Appalachian Trail Dual Sport Tour

[Gaston Gagne]

Disclaimer: this aint the whole ME to GA shebang. I would love to do it if someone would work up the northern half.

On many of my rides, I find myself seeing the white rectangle guiding hikers between Georgia and Maine, and it's always in some great location. That's the idea of the trail.

Well, Layla was heading off to school, and the last business day before she left, she determined that she had a bad ball joint/control arm. Rut roh. We have a problem. Some quick thinking and I had a plan. This summarizes our relationship: she crawls under the car and figures out what needs to get done, and I figure out how to turn it into a motorcycle ride.

So here's the plan: I take her and her DRZ 400 to UVA and drop her off. Oh yeah, I had my bike too, so I could stop on the way back and do some riding. Then I would drive her repaired car back to Charlottesville and ride the DRZ back home sticking as close to the footpath as possible.

I spent so much time poring over Delorme's Atlas of Virginia that I was seeing red lines on a green background in my sleep.

Let's git it started:

Saturday we visited Monticello. As a public school teacher, I have always been a fan of Thomas Jefferson. TJ speaks to us through the mists of time. We spent 5 hours there. It's worth a visit.




Good flower sniffing there. TJ was down with plants.








Sunday, Layla implored me to find my own thing to do as she had a lot of studying to do. They are giving her a lot of physics to do.

So I headed out to Rockfish Gap to do a little bit of reconnaissance.




My dad and I whiled away a few days in this area some years back. You can't really go wrong in Sherando. This brings up another point: do federal employees take some kind of oath of ignorance? The Parkway information center lady told me that the nearest gas is on Rte 56 near Wintergreen. Luckily, this fellow rider overheard the conversation and told me that I can buy gas, biscuits and guns in Sherando.




Big Levels. Nice road. I came across a gaggle of teenagers waaaay out in the middle of this run. No adults to be seen, no means of getting there. "Oh my God, it's like, a guy on a dirt bike." I also passed a DS group going the other way.




This dumps you out on the Parkway. I didn't do any of the side trails. Someday, maybe. So I rode the Parkway to 814 and on down to VA 56, one of the greatest stretches of pavement anywhere.




Crabtree Meadows







Shoe Creek rocks!




FR 63 is a smooth screamer road. Super fun and beautiful. At the pass, I made a right and chased down a bunch of roads that started to get sketchy. The erosion bar/tank trap dichotomy was a real question out here. I got to the top of the mountain with some towers. No real view, but it was a nice place to eat lunch.

These are like little bombs.




The explosion. More claws, too.




It was getting pretty dark, so I hightailed it to the Parkway. I rode in the rain for about 2 minutes when the Montebello store appeared. Timing is everything. I enjoyed to company of this fellow from Waynesboro who was rather vocal about the virtues of his 650 Burgman.




I wonder if there's a retail establishment where I can get some of these fine looking fruit.




Yes there is.




The idea of some peaches and ice cream was setting off all kinds of internal alarms, but I had a social engagement to attend.

But first I need a shower. I'm scamming floor space and shower facilities in a women's dormitory, so when in Rome...




One of Layla's colleagues took it upon himself to throw down a fajita cookoff. We brought peaches.




Tomorrow morning, we hit the road and go cross country.

[wachs]

Nice - TJ truly does speak to us through time.

[Gaston Gagne]

I was on the way at 6:15. Layla saw me off.



Holy smokes, what a house. The barn is just as impressive.




After a brief stop at Harris Teeter, I made it to the Parkway by 7:15. I forewent the Big Levels run this morning as I had to get down the road. I wanted to get as far as Dual Sport Mountain.






The AT drops down into the Tye valley, so I will to.








One of those pesky white rectangles. Another disclaimer. I never set a wheel on the AT except where it runs on motoring roads.










From the pass on FR 63, I took FR 48 and wended my way down to US 60. There is a stop sign without much warning and the road is really steep. I nearly went through it. I ran 60 over to FR 39 for some more nice groomed gravel action, but keep your eye on the road! There are rock protrusions. FR 311 takes you to Parkway but you can't get on right there. I made a chain adjustment here.

Cruise the Parkway up to the Peaks of Otter.




Off the Parkway to head down to North Creek and Buchanan cause I need some gas.







Some dismiss these as ditch weeds.







I run down 43 to Buchanan proper and then up VA 43 to the Parkway. What a road! I'm hot on the trail.



You leap frog with the AT on the Parkway until US 460. Yuk, busy 4 lane, but you gotta go that way to get to Mountain Pass Road. I tried not to get any of it on me. Here is the intersection from Mountain Pass Road.



I'm in the Roanoke sphere of influence, and it is hot as blue blazes. Shade is in short supply. Mountain Pass drops you out in Daleville for another sip of I-81 gas.

[CaveDave]

Nice! Looking forward to the rest of this ride! Your flower pictures are wonderful, BTW.

[GB]

Fantastic Looking forward to the rest of the adventure.

[Lucky Intervale]

If you saw the DualSport Mtn post, you know Gaston is a wiz with the ride planning, so I decided to ride up from the Morg. to meet him at Cowboys. Now I should have taken some pics on the way, but little did I know about the chain issues he was having... plus it was only 50 degrees heading through Banner Elk... in July! I spent big time on the beads (Thanks KyBanjo!) so pics were lacking. The day turned out to be 290 miles, and we proved that a wee can indeed do the gravel. Here's Darth from last summer in Acadia... it's prettier there than my driveway.

[Lucky Intervale]

Back in the South... I did the usual route up through Mountain City and Shady Valley... 133 is the heater, and my lack of pictures is just one more excuse to return! What a spectacular section of slab... Arrived in Damascus ahead of Gaston. What to do... what to do... OH, I can go for a RIDE! The loops between 58 and 91 are beyond excellent. Like Sussex County NJ 50 years ago... I highly recommend 717 and 803... When I got back, it was some Little Debbie's blackberry pies, then off to the races!

[Lucky Intervale]

But not before an explanation of the chain situation, and some vivid descriptions of the parkway at dawn... complete with gesticulation and in between bites of bagel, of course!

[Lucky Intervale]

We took a little break on yet more of VA's LEGAL gravel byways... "Messrs. Gagne and Intervale? Right this way please..."

[Lucky Intervale]

Or this way if you're so inclined! I will say this... while I love the Givi windscreen for the road, it's a little high for off road as it cuts my line of sight... which is why the stock shorty awaits in the garage!

[Lucky Intervale]

Panhandle is also a fantastic bit of gravel/dirt... and I rode it as far as I could before having to egress while Gaston took the black diamond route back to the slab. I'm sure someone could ride a Wee down that jeep road, but it ain't me, and it ain't gonna be my bike! Plus I need the practice on the dirt/gravel keeping some speed (Note to self: "look farther ahead... don't freak out, don't freak out..."). But before turning around, and with some encouragement from GG who sussed the line, we sallied up a tricky little spur that was well worth the effort... You can jusstttt see Grandfather on the horizon.

[Lucky Intervale]

And into Tennessee if you angle down a bit.

[Lucky Intervale]

The rest of the day was a mad mix of farm, forest, paved, and (gag) traffic as we headed over the Wautauga and back into NC. It was a lonnggg day but so so worth it. Plus it's not like I have to go to work 'til, umm, AUGUST!
Stay tuned for our next installment of the SW Virginia Chronicles... coming to a blog near you as soon as next Wed.! Cheers y'all!

[PistonPants]

Very nice! But I'm a bit suspect of the pink bathrobe after all the flower pics. Where's the grease under fingernails and Budweiser? Huh? Give Layla a big squeeze from me when you get done borrowing her scoot!

Peace

Piston

[BlueBuell]

Most excellent dude! I can't wait to get to North Carolina this fall.
Cheers