DAY 9 STARTING UP THE BLUE RIDGE

Left this morning headed for Cherokee NC and the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Our route took us into Smokey Mountain National Park. After a quick lunch got on the very southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway and started north. We plan to ride the entire 460 mile length over the next few days. The parkway is a great motorcycle road, if I lived in this area I’d be on it all the time.

The road is probably 22 feet wide two way road, with limited access, no commercial development, and no truck traffic. It winds back and forth along the ridge lines so you always have a drop off to one side and a wall to the other except for the frequent scenic pull-outs. In most areas the trees will stop you if you go off the road as the forested areas are too thick to see into. During the first day we road thru a couple dozen tunnels some longer than others but all, repeat all, had a turn somewhere in the tunnel or were built on a curve so you couldn't’t see out the far end when you entered. The entire road has been posted 45 mph and the longest straight stretch so far was about the length of a football field. The traffic was very light and the few cars we came up on politely moved out of the way at the first opportunity so we could get on down the road wearing out the sides of the tires and dragging the sides of the bike.

I’m tired tonight from the ride but it is a good kind of tired and definitely not from boredom. You have to be alert and riding the bike the entire time no being complacent or lazy on this road. Once again we are not to far as the crow flies from where we stayed last night but a good days ride away.

Last night (Monday) we had a great Mexican food dinner, I’m not sure if it was great because it was across the parking lot, the food was good, or the fact that the beer was in an ice cold mug. Al asked us how many miles he had recorded so far and the answer was just north of 3000 miles. I then checked Google maps and found that we were actually 1800 miles from Phoenix by highway. Boy I like travelling this way, 3000 plus miles to get 1800 miles down the road, lots of interesting sights and people in between.

Stopped for the night in Mars Hill NC, we will be back on the Blue Ridge Parkway in the morning and headed northeast.

PS. road all day in shirt sleeves, like baby bears porridge not to hot, not to cold