SUMMER SCRAM TRIP #4

“…it’s about the journey, not the destination …”

On Skyline Drive just above Sperryville VA.

        The hope Friday morning was that we could get up of the Skyline Drive and ride south. We were hoping that maybe we could even ride the Blue Ridge Parkway for 30 miles or so, before heading back to Woodstock. We got on the bikes and headed south on route 11 towards US 211, through Luray VA up to the Drive. Curtis took a look at the map and found a small road that “cut the corner” over to Luray, route 650. This proved to be a fun ride, with many twists and turns and changes in elevation. Right into the town of Luray. 

The clouds ahead looked very ominous. 

        US 211 from Luray is also a nice ride, particularly as the road narrowed and started to climb up the mountains. There are some sweepers and some more challenging curves with speed limits of 35, 25, or even 15 mph. Once up to the top we went through the entry station ( as senior citizens we both have lifetime passes, which I think I bought mine for $65. Up on the Drive we headed south. 

As we rode south we began to run into raindrops within minutes of getting up on the Drive.

        As we rode south I began to be concerned at the amount of dark clouds hovering over the Drive. After a couple of miles we pulled into an overlook to discuss the weather. Within 5 minutes raindrops began to fall. It was clear that if we rode south we would be riding into rain, perhaps heavy rain. Having done this over the years a few times we decided that perhaps the rain was moving west to east, and if we rode north we could ride out of it. 

30 minutes later, riding north, the rain caught up with us.

        We rode north, past the spot where we got up on Skyline Drive, for about 30 minutes and pulled over at another overlook to assess the situation. We were there less than 5 minutes before rain started to fall on us again! Okay, we get the point! We rode back south again to the spot where we got up on the drive and headed back down US 211 towards Luray. In the process of this we rode into some mild rain, but by Luray we were out of it. We went back to Woodstock, had lunch, and kept ourselves amused by watching videos. At least we got to ride a few miles that day! The next day we would be heading home.

One last look at the scenery from up on Skyline Drive before we would “run for shelter!”