Lobsters to Llamas, Maritimes to Argentina

[Kedgi]

That first night after Karen and Rolands I camped at Loft Mountain Campground on Shenandoah Skyline Drive. Beautiful Campground, Nearly empty this time of year. It seemed funny when the weather was almost Summer like. Here is my little tent






I made Supper, such as it was












Enjoyed the Sunset







And went to bed

[Kedgi]

The next morning I got up in the dark, walked to the washroom with a little headlamp on and walked to within 5 feet of seven deer. I could see all these sets of eyes staring at me, Bright yellow spot lights in the dark, and a couple rabbits scurrying about too. The campground is busy early in the morning while other campers sleep. I reached for my camera, dammit! in the tent. I went back, got it, but by the time I got back there were only two deer left. When I took this picture all I could see was eyes shining. The camera makes it much brighter than it was and almost ghostly





Here is what I could see. See the eyes?

[Kedgi]

After coffee at the campground








I rode into Waynesboro, VA the next morning, had breakfast at Mickey D's. I know it's not good for you but I like Egg McMuffins

Then I rode the Blue Ride Parkway all day. Stopped by the Roanoke Star to admire the view of beautiful Downtown Roanoake and take this self portrait at the Star









I stopped for the night at Rocky Knob Campground.

Just as dusk was falling another Adv Rider, Julia from Brooklyn , NY pulled in northbound after a long ride on the Parkway from Asheville, NC

Julia



After she got her tent set up she came over for a visit and we had a nice chat about traveling, rock climbing, Julia's passion, motorcycling in general but more specifically Julia told me she rents a space for her bike in Brooklyn a guy had the foresight to buy or lease a building and rent spaces to store bikes, complete with a shop a bike stand etc. What a good idea in a big city where storage is always at a premium. In general we had a very pleasant time and it sure broke up the boredom of a long night and I mean long when it's dark just after 6pm

Here's Julia the next morning on her DR 650 Suzuki. She put 10,000 miles on this bike this year

[Kedgi]

Tonight, a week after leaving home I'm in Asheville, NC

I left Rocky Knob Campground this morning and I wasn't exactly hurring or dilly dallying but I was determined to get to Asheville in time to find a place, a Campground with a shower, since Rocky Knob lacked one and I had skipped the prcess of going to the Campground store to arrange for a shower the day before in Mountain Loft.

As you drive south the mountains get higher and more impressive. I took a few photos but they really don't do the scenery justice.

[Kedgi]

I arrived in Asheville around 4:30PM. The sadistic bastard GPS took me down Town, Mountain Road, where I followed a pickup truck from Georgia who was no doubt following his GPS at 20 miles an hour for 10 miles. Then I followed my GPS to seven Campgrounds, none of which were of course Campgrounds. Some were office buildings downtown, some were non descript building near town, some were residences in extremely nice neighborhoods on steep hillsides that are a bitch to turn a loaded KLR around in. Some don't allow tents, and some are trailer parks....I think that covers it. I just about got run over twice by cars that would rather force you off the road than let you merge when your lane is ending without any warning, The usual fun stuff in a new place complicated by a GPS that had no clue where a Campground was,

As the sun set I realized that, on my 4th pass down Charlotte Street (Asheville's busiest street) That I had lost the opportunity to set up camp on any sort of timely basis. I gave up on cooking my own meal and ate at Arbys, where I asked, Where is a campground that allows tents?

Oh! Right up the road two miles on the right. ......NFW is there a campground right up the road two mile from Arby's in Asheville NC People will tell you anything, if they don't know. I had this problem before in Albany, NY.

I asked someone else. They said the nearest campground up that road was a KOA some 40 miles away.

I decided to get gas. I had gone on reserve while looking. I asked the fine young gentleman at the Shell station if there was a campground in town that allowed tents. He shrugged and muttered something, while someone else screamed , HEY BUDDY HEY BUDDY HEY BUDDY HEY BUDDY AND THEN FINALLY........ YOUR BIKE FELL OVER. WTF, Why didn't he say that in the first place?

Not much damage, I blame my self, I was tired of searching for what now was and hour and a half for a campground. I either left the bike in neutral and it rolled ahead on the slight slope at the pumps or I didn't put the stand down right.No big deal, all that happened was my newly re-inforced saddle bag frame bent a bit instaed of breaking and it might make it tough to get the seat off in a hurry.

Here's the bike at the pump and I now notice the side stand is still in place. The side stands on KLR are too damn tall. You constantly have to be careful where you park the things and in my tired, somewhat exasperated state, it fell over.

[Kedgi]

A Kind gentleman from inside the store helped me lift the bike. He was a customer and had far more manners than the employees. In any case. I gave up after that, I knew there was a showerless campground 12 miles down the Parkway and I headed for it.

Then, I remembered I had to call Angele at home, or at least I should call Angele at home. I had not called all day as I had figured I would find a campground with a shower, email etc and call home. I stopped to call. because the campgrounds on the Parkway do not have cell phone access. She Googled Campgrounds and found one 13 miles away that had showers.....$35/night for a tent. I had passed Motel 6 in my search....$45 dollars a night and I needed a shower. Guess where I went!

Here's what I looked like on my arrival. It's a wonder they rented me a room.






So now, I've showered, done laundry, which is at the Motel...A BONUS! and I've updated my ride report.

Stay tuned!

May camp again tomorrow. I'll update when I can

[rtwpaul]

your RR is great, but make your photos bigger, put them on at XL, i checked them out on smugmug and they are good, let people see the detail

i'm hanging out in Guate waiting on drinking partners...get a move on

[Kedgi]

Originally Posted by rtwpaul

your RR is great, but make your photos bigger, put them on at XL, i checked them out on smugmug and they are good, let people see the detail

i'm hanging out in Guate waiting on drinking partners...get a move on

Hi Paul

I slept about 6 hours and now I'm trying to figure out what's next. I've got two more days of good weather then a rainy one I will likely take as a day off. I see the Biltmore Estate is in Asheville. Might even check that out. By the time I get to Guate, I'll be ready, willing and able to be a drinking buddy.

[EvilClown]

Originally Posted by Kedgi

...He said a lot of people there want to see where you live...

Good idea. Think this would be a better choice. Some will be shocked to see snow let alone that much snow.

Originally Posted by Kedgi

Glad to see you're on the road!

[Kedgi]

I researched the Biltmore Estate

$49.00 for a self guided tour.......or the KLR is already full of gas and I can go riding in the mountains on a nice day instead....

Stay tuned more to follow.

It may be a few days before another update. Forecast is for 24C here today, Nice again tomorrow and then the temperature rapidly drops off. I intend to do the rest of the Parkway today. Head south tomorrow and get down were it's warm.

[Kedgi]

Here is a large sized photo of the Mabry Mill on the Blue Ridge Parkway that I forgot to post last night.

[Kedgi]

Here is the damage to my panniers


Pannier frame is squished in a bit here





You can see the right side bag is a little askew but quite functional.



The rear view

[Kedgi]

The panniers are a minor problem. I'm working on the ride report while i wait for it to warm up and I'm skillfully avoiding the real problem.

Where does all this gear go back on the bike?

Sad part is I have used everything I brought except for a pair of jeans, my tools and spare parts, and a water purifier I will need later When you ride down from the cold North and you camp too, you need a lot of gear

[Kedgi]

One small glitch today. I lost the little bright green or yellow, camel pack I had. You can see it in the pictures I last posted...rats!. I think I set it on my pack on my bike's back rack while I was talking to a guy at a Dairy Queen today. I wrote down the information about how to see this forum, for him and I forgot to put the camel pack back on my back. By the time I noticed I didn't have it, I was 60 miles or more away. Then I wondered if I had set that pack on the back of my bike when I stopped to take off a layer as I came out of the mountains, that was only 15 or 20 minutes back and I went back, but no pack. I stopped at a Walmart and replaced it with one I don't like as much but I can still drink water on the fly and at least I lost it where I could replace it.

I had a wonderful ride through the final 80 miles of the Parkway which in my opinion are some of the most spectacular. Lots of tunnels which a difficult for me on the bike, I don''t know about anyone else but I hate losing all my peripheral vision. I feel really shaky and have a hard time balancing.

[Kedgi]

A few pictures from today on the Southern Blue Ridge Parkway

I could not have ordered any better weather for the entire length of the Shenandoah Skyline Drive and the BRP

Here's the bike at the top



And a couple final shots of the BRP which cannot do these majestic mountains justice