Fall Trip 2018- Day three!

"...its about the journey, not the destination..."

The view from the deck outside the restaurant at the Pisgah Inn. 

     Well....Ya' see day two (Thursday 9/27) was rainy, including some heavy downpours. Curtis and I decided to stay at this house day 2, and then leave early on day three (Friday 9/28) and ride to Brevard, North Carolina that day, where we would meet Curtis' brother Gary at our rented house.  SO...what we do is set a time to leave, and then get up 2 hours earlier. Believe it or not this usually works! I set my alarm for 6 AM and we both were up, packing. loading the bikes. After a great breakfast cooked by Curtis we set off around 8:15.

A "scenic overlook" on Interstate 26 in Tennessee just before the border with North Carolina.

     The distance from Curtis' house to Brevard was 482 miles, a full day. Because of this we would be riding Interstate highways pretty much all day. The strategy I use for this is to stop every 150 miles, and top off the tank with gas. All of our bikes have a much longer range than this, but the first gas stop, after about 2 1/2 hours breaks up the morning, and also gives you a chance to take off some of the riding gear since the day has usually warmed up. The second gas stop, again after about 150 miles, and about 300 miles into the trip, is also when we got lunch. The next gas stop comes after about another 2 1/2 hours,  or about 450 miles into the trip; in this case near Asheville North Carolina. At this point we were only about 40 miles away from our destination.

Gary, on the left, and Curtis on the deck at the Pisgah Inn just after we arrived.

     AS FAR AS OUR DESTINATION WAS CONCERNED... we decided since the weather was good we should meet Gary for dinner at the Pisgah Inn on Blue Ridge Parkway, which is about mile marker 408. AS THE SAYING GOES...."THE BEST LAID PLANS..." I decided to navigate to an entrance for the Blue Ridge Parkway that was just on the east side of Asheville. The result was an unplanned, and very circuitous route through Asheville, seeing much more of Asheville than we had planned! In addition we wasted 1/2 an hour. Good job Kenny!

The view from the restaurant at the Pisgah Inn, at the moment obscured by fog.

     Curtis led the way when we finally found the Blue Ridge Parkway out of Asheville, and around 20 miles later we arrived at the Pisgah Inn. What a really neat place! The walls of the restaurant are windows that look out over mountains stretching to the horizon. The food is GREAT!  The people that work there are very nice. We had a wonderful meal while gazing out the windows at the spectacular scenery.

Another look at the view, for the moment not blocked by fog. You get a hint of how spectacular it is on a sunny day.

     After dinner we rode south on the Blue Ridge Parkway until it intersected with US 276, which we took south towards Brevard NC. By this time it was dark, and I led as we wound our way down towards Brevard. This road is filled with 20 and 30 mph turns that, after dark, you just have to follow the markers in the road because your headlight doesn't go high enough to illuminate the corner. The ride down off of the mountain is a challenge, especially after dark, and there was no speeding. I generally did the speed limit, or just below it, and all three bikes arrived safely at the junction with US 64. A right turn onto US 64 and in about 3 miles was the dirt road leading to the house we had rented for the weekend. It was great to get the bikes unloaded and to settle in to our home for the next few days. Tomorrow I will explore the local back roads in the area.

All of the rooms at the Pisgah Inn face eastward with amazing views of the mountains stretching to the horizon.