NomadGal's Year on the Road

Thanks for liking some of my quotes! Haha, that's a new one for me...... Also thanks for the mushroom links, I will safe a bunch of the photos on my laptop so I can compare.
As far as my grandma, I don't think of death as most people do, I don't think we die at all actually. There are so many realities, created by choices, (schroedinger's cat) that I feel my grandma is still around somewhere and in my dream I accessed that somewhere. The funny thing is my mom told me after the dream that my grandma always wanted to learn how to ride a horse, but only got to try once, fell off and broke her leg. I never knew that about her! So now she is somewhere and actually gets to learn how to.

I will be spending the winter months in the southern states, so I'm sure I'll make it to NM at some point.
As far as my paintings go, I am going to have to keep them to myself seeing as they have to do with a lucid dreaming project I started.
Thanks for being with me on my journey

LOL, poor Pete! He didn't drop the bike at all at Allegheny Forest though!

Want to see what it looks like, post a pic will ya?
Heading south soon to North Carolina but enjoying staying with a friend here in Paris Virginia.
Thinking of doing a rally in Tennessee in October.

I've been on the road for 4 months now, and even though I am no closer in discovering what it is that I like to do to earn a living,
I am realizing in what kind of a setting I would like to find myself in at the end of my journey.
I have always liked the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and was in awe of Bilbao's Baggins' home Lands End.
It is only while riding and having my thoughts to myself while enjoying the beautiful scenery, that I realized that not only do I love the design,
but that this is the home I envision myself to be in one day.



I love the idea of being one with my surroundings, and not obtusely sticking out in nature. Also being under the dirt and grass insulates the house.
Cool in the summers, and warm in the winters.
The inside of the house is just awesome, very warm and homey.
I've learned construction, carpentry, dry-walling, tiling, electric, plumbing, you name it, so I can easily build my own home.
Not too sure how to build the arched wooden supports, but i"m sure I'll either find out or have someone help me do them.



So now here I am, while on my ride I am envisioning my future home with everything in and around it.


Saw this stove in a restaurant in Leland Michigan, and envisioned it in my home.


This sun or something similar on the right side of my front door, and I will either make or purchase it with the moon and stars on the top and other side of the door.

So during my ride I will "collect" items for in my new home, and work on creating my future.
I'm artistic by nature, and now I just need the belief that I can sustain myself by being creative. Like I said not sure doing what exactly, but it will come to me.

There are a couple houses similar to that which people have built.. I've always liked this one the best: http://www.simondale.net/house/

It's not exactly the same, but it encapsulates a sort of feeling that I like. :)

I will take photos of the bike and post them on my RR today, if the sky ever clears up.

I am heading out today to ride the Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway toward North Carolina.
Staying here in Paris with my new friends Maria and Stinger was awesome! Maria is a novelist and Stinger is a biologist who runs ITIS at the Smithsonian, so they are both very knowledgeable and Stinger is a little like me, adventurous and such. Maria is a lucid dreamer too, and we talked about dreams and reality. It is always nice to meet and be with other lucid dreamers. Had a lucid dream the first night I stayed here! Yay!
She has a little dog called Arthur, and I tell you, he is smart! It looks like a human is looking at you and not a dog. He looks a little like those Star Wars creatures.



They live on a mountain ridge in Paris and deer are a daily occurrence



Took a picture with the three of us and Spirit



Yesterday while Maria was having a massage in Middleburg, I walked around the little touristy town for a bit.


LOL!!!

I found this really cool store in which I saw yet another item for my hobbit home.
Can you guess what these are?



They are tabletops! Huge heavy Italian stone table tops that have been hand painted and lacquered . Absolutely awesome. The round circular ones in the back are 5 feet in diameter.

Found a few cool sayings printed on platters.





Maria is a great cook, and for two nights I felt spoiled! But I have to say, I do like my camp food meals. Found packages of Tasty Bite Indian food, that are very small and you only need to open them up, pour it in a pan and heat!

I PMed Ivuoqf978 who had listed his home and yard on the tent list and where I can camp in his forest on the Blue Mountain Ridge. Awesome!!!
The day is warm and I am packing Spirit in a moment, looking forward to riding again.

what are you plans near Asheville???

Sounds like you'll be right at home at our place after seeing the pictures. We have a little maltese and live in the mountains with plenty of deer too. Look forward to seeing you shortly

NomadGal, I am enjoying your report. I am also envious of your trip as well. You certainly have a knack for writing, Oh by the way, I dreamnt I met you gorilla camping at a great location, I was enjoying the morning sun while my wonderful wife was breaking camp (haha), You walked right over , introduced yourself , and then said " can I interest you in a solar charger?"

Oh thought I let you know we are having another FSSNOC rally in Spearsville, Louisiana October 11, 2012 so if your close by we love to have you come by

I have a friend who lives in Maggie Valley, who invited me to stay at their place. I would love to look you up however, and go for a ride. That area looks gorgeous!

LOL! That is really funny! Who knows it might come to pass!

Got to look at the map, where is Louisiana again?
Let me think about it, still waiting for GoalZero to put up there work locations list. These guys are really slow......

I said goodbye to Maria around 10:30 and rode to Front Royal to gas up and to hit the Skyline.
Of course I got a tad lost in Front Royal until I say a bunch of bikers coming from a certain direction. Stopped a another gas station where a few bikers were parked and asked them where the Shenandoah National Park was. As it turned out, I was almost there.


Found it!!!

Went through the booth in a jiffy seeing as I have a National Parks pass sticker right on my window.
I was excited to ride the skyline, but I have to admit a little disappointed. It was gorgeous all right, but they have made soooooo many pull offs or over looks that it kind of ruins the natural look of the road. The fact that you can only ride 35 Mph well....... guess getting to Roanoke would take me a tad longer than anticipated.
After a while of adhering to the speed limit I decided that this was driving me nuts! Hehe! Broke the law for a while and passed folks here and there. I also had the luck that I would be stuck behind someone for a while just as a park ranger would drive by. This happened three time! Yay!
Still I enjoyed the ride, and even found a new decal for Spirit.
Here are a few pics.



















I got to the end of the Skyline and and the road turned into the Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway.
Not only would I be able to ride a bit faster, this part of the road is so much prettier!
The leaves were turning and there were less turnoffs and more nature. Just beautiful!!









There were a lot of twists in the road, and somehow I felt that Spirit was a little wobbly. My front tire looked different. I did not remember the nobs in the center to be dented in. Somehow it looked like all the wide nobs had broken off. Hmmmm, guess I need a new front tire! Still, I could ride on it, so I figured I'd just take it easier in the curves.

At around 5:30 I realized that I started to get a little uncoordinated and groggy, and stopped at a restaurant in Otter Peaks to get a cup of coffee. Boy was I glad I did! As it turns out, Ivuoqf978, Tony, had come to meet me and as I was riding toward Roanoke I saw this biker coming toward me who held his hand up to wave. At first I thought he was just saying hi, but a little later I noticed him in my rear view mirror and figured it must be Tony.
There was nowhere to turn around so we rode in the wrong direction for a while before we could and headed to his place.


Following Tony

Well, what's the saying.... if I had know then what I know now?? Hahaha, I can see why I missed the turn off to his house, it was being hidden by a couple of cars. I had a bit of trouble going around the fence but once I had Tony said, "That was the hardest part, the rest is easy." I think I shall rephrase that, "That was the easiest part, the rest is hard!"
I did not know I could ride a trail like that with Spirit fully loaded. The trail was rocky as can be, and steep in places, dips in other places, and some big rocks to get around or over. The right side of the trail dropped way down, so I sort of hugged the left side. We met a few bicyclists on the trail which made me realize that this was a road, not a driveway. It made me wonder if there was an easier way back to the road. The trail seemed to last forever, and I felt at one point that I needed a break, but kept going. My rear side was skittish at times when I hit some of the bigger rocks, but all in all the Heidenau did great on the trail. There were a few times I thought I would wipe, but didn't. The last part up to his house was a sharp turn and steep up. I parked the bike and breathed! I did it!
I met his wonderful wife Sarah who is also a rider, and his cat Bob and dog Bella.
At first I was going to pitch the tent, but after that ride I realized that I had absolutely no energy left, and was glad that they offered me a room. We had dinner outside, and stayed up for a while and talked. It amazed me that such a young couple already had bought a home and actually had their acts together. I am such an airhead when it comes to life! Oy!
Their plan is to ride around the world together in a few years. It sounds awesome!
I slept like a baby and discovered that I actually have reception on my phone, so I turned on the Wifi on it and writing my ride report.
I have to adjust my chain today and check the oil again. It is a gorgeous warm and sunny day, and I'm wondering if I should head out or not, I would like to take a few pics of the trail, just as a reminder that I can do this.

I saw this house on the internet last year some time, when I was looking for any kind of architectural plans for an underground abode. I wasn't quite as serious about it then as I am now.
I did love that one, very natural, but I'm rather anal about stuff and like things to be esthetic as well as earthly.
I'm curious what I will end up with.

I feel truly blessed on my trip, and every day I realize more and more that nothing happened by chance.
I feel as if my life is unfolding as it should.
I am happy that I contacted Tony to see if I could use his tent space, not only did I meet two remarkable young people, but I also learned that I could ride rocky roads. (sorry, forgot about the pics, maybe I can ask Tony if he could take some the next time he feels the urge to ride it )
On top of their warm welcome I was also given a new front rim and tire by Tony, who likes to work on bikes, and ATVs. He has quite a few of them, some in one piece and some not so much, hehe!
He had a KLR650 I think an '07 that had the engine open, and Tony said it would be a while ere he got it fixed up.
Wow, what a difference, I thought all the shaking up front was because of the knobby tires, but I have knobbies on this rim too, and no shaking. I guess the rim was not entirely round anymore, or something. Going through the curves feels a lot more solid now too.
Sarah and Tony rode to Troutville with me and to the intersection of the parkway. I said goodbye to them, and hope we shall meet on the road again some day. Seeing as I had a really late start, I didn't want to ride for too long, and set my limit to 5:30 PM and some time after to find a campsite.
Here are some more pics of the Blue Ridge Parkway




A magical crossing into North Carolina, but seriously...... the border between the states goes diagonally?





I found a campsite very shortly after 5:30 and rode up to the booth. There were three motorbikes and guys there, talking to the park lady about sharing a site. When I saw that the campsite would be $16, I got bold and asked the guys if they would be willing to share the campsite with me, and I would pitch in. They looked at each other and for a sec I thought they might say no, but then they said sure.
We rode around the campsite a while, and the guys stopped at a spot between two other camps very steep and small, and I offered to go look around for a better spot. Haha, well, I hope I was not the only one who thought it was better! There was definitely more room and a bit more flat space. It was however very windy there too, but with a gorgeous night sky and sunrise in the morning. We pitched our tents and had dinner together.
They actually had names I could remember, Brian, Bruce and Craig.
I slept good that night, but as it turned out the guys didn't. I felt a tad guilty for having picked that spot, maybe if there had been less wind they might have been more comfy. We had breakfast together too, and broke up camp.




Craig and his bike


View from the campsite


Gorgeous sunrise


Bruce taking a picture of me as I was taking one of him


I took a photo of all three, but then my camera froze. I didn't realize until I downloaded my pictures that the photo of them was missing. I did take a few other ones of the camp and them, missing Brian though.
I rode toward Asheville after saying goodbye. Somehow I thought it would be a short day, but boy was I ever wrong!
I think if I had been on the road alone, it would have been faster, but some folks really drive slow on the Parkway, and there are not that many safe places to pass. Still, after resigning myself occasionally that I wasn't going to go any faster, I took the liberty of taking a few more pics.




Spirit in all his/her glory! I think Spirit belongs to the mountains, it is there s/he rides best










Was about 5, 300 or so feet high when I took this photo





I got to Asheville around 3 and ate some fires at McDonalds while checking my email and contacting Fred's cousin Guy. I left again at 4 and took the Parkway again, even though the highway would have been way faster. I don't regret it though! awesome scenery curve after curve. It takes your breath away!
Took a few more pics, but was slowly turning into a popsicle, it was COLD! Brrrrrr.








Saw a young couple on the over look, and the girl took a picture of me. They had a license plate game, and he won seeing as he was the first to notice my Hawaii license plate

Was glad to see the turnoff for Maggie Valley and found Guy's home no problem.
Guy is a bear of a guy, and very sweet. He made me feel really welcome and went out of his way to clear the yard and set up a fire place etc. I even got my own coffee machine for in the morning.
I pitched up the tent and ate, but the weather was getting too chilly for me to stay outside, so here I am in my tent, cozy and warm writing my RR.

It's the next morning, September 24th.
I slept pretty good but would wake up when my hat slipped off, or my hand got outside the sleeping bag.
Opened my laptop early in the morning to see what the temperature was here in Maggie Valley...........
32 degrees!!!! OMG! I'm glad I decided to put my fleece liner in my sleeping bag, it's a pain to turn around in it, but it does keep me warm.
Got up real quick, took the coffee machine into my tent, plugged her in (my gracious host ran an electric cord to my tent!) and crawled back into my sleeping bag.
I came up with a great idea, the drawstrings of the bag are tightened above my boobs, so I am wearing it like a dress, my fleece pants draped over my shoulders.
I am snug as a bug in my tent writing my RR, waiting for the sun to come up and warm up the day.
Going to change my oil today, Spirit lets me know when it's time, she makes more noise when the oil is old, and she burns it fast too.

yup nomadgal im very interested in how your going to deal with the winter this year

I look forward to your reports...great stuff

Well, I think last night qualified as winter!
The solution to the cold is going South! heading to Florida slowly...

Glad you like my adventure, thanks for joining me in it