Chris' Ramblings

- Prologue -

With last year’s ride to Eureka Springs Arkansas fading into distant memory, it was time to hatch a plan for a summer getaway for 2009. Initially I had planned to go to Colorado for the Sport-Touring.net National meet in Gunnison Colorado.  However, my boss had a different plan. I got canned from my job at the end of March, so while I’d have plenty of time to make the trip I was concerned about spending that kind of dough to head across the country for selfish reasons. Enter Robert. A local riding partner, Robert had told me last year that he would like to take a trip down the entire length of Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. His plan was to camp the whole way because this would not only add to the enjoyment of the trip, but it would also cut down on the cost considerably. Always looking for a bargain I was in. Now to round out the riders. We sent out feelers to Jerry and Scott but both had no vacation time from work and would not be able to go. Scott did say he would be able to meet us on Friday night and ride with us Saturday. Robert’s son Richard just recently started riding a bike so he decided that he wanted to make the trip as well. The parkway is a really easy ride, even for a beginner, so I didn’t see this as any big deal. So with Robert spearheading the planning we prepared to depart on Friday September 11th at 7:30am. Just a note on the pictures. I kept my “good” camera stowed away while riding and only got it out when we were actually stopped. I had a second older point and shoot camera that I used to take pictures while I was riding. I’ll post some of the highlights in this report, but all the pictures can be seen in a slide show HERE .

- Friday – September 11, 2009 –

The plan was to meet at the Sheetz in Bellwood at 7:30am. I got there and filled up and proceeded to wait. After about 20 minutes Robert showed up and said that Richard was running a little late so we headed back to his place for another 20 minutes of waiting until everyone was ready to go. The forecast was for rain so we all had rain gear on and I was already roasting even though it was only in the high fifties. Once we got on the road we headed to Martinsburg, PA for breakfast at Mamie’s Cafe and Bakery. If you are ever in the area be sure to stop in. The food is fantastic and everything is made right there in house. Robert wanted to be on Skyline Drive by noon so we were off it by dark, but it was already going on 11:00 am and we had not gone 30 miles from home. Something tells me we are not going to make it to Front Royal Virginia by noon. Once we finished at Mamie’s it was on the road to Front Royal. Richards bike has a very small gas tank so we had to stop in Berkley Springs, WV for gas. He can only go about 100 miles or so on a tank, so it provided a nice break about every two hours. At this point there was no rain but the clouds were still threatening. I figured if it wasn’t raining by the time we hit Front Royal I’d shed the rain gear because it was getting really steamy outside.

I think it was around 2:00 or 2:30 by the time we got to Front Royal. The plan was to gas up there since there’s very little, if any, gas on Skyline Drive. We also decided to stop at the local Subway for some sandwiches that we would eat later up on the mountain. That was fine with we because I was roasting down here in the valley.

We had a nice conversation with a gentleman on this vintage Harley. He was even wearing period correct gear for the most part.

Once on the parkway it was smooth sailing from one end to the other. The speed limit is only 35mph so it’s slow going but here are some of the sights. If you’ve ever driven Skyline Drive or the Blue Ridge Parkway you tend to stop at the first few nice overlooks then say “screw it” and just enjoy the ride becuase most of the overlooks look the same.

Smooches the Adventure Moose was also along for the ride.

At the end of Skyline Drive we headed west for the town of Stuanton, VA. Robert had booked us into the Stonewall Jackson Inn for the night. While he was getting us checked in I got on the phone to see if Scott had made it down yet. As it turns out he was also in Staunton at the Microtel. I told him to meet us at our hotel and we would head out to dinner from there. Everything in Historic Staunton is within easy walking distance so it was nice not to have to put any gear on to go out and eat. The resurant was a bit crowded so we just walked around downtown. THere were several bluegrass groups setup on the street doing their thing as well as some actors putting on some kind of street production. I forget what it was though. We headed back to get some dinner at the Baja Bean Cafe. Be forewarned if you order a burrito the chefs will bet each other who can stuff the most in the thing and still be able to roll it up. I think mine had a whole chicken in it. It was quite a bit a food for the money and a nice place overall. The plan for Saturday was to get up and hit the Blue Ridge Parkway. Scott had to ride back to his hotel so we called it a night and headed back to the Stonewall Jackson.

Click Here for Day 2

Tags: Motorcycles

This entry was posted by cablebandit on Saturday, September 26th, 2009 at 1:34 pm and is filed under Motorcycles, Road Trips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.