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Sunday, April 5, 09, I joined a couple on a yellow Gold Wing (long-time friends, going back 30 years), on a tour of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. The roads were outstanding; once off I-81, US 340, and US 11, those backroads are terrific, empty, and quite scenic. Late March/early April is a good time to get out and ride the mid-Atlantic States, weather permitting (and it can be quite changeable around here). On the way back, we took the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, north to Front Royal, the northern end of the Drive. Below is a picture of me and my Venture, taken by my friend Dan from his Gold Wing. He pointed the camera backward and got this shot, as well as many others. http://i570.photobucket.com/albums/ss146/gssuzukiguy/Nick_April5_04-Copy.jpg?t=1239456081
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A friend and I just completed one of the most spectacular trips that I have been on, and it was in my backyard. We started at Front Royal,Va and rode the 105 miles of the Shenandoah National Park. The Shenandoah National Park (Skyline Drive) ends and the Blue Ridge Parkway begins. We rode the 469 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway from beginning to end. The Parkway ends in Cherokee, NC. We then rode to the Dragon. Although, I was at Vogel and the Dragon in August with VentureRiders, and even though, I have been riding the Parkway for years, it is the first time that I have ridden from the Shenandoah and completely through the Blue Ridge on a single trip. We ended up doing over 700 miles of nothing but mountain roads in 4 days and a total of 1300 miles in 6 days. You can easily ride the Shenandoah and the Blue Ridge in 3 days. We took our time and stopped at a lot of overlooks. The scenery was spectacular. The weather was great. We ran into rain on the last day when we returning home. The wildlife was great. We saw dozens of deer, scores of turkeys, several hawks, and even 2 black bear at 2 different times. One of the bears was on the shoulder of the road. The other bear was in the road. We were not even sure that it was going to run away to begin with,but it did. I have been going to the Blue Ridge since I was a kid, and have never seen a Black Bear there. How lucky can you get to see 2 of them on the same trip. Everything about the trip was great. We met lots of great people on motorcycles along the way. If you want a spectacular and memorable trip, I strongly recommend this route. It gave me a different perspective of my own backyard. Now for my Harley riding, high school friend;Bruce. He is retired Air Force and lives in Dover,De. He has owned his Harley for 4 years, and this was his first trip that he has taken on it without towing it in it's enclosed trailer. He found out that it is much more enjoyable to ride your bike than to tow it. I think I have him hooked on riding it now. The farthest he had ridden on any trip before this was 300 miles, and that was only once. Now I have to teach him how to pack. As you can see by the pictures, he had the trunk and both saddlebags packed, the trunk rack packed, a bag on the passenger seat, and then bags stacked on them. This was for a 6 day trip. All the bikers poked fun at him for bringing so much stuff. We got ask several times where we were camping at. I would be laughing while he explained we were not camping. We stayed at a motel every night. I would grab my Beer 30 made trunk bag and go into the motel room. I had one saddle bag empty and an empty bag on my trunk rack. He had to get a cart every night to haul his stuff in the room. And I got to sleep until he got his bike loaded every morning. But hey, the rookie had to learn, and he did. All the razzing aside, we had a great trip and I highly recommend this route to you. And one final note. The dam in the picture is Fugitive Dam in NC. That is where Harrison Ford did the swan dive while Tommy Lee Jones was holding a gun on him in the movie The Fugitive.
