The temp for Saturday morning, 10-4-14 at 7:30 a.m. was 42 with a high of 61, then factor in some high speed running, some higher elevations and a nice healthy wind makes you realize it is now time to shift gears and don the heavier, warmer clothing for today's ride. That is just what I did Friday night. Pulled out the Chaps (pronounced "Shaps" because it is Spanish), install the insulation flaps, dig out the warm winter coat, the neck scarf, and connect the heated gloves to the power outlet.
I left the house at 7:30 to ride about 20 miles to exit 407 on I-40 for the meet-up point at McDs. This ride was with a cruiser club. In other words, larger bikes, not the high pitched whine of street bikes. There were 6 bikes with 2 bikes riding 2 up (2 people on a bike), one of the bikes was a trike. I only knew the leader and the BMW Trike rider and his wife. After a quick breakfast Taco and coffee we mounted our trusty steeds and pulled out on I-40 East bound heading for Newport, TN where we would exit the interstate and ride the slower paced two lane back roads.
The air was crisp this morning and my poor finger circulation sure were enjoying those heated gloves. One of the best buys I've ever made.
The sun was out brightly shining this morning with the blue sky in the background making it a lovely morning. And the sun helped with the chill in the air also.
As I have mentioned in articles before, I do think I-40 between Nashville, TN and Ashville, NC is one of the prettiest interstate highways in the U.S. Here we are heading toward NC and you can see the Smoky Mountains on the horizon.
At Newport we met up with a couple of attending bikers which rounded our number to 8 bikes. We now had 2 women riding solo, one on a pink and while pearl painted Harley and the other on a sleek black Suzuki. The Suzie rider does about 10K to 15K miles per year. Now that's not a bad amount of seat time for anyone. Dan Harvey, the leader, rides the yellow and black HD in the back ground. The red trike in the foreground is the BMW.
From Newport we hit some good two lane highways heading northeast to wind up at Spruce Pine, NC at their local Hardee's for lunch. I was riding fourth from the front with four bikes behind me.
You have a little more adrenaline rush when you start seeing the mountains in getting closer. And out here the air is just so fresh. No farm smells to tease your nostrils, no barking dogs, just you and your friends riding along with the sound of motorcycles to listen to.
Big sweeping curves and a road almost void of traffic. How much better can it get for a good ride that allows some time to view the country side without oncoming vehicles to contend with.
In several places along this route an ornamental grass was planted along the highway. Resembled Pampas Grass but much more delicate and not in clumps. More like ornamental grasses you would plant in a flower garden. It was pretty waving in the brisk morning air.
One small town we passed through was having some kind of small festival along with a flea market. I don't know who in this world would want to buy fleas, but flea markets are plentiful in TN, NC, and AL. We always tried to get them off our dogs and I've never seen a flea circus.
We were riding in a valley but every once in a while you would see a tree that was starting to change color. It is really funny because you can see a tree that is totally green except in one or two places the leaves have turned red, not the whole tree.
The clouds were high and whispy today, sort of like you would sweep some white sand with a broom. They really stood out against the blue sky.
The closer we got to the mountains the more the roads twisted and turned, passing along the farms or garden patches, the houses that were scattered about, more or less following a path from one settlement to another.
We finally arrived in Spruce Pine and stopped for lunch. This was the slowest fast food place I've ever been to. Dan says they've stop here several times before but it was never this slow.
After lunch we mounted up again to ride next door to gas up. Carla's pink HD wouldn't start. So several of us, who had already gassed up, rode back over to help push her to get it started. Dan had stayed with her until we returned. It cranked up, she rode it to the station, killed it to gas up and then we push started her again. From then on it cranked every time we stopped. Electrical gremlins, don't you just love them?
Once on the Blue Ridge Parkway we just fell in the groove, 45 mph or less, leaning into the curves, looking at the foliage and watching for critters that might jump out in front of you. Or in some cases, I've heard, actually jump on you, mostly deer.
You can be a scientist, or an atheist, but there has never been a man that could or can make a scene look like this other than on a canvas. Not even Photo Shop can do this without something to start from.
As we rode we could see more and more foliage starting to turn and the leaves along the roadside were indications this had recently started. My camera did not pick up the color in the leaves as I thought it would. I guess it was because the light was so bright that it washed out the soft leaf color.
We are about to enter the first of many tunnels on the Blue Ridge Parkway. In fact, one area had three tunnels with a sign giving the tunnel name; XXXXX No. 1, then No. 2, and finally No. 3. And these tunnels usually don't have any kind of lighting in them. There's a sign on each end alerting you to Turn On Your Lights and on the opposite end it will display a sign telling you to Check Your Lights. I've seen 3 people injured trying to get off their bikes and out of their cars to check their lights.
Here's another tunnel that is being entered. They resemble a giant mouth about to swallow you up.
These are not lights on the sidewalls of the tunnel but reflectors glowing from your own lights. Just imagine going into one of these that is curved, as many are, and have no lights. All of a sudden you feel and hear a scraping sound as your vehicle/you grind along the wall until you exit the tunnel. If you're lucky to exit.
I have ridden and driven up and down the Blue Ridge many times and never seem to get tired of it. Since there are very few amenities actually on the BR you need to watch your gas mileage carefully and by all means, bring some water and snacks.
The Blue Ridge Parkway is nearly 500 miles from end to end. There are several lodges, campgrounds, restaurants and service stations along the route but they are sparsely spaced. And in the winter most of the BR is closed due to ice and snow. Another good thing is there are no commercial vehicles allowed on this road except service vehicles delivering to those few places you can purchase things. But that does not mean there is no traffic. Starting this month, there will be a steady line of cars, motorcycles, bicyclists and hikers traveling in both directions. And since it is a two lane highway, with a slow speed limit, traffic can become an issue. So if you're looking for the fastest route, this is not it.
It seems the Sweet Gums and Maples are among the first trees to start turning and close are the Oaks and Hickory trees. A lot also depends on the exposure of the tree's limbs. Often you can see one whole side of a tree that has changed color but the other side is only just changing. Mother Nature has it under control so I just look at it with great appreciation. Natural beauty, no make-up, no eye shadow, no lip gloss, etc., just bare beauty.
There are a lot of places to pull off and take a break, take a short hike or just stop to admire the surroundings. Or swig down a soda and munch on some chips or health food bar. Whatever your pleasure as long as it's not to spend the night. Sleeping only in lodges or campgrounds.
We were getting near to a rest stop and thank goodness for my camera's battery had been drained. I guess my finger was too active on that button. But the nice thing about digital cameras, it cost the same to take 100 shots as it does to take 10. So I shoot a lot as I'm not able to stop and focus each shot or have it at the right angle while riding. Therefore, at the end of the ride I just upload them and then discard what I don't like or that are blurry.
We pulled off the Blue Ridge and up a steep winding road that passed a lodge, a restaurant, a General Store and a campground to finally end up at a large viewing spot near the top of Mt. Mitchell State Park. Mt. Mitchell is the highest or one of the highest points on the Blue Ridge. Dan is the big guy in front of the yellow and black HD. He must be 6'6" or taller and could have played tackle on a football team.
As a biker friend says, "This is the Million Dollar Shot". Sweet Thang with the Smoky Mountains in the background.
I really like this shot which shows the mountains in the background, the evergreen trees in between and the split rail fence. A little nostalgic and very peaceful.
From our gathering site in the parking lot I looked up at the very top portion of Mt. Mitchell at the shiny bare trees and realized, these trees are dead and they shine because that's ice on them. A little later we rode back down to the BR and Dan pointed out some 6" icicles hanging from the rocks on the side of the road. They were on the shady side therefore the sun had not melted them yet.
While at this point the wind was coming out of the north at about 35 mph. And believe me when I say it was rather icy, it was rather icy. We were also worried that wind gusts might blow over a bike as you can't always park them so the front is in the wind and parked with the side is equivalent to holding up a billboard. They catch more wind than you would think.
Back down on the BR we continued south towards Cherokee, NC. But due to our slow fast food and our stop at Mt. Mitchell we were running behind schedule. Our original plan was to continue to Cherokee and then ride across the mountain to Gatlinburg to disband. But now we changed the plans and was going to drop off the BR at the Waynesville, NC exit point, ride U.S. 276 over to I-40 and then boogie back towards Knoxville with some dropping off here and some there along the way.
Coming down from Mt. Mitchell, just love those old split rail fences and darned glad that I didn't have to do the splitting.
Smoky is their name, picturesque is their game. And today they were definitely both.
I am taking photographic privileges with this picture and call it "Sweeping Color". Eerie but has a nice effect to it.
Back on the BR continuing our journey.
Up close and personal you can really see where the pine beetles have taken their toll on the trees. No they have beetles attacking several varieties of hardwoods. Darn bugs, just seem to devastate our forests.
Here you can see some coloring off in the distance on the mountain sides.
And there are a lot of places where there are no guardrails on the steep side and no need for them on the rock side. It will be a hard landing either way if you get careless.
I've always heard that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Well, it certainly caught my eye and I'm beholding to it.
No, that's not some Indian smoke signal, just a puffy while cloud momentarily sitting over the top of that near mountain. This was the last picture before we left the BR. From this point on we just rode, especially after we hit the interstate which is very winding among the mountains as it gets close to the NC - TN state line. Sweeper curves but lots of trucks. Just throttle up and keep your eyes alert for errors in judgement and John Law. Not that I would break it, too much.
Thus ended the day with almost 12 hours of fun from the time I left until the time I returned racking up 333 miles door to door. It was indeed a hoot. Great folks, great scenery, and great fun sharing. So, until the next Valkyrie Adventure, be nice, it's way better than being nasty. Be safe.
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