Day Eleven: The Ride through the Blue Ridge Mountains

Day Eleven: The Ride through the Blue Ridge Mountains

Sorry for the delay... the network was down at our hotel in Manassas, so I'm a bit behind....

We left Cherokee, NC on Monday and began our two day trek through the Blue Ridge Mountains. One of the first signs I saw when we entered the Blue Ridge Parkway read, "CAUTION: Steep, winding mountain road next 35 miles." My stomach pit, lurched and I took a huge deep breath.

There are numerous overlooks all along the parkway - perfect photo opportunities - including the highest spot on the parkway at 6053 ft. I did most of my clicking from the back of the bike with great results.


As we climbed higher and higher, the word of the day was undoubtedly "wow", often spoken in an awe-inspired hush as we  gasped at the majesty of the sites we saw. At one point, near Craggy Ridge, the entire mountain was enveloped in a cloud, a palette of grays and whites with ghostly wisps dancing across the roadway. It was like riding in a dream.

To the left, the sky behind the towering evergreens was as white as snow. To the right, as we neared and rounded the curve, it was a tranquil blue, and changed again as we rode around the next bend. The constant change was amazing.

We had lunch at Mount Mitchell State Park (elevation 6,684). As we sat, we watched the entire mountain disappear into the fog before our eyes. It rained for about five minutes and then the mountain began to slowly fade back into view. It was like watching a nature movie over lunch.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is one of the favorite rides of motorcycle enthusiasts, and was the ride Jason was waiting to do on this trip. The postcard we got for Zander was a vintage 40's style illustration of a motorcyclist riding on the Parkway. There were SO MANY bikes on the ride! It was very cool to see.  One of the very cool things about bikers is that they salute each other as they pass... a wave, a few fingers, a head nod. Regardless of what state,road, highway or byway we've travelled, that is a constant.

The day ended in a small Virginia town named Galax. Leveraging Jason's affection for Star Wars, I referred to it as "A Galax far, far away....."  It got more than a few chuckles.

We had dinner at a local restaurant called Macabos which featured an amazing menu of really cool sandwiches, burgers and the like. We each had a dinner named appropriately for our personalities. Jason had "The Lone Ranger", a corned beef, hot pastrami, melted swiss and cole slaw on an everything bagel. He said it was great. For me, it was the "Ricochet Rabbit" - since Jason says that's who I remind him of when I wake up ready to bing bing bing go first thing in the morning - turkey, swiss, chicken breast, lettuce, tomato and mayo on a plain bagel. Also terrific.

After dinner, it was back to the hotel for a good night sleep and Day Two of the Blue Ridge in the morning.