Trip report - day 4
Day 4 - June 2nd
After falling asleep just after sundown (see previous post), I woke up at various times during the night, thanks to some noisy birds, and a bear. I had no idea that what I heard was a bear until talking to the folks in the next campsite over. It was threatening to rain when I went to sleep, but no rain overnight, and the morning was sunny. I woke up around 6:30 or so, and lay for a while looking up at the ants on my tent. Apparently the waterproofing treatment that I sprayed on the tent is delicious if you happen to be a 6-legged colony-dwelling insect.
I finally got up, stretched out my back (owwwww... thermarest bedrolls pack well, but my back doesn't like them too much), and got everything broken down and packed up. Rode down the Blue Ridge Parkway a few more miles, and found a cabin-lodging area that would let me take a shower for $5. Took my shower, paid my money, and continued down to the restaurant for some breakfast. Pancakes, bacon, coffee, and a tall glass of orange juice. Hooray for diners. I talked to a couple of Harley guys after breakfast in the parking lot of the diner, and it turns out one of them has family in Troy, and lived just up the road from here, before run-ins with the police caused him to move out of state. I didn't ask any more about that. Nice enough guy though. He and his fellow riders were taking a long weekend from Maryland to do the Blue Ridge Parkway, and were planning on making Boone that afternoon.
As I continued south, it got a bit more hot and humid. I stopped to take a few pictures and noticed the clouds starting to roll in. The rain started spitting down, so I stopped and put on the rain gear. Rode on for a few miles, and it stopped. A few more miles, just across the North Carolina border, and the skies just opened up. Hail hitting you at 55 MPH hurts. Even through leathers and a PVC rain suit. After 3-4 miles of almost zero visibility in the deluge, I went over a bridge overpass that had an exit ramp off the parkway, so I took it, and sought shelter under the bridge. I stop under the bridge to find the same Harley guys as I had met earlier. They were wearing jeans and t-shirts, and are SOAKED. We're joined a few minutes later by a local on his Harley, and we shoot the shit for a little over an hour while the thunderstorm passes.
The thunderstorm lets up after an hour or so, though the roads are still wet, so I put my rain gear back on, and saddle up again. I get about an hour of no rain with wet roads, and about 10 miles north of Boone, it starts to spit rain again. At the same time as it starts raining, I hit the only detour I had to take off of the Blue Ridge Parkway. About 5 miles on NC Route 221. 221 would be a run road to ride in the dry. Lots of nice twisty corners and elevation changes. In the rain, with wet pavement, and the occasional stream and gravel line crossing the road, make it pretty darned nasty. It was a great relief to get back on the smooth pavement of the Blue Ridge. I rode over the Linn Cove Viaduct in the spitting rain, which was a bit of a disappointment. I was hoping that the weather would be better, so that I could get a picture or 6.
Just south of the Linn Cove Viaduct is the exit for Linnville and Grandfather Mountain. At about 6:30 in the evening, I took that exit, and headed over to Grandfather Mountain.
Tune in to the next episode, where in Mat ends up on the top of a mountain in 60 mile an hour winds, clutching desperately at a camera tripod.
After falling asleep just after sundown (see previous post), I woke up at various times during the night, thanks to some noisy birds, and a bear. I had no idea that what I heard was a bear until talking to the folks in the next campsite over. It was threatening to rain when I went to sleep, but no rain overnight, and the morning was sunny. I woke up around 6:30 or so, and lay for a while looking up at the ants on my tent. Apparently the waterproofing treatment that I sprayed on the tent is delicious if you happen to be a 6-legged colony-dwelling insect.
I finally got up, stretched out my back (owwwww... thermarest bedrolls pack well, but my back doesn't like them too much), and got everything broken down and packed up. Rode down the Blue Ridge Parkway a few more miles, and found a cabin-lodging area that would let me take a shower for $5. Took my shower, paid my money, and continued down to the restaurant for some breakfast. Pancakes, bacon, coffee, and a tall glass of orange juice. Hooray for diners. I talked to a couple of Harley guys after breakfast in the parking lot of the diner, and it turns out one of them has family in Troy, and lived just up the road from here, before run-ins with the police caused him to move out of state. I didn't ask any more about that. Nice enough guy though. He and his fellow riders were taking a long weekend from Maryland to do the Blue Ridge Parkway, and were planning on making Boone that afternoon.
As I continued south, it got a bit more hot and humid. I stopped to take a few pictures and noticed the clouds starting to roll in. The rain started spitting down, so I stopped and put on the rain gear. Rode on for a few miles, and it stopped. A few more miles, just across the North Carolina border, and the skies just opened up. Hail hitting you at 55 MPH hurts. Even through leathers and a PVC rain suit. After 3-4 miles of almost zero visibility in the deluge, I went over a bridge overpass that had an exit ramp off the parkway, so I took it, and sought shelter under the bridge. I stop under the bridge to find the same Harley guys as I had met earlier. They were wearing jeans and t-shirts, and are SOAKED. We're joined a few minutes later by a local on his Harley, and we shoot the shit for a little over an hour while the thunderstorm passes.
The thunderstorm lets up after an hour or so, though the roads are still wet, so I put my rain gear back on, and saddle up again. I get about an hour of no rain with wet roads, and about 10 miles north of Boone, it starts to spit rain again. At the same time as it starts raining, I hit the only detour I had to take off of the Blue Ridge Parkway. About 5 miles on NC Route 221. 221 would be a run road to ride in the dry. Lots of nice twisty corners and elevation changes. In the rain, with wet pavement, and the occasional stream and gravel line crossing the road, make it pretty darned nasty. It was a great relief to get back on the smooth pavement of the Blue Ridge. I rode over the Linn Cove Viaduct in the spitting rain, which was a bit of a disappointment. I was hoping that the weather would be better, so that I could get a picture or 6.
Just south of the Linn Cove Viaduct is the exit for Linnville and Grandfather Mountain. At about 6:30 in the evening, I took that exit, and headed over to Grandfather Mountain.
Tune in to the next episode, where in Mat ends up on the top of a mountain in 60 mile an hour winds, clutching desperately at a camera tripod.