Day 2 - Roanoke, VA to Orrtanna, PA

Friday, 8 October

Start - 18032 miles@ 8am
End - 18366 miles@ 4:30pm

3G miles today- 334
Total 3G miles - 825

Breakfast downstairs at the Quality Inn Roanoke.  Nothing to write about so I won't, but the price was right.  Planned on jumping right on I-81N then east on I-64 and jumping on the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) where the Southern end of the Skyline Drive starts.  It's the only part of the BRP I haven't ridden, so it was kind of a mission.  Got out the door right at 8am an plans changed right away.  I was about 8-10 miles from I-81 and rush hour traffic was in full swing.  Since I was only about a mile from the BRP, I decided to ride it for a bit until I was north of Roanoke, then jump over to 81.  No one on the parkway this early, so I made great time and got to I-81N fairly quickly.

Another great riding day, sunny and about 60 degrees already made even 81 a pleasure.  Funny, but I never realized just how panoramic the view from 81 are.  That's one of the beauties of riding, everything is somehow different.  Your more in the experience than in a car.

Skyline Drive

Got to Skyline Drive fairly quickly and was shocked to find that it was a $10 entrance fee.  It was very worth it though.  It truly is the Skyline your riding/driving on.  The almost constant curves also make it great for motorcycling too.  Once the trees start to turn, it will be absolutely breathtaking.  Though the trees were beautiful, one of the most unexpected and unique sites was the mountain pasture someplace near the middle of the ride.  Up at about 4000ft it reminded me of photos I've seen of the African Savanna.

High Pasture

This reminded me of the African Savanna.

After about 1pm Skyline Drive became a bit like Skyline Park as more and more cars, busses and mini vans (ugh!) clobbered the road.  To make it to Orrtanna and my friend's, Brian and Lori, place, I had to for go some photo ops, but I think I got some of the better ones anyway.

Tree lined BRP

Exiting the northern end of the BRP (I have now ridden the entire BRP), I had the misfortune to pass through the town of Front Royal which was a front royal pain.  Congested, slow-moving, dusty, with at least a dozen traffic signals that were, you guessed it, not even close to being timed.  I must have hit at least 8 reds in about a 2 mile stretch.  Following the GPS out of town I continued my misfortune by getting stuck on a road totally torn up from construction.  To make matters worse, I ended up behind a flat-bed truck carrying a huge cistern full of water that was sloshing out and over the side as the truck encountered pot hole after pot hole.  Oh, and it was only moving about 5 mph.  I was now on a road of dust, gravel, pot holes, and spontaneous mud puddles.  Once though that, I finally got passed the water truck and things improved immensely.

Cool one lane bridge across the Shenandoah.

Got onto a great road (340N) and enjoyed good speed and more great views passing through some horse country as I crossed into W. Virginia by Harper's Ferry.  Good roads and great conditions continued all the way to Brian and Lori's, and I arrived with about 45 minutes to spare.

After a quick shower, it was time to head to Logan's Baseball Picnic.  I got to tag along and enjoyed pizza and sodas while I hung out and caught up with Lori.  Brian and the other parents went out on the ball field and played a quick game of wiffle ball with the kids.  Got back to the house about 8:30, watched a bit of the tube, caught up in my journal, then bed about 10pm.  Pooped out!