“…it’s about the journey, not the destination …”
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| First day of the trip…the beautiful Shenandoah Valley in the background. |
Day 2 of the tip started with extremely cloudy skies. The vast majority of the rain had fallen over night so it was just a little damp. While we would run into a few “sprinkles” during the day we didn’t run into any serious rain. The objective was to get to the cabin before it got dark. Through out the day there was doubt we would be successful.
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| A view of Mount Mitchell which is right off the BRP. We couldn’t get there due to road closures from Hurricane Helene 2 years ago. |
We decided to ride I 80 south to VA 100 south, then to Hillsville VA where we would get on US 221 south. This we would take south west towards Asheville. There was some question of how we would get around Asheville, and navigate to the cabin, which was out in the country.
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| The Blue Ridge Parkway is a special, almost spiritual place….and a great place to ride motorcycles. |
When we hit US 221 we turned right heading south. From Hillsville to Galax it is a 4 lane highway and not the kind of road we like to drive. The 4 land road continued just past Baywood where it became a twisty 2 land road, just what we were looking for. We rode west out of Intependence VA on a wonderful 2 lane road. We were passing through the small town of Mouth of Wilson when I noticed that we were riding on US 58, instead of US 221. We stopped and looked at a map and saw that US 221 had gone south in the town of Independence. How to get back on track?
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| Curtis enjoying the tremendous view at an overlook on the BRP. |
A glance at the map showed VA 16 going south to Jefferson NC where we could pick up US 221 again. The result of this was that we had discovered a fantastic motorcycle road! Narrow 2 lane road with lots of twists and turn through beautiful countryside. This happens on our trips often, really adds to the fun. It’s like getting a tremendous present you were not expecting.
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| As we rode people often slowed down to look at Curtis’ bike…but not mine …a fella could get a complex ! |
We stopped for lunch in Boone NC, and then rode the BRP south from there. The exit for Boone is at mile marker 292. From there the Parkway was only open until mm 317. After that back on our old friend US 221 towards Asheville. We stopped at an overlook along and sat and chatted with a brother and sister who lived relatively close and were often up at that particular overlook. Wonderful people!
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| A magical moment…sunset at mm 428 on the Blue Ridge Parkway in 2016 …we’ve been doing this for a while! |
The last part of the day became somewhat stressful. We were beginning to run out of daylight. We got on US 70 in Marion NC and headed west ( west? It sure felt like south to me! ) where Curtis took the lead. We hit I 40 and rode that into Asheville. By the time there rush hour had started so traffic was a little heavy. Curtis took us west on I 40 to I 26 south. We got off on NC 280 to Brevard and then started to navigate to the cabin based on the directions given us by the cabin owner. There were some wrong twists and turns but Curtis got us there by 6:30. The “road” was gravel and steep! I rode up spinning my rear wheel several times in the soft gravel. Curtis made the wise decision to leave his bike at the bottom of the hill and walk up to the cabin where Gary was waiting for us. The most important thing is that we all arrived safe and sound…AND before dark! Gary had prepared a delicious dinner of spaghetti and a salad. Over dinner we discussed the plan for tomorrow. What adventures awaited us on Day 3?
Gary coming out to greet us as we arrived. He also cooked us dinner!
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