoky Mountains and very pretty, it’s just a pity we got stuck behind a couple of very nervous drivers. We’re now in Gatlinburg and have discovered that we’ve lost an hour having crossed back into Eastern Time, very confusing, so we’re going to have to get our skates on and get out in to town to see what, if anything, is going on.
1st November 2008 – Gatlinburg.
It seems that this was a good choice for Halloween, Main Street was packed and there were lots of very good costumes about (and not just on the kids). We decided to eat fairly early and stopped off a the micro-brewery that’s almost next door where we were shown to our table by a prisoner, complete with handcuffs, and served by a vampire (who, joke of the season, asked us for I.D. before he could serve us alchohol!). Once we’d eaten we took a walk through town and saw allsorts including my personal favourite, a dacshund (sausage dog) wearing a jacket with a line of mustard squeezed down his back and half of a roll on either side (a hot dog – get it?). As we have a few days to spare we decided to stay a second night so have spent the day in town checking out the stores, stopping for coffee, checking out the stores, having lunch, checking out the stores…. You get the picture!
2nd November 2008 – Gatlinburg to Maggie Valley, North Carolina.
Part of the reason we wanted to come back here was to have a second chance to ride the Cherohala Skyway, a really great motorcycling road, which is just a short way out of town. As the roads tend to be rather busier at the weekend we’ve decided to change our route around slightly so that we can go along there on Monday when it will, hopefully, be a little quieter. Our route today took us through the Smokey Mountains National Park and up to an altitude of c5000ft where there was still quite a bit of evidence of last week’s snow storm, unfortunately, the traffic was pretty heavy which meant that we sat behind one car or another most of the way across to Maggie Valley. We’d chosen to come here as we’d heard about a ‘really good’ motor museum called ‘Wheels through Time’ and, for once, the description was accurate it was a good museum that housed mostly motorcycles. There were a lot of bikes there when we arrived and they were offering discounted entry, Graham also got a discount on the T-shirt he bought and we received the day’s long distance award of a free hat. All in all it was a very enjoyable few hours.
3rd November 2008 – Maggie Valley to Cherokee.
What a glorious day, blue skies and empty roads. We definitely made the right decision in postponing this run until a weekday; we’ve mostly had the roads to ourselves! Essentially we’ve spent the day making a big loop through the Smokey Mountains, taking in the Cherohala Skyway (which was every bit as good as we remembered) and, as it was the most convenient route, the famous Deals Gap with it’s 318 curves in 11 miles (or so they say, we didn’t count them). Although the fall colours are well past their peak they are still really pretty at the lower elevations, although once you get up beyond 3500 feet the trees are almost bare. One other thing that was evident was the severe drought they are suffering in this area, the Little Tennessee River was almost bone dry as were some of the lakes we passed. We’re now staying in Cherokee, on the reservation, and we’re being asked to keep water usage to a minimum, it really is a problem for them here. Mileage to date 4804.
4th November 2008 – Cherokee to Laurel Springs.
I suppose we can’t be expected to get it right every day and today was one of those where we didn’t get it quite right!! It was nice and sunny as we left (it clouded over as the day went on but we stayed dry) and instead of getting straight on to the Blue Ridge Parkway we decided to take a trip through the Pisgah National Forest to get there; this bit we did get right, it was another really nice twisty road (although the roads were covered in damp leaves on many of the bends). Once we joined the Parkway we discovered that most of the facilities, including the public toilets, had closed for the season so we ended up making one or two voluntary detours to get fuel and use the facilities. We also had to make two involuntary detours one of which lasted for 35 miles or so and included getting on to the Interstate, it was no-one’s fault as they’ve had a major landslip which has taken out part of the Parkway and they’ve estimated the re-build will take until April/May, but it was a pain in the neck. Our biggest error of the day (well, actually yesterday as we’d pre-booked) was arranging to stay at the Stations Inn Motorcycle Resort. We’d booked it hoping that we’d be able to meet a few people and have a nice social evening. Unfortunately they didn’t mention when we booked that they’re just about to close for the season and everything would shut at 7pm. Oh, and by the way, we’re the only one’s here on a bike, there are two cars here too but that’s it – Oh well, never mind it’s probably really nice here in the summer!!
5th November 2008 – Laurel Springs to Lynchburg, Virginia.
As we had the ‘resort’ completely to ourselves this morning we left the key in the room and made for the nearest town to get breakfast (a very good breakfast at a very friendly local restaurant). Once we’d eaten we went back on to the Blue Ridge Parkway for another 140 miles or so and although it started out cold and grey, as the day went on the weather improved. We left the Parkway looking for somewhere to stay and discovered the National D-Day Memorial at Bedford; it was apparently placed here as the town suffered the greatest loss of any area on D-Day, 19 young men in all. There wasn’t much in town apart from the memorial so we went a little further to the University town of Lynchburg, it’s nothing special but pleasant enough.
6th November 2008 – Lynchburg to Emporia.
We had an e-mail from one of our motel Rewards programmes yesterday advising that, because of a special fall promotion, we had an extra bundle of points enough for two more free nights so, to make sure that we used them, we pre-booked rooms for the next 2 nights (we’ve arranged to be back at Jeff’s on Saturday). It was really warm and sunny when we left this morning, 72F by 10:30, but it clouded over as we made our way east as we ran into the edge of a ‘coastal storm’ that’s been affecting the coast further north. Luckily we stayed dry again. As we didn’t have too far to go we worked out a circuitous route that took us through a number of a small towns and through open farmland but we still arrived by early afternoon. We’d stayed in Emporia on our way up to Richmond at the start of our trip and, although neither of us realised it at the time, we’ve booked in to the exact same motel and, if I’m not mistaken, the same room – spooky!!
7th November 2008 – Emporia to Onley.
Today’s run was rather less scenic than we’ve grown used to as it took us along mostly dual carriageway and through the clag that is Norfolk, a large port city that’s full of trucks. We started the day with warm sunshine and, once again, met up with a bank of cloud but we were lucky again and stayed dry (although there was evidence it had been raining). We’re now within striking distance of Jeff’s shop and should be there in time to take him (and others) out to lunch tomorrow.
8th November 2008 – Onley to Ocean City.
We woke a little bleary eyed this morning having had our sleep disturbed by two guys in the next room having a blazing row that went on and off from 02:00 until 03:20, just what we needed! The sky was very overcast as we left but as we didn’t have too far to go we were hopeful of arriving dry. Unfortunately, it was false hope, as the heavens opened just as we crossed the Maryland State Line and it just didn’t stop so, instead, we arrived like two drowned rats with water literally running off of us. Still we shouldn’t complain as this is the first bad weather we’ve had since we left Florida on October 25th. Jeff took pity on us shortly after we arrived and took us home in the car so that we could dry off before going out to lunch, we spent the rest of what turned out to be a miserable day (weather wise) doing a little shopping and at home catching up. Total mileage for this trip 5589.
9th November 2008 – Ocean City & environs.
It was warm and sunny again this morning and, whilst Jeff & Edith went to church, we went to do some of our final bits of shopping (it’s great, they’ve got all the Christmas junk out already). As it was such a nice day we then all went out for a picnic lunch on the beach – yes I know it’s November but it really was nice!! The beach we went to was on Assateague Island, an 11-mile long spit of land which is frequented by wild ponies and white tailed deer, we had a very pleasant lunch and then Edith and I went for a walk along the beach with the dogs whilst Graham & Jeff chewed the cud. All in all it was a very pleasant day.
10th November 2008 – Ocean City & environs.
Today was just a little different as, after doing some chores this morning, we accompanied Jeff on a visit to a nearby hospital to visit Buddy, a recent amputee, not only to provide some company but also to enable him to ask questions of both Jeff (a double below knee amputee) and Graham, we didn’t stay long but it was, I believe, a useful visit.
11th November 2008 – Veterans Day.
This morning we all attended a Memorial Service held at the local Veterans Memorial. The Service took a rather different direction to those at home, in some ways less formal and in others more so; in all it lasted close to an hour and ended just before 11:00 but there was no two-minute silence, as I say, different! After Jeff and Edith had gone to work we borrowed one of the cars and went out to buy a large storage box on wheels so that all the ‘stuff’ we leave at Jeff’s house could be more easily contained, it was then back to the house to pack (boring). This evening we met up with Jeff’s business partner Ed and went for a very nice meal at a local restaurant before finishing off with a drink or two at ‘home’.
12th November 2008 – Ocean City to BWI.
After a late start and a very nice brunch with Jeff we went along to the shop to say our goodbyes. As Jeff needed to drop off a saddlebag (pannier) at our friend Paul’s shop not far from Baltimore he very kindly offered to take us to the airport so, having stopped off and seen Paul & his wife Lorraine (who we spent last Thanksgiving with) we were dropped off at the airport at around 17:45 (half an hour ago) and we’re now as ready as we’re going to be for our flight home.
18th November 2008 – Home.
So, that was it then, 12 States visited (3of which we hadn’t visited on a bike before) and another 5600 miles covered, lots of great views and fall colours seen and mixed weather experienced. We met up with some old friends and made some new ones so; all in all, it was a really good trip. We’ve been home for a few days now (and away for a camping weekend with the club) and will soon look to plan our next trip which, if finances will allow, will see us heading off to Alaska.