Blue Ridge Mountain Trail, August 8 the Part 3

Well, we never did get to Johnson City, and thank god, we didn't see any bears.

But, I tell you, it RAINED, and it rained, and it did not stop. I swear, if there's such thing as 150% chance of rain! we got it.

We ended up pulling into Abingdon, Virginia, got a nice room, and, well, the picture above tells the rest of the story !!

Blue Ridge Mountain Aug 8 the Part 2

Thinking we were doing good, we, ( but now it turns out, me) decided to take highway 8 South off the mountain. For anyone interested, google highway 8 off the mountain, it is somewhere between amazing and crazy to go down that steep with hairpin turns, on a motorcycle, in the rain. But, I thought, that would get us closer to Tennessee. Turns out I came down the mountain on the wrong side. After about an hour of driving, I knew I was lost and had to ask directions. The guy ( who turns out doesn't get out that much ) said I was better off going north....basically back to where we started in the morning and coming back down Interstate 81 on the other side of the trail. Hell, at this point, what do I know, and started in the direction he suggested.

By this time it was mid afternoon and time for a coffee. We found this little gas station, general store, and local diner and pulled in.

As I was looking at the map I turned to the gentleman at the next table with his wife and grand kids ( god, I hope they were ) and said, " could you tell me where I am?" He chuckled and said "I thought those were Nova Scotia tags as I passed you on the side on the road back there. Your going in the wrong direction!"

Anyway, he was very kind and gave us directions to get towards Johnson City, the town we had planned to get to at the end of the day. The only thing was, once I turned around, back 4 miles to the old number 8, drive til I get to the number 58, we had to go back over the top of the mountain !!!

Hence, the following pictures ( and another one for the imagination ).

( to be continued in Part 3 )

The Blue Ridge Mountain Trail August 8th

It took us a little while to find a way onto the Blue Ridge Trail but we got there. The forests are thick and the trees are tall ! There were areas it seemed like you were driving thru a tunnel of branches as they hung over the road. It was awesome. There were areas of forests, areas of fields, open pastures and old dilapidated barns, the only thing missing were the roaming buffalo ! Ha ! Anything better would be driving a convertible through here in early autumn as the leaves changed color !!

Like we said, it started out pretty good but by early afternoon the fog descended and the rain started. We held out but eventually said it time to get down from here. The photos left as much as you wanted to the imagination because all you could see at the look-offs was fog ! So, depending on how vivid and free you imagination was, there were some pretty good views ! Aw well, it was a good run.

( to be continued in the next entry )

Skyline Drive

Some more pics of today -august 7th

Skyline trail/Highway

It was a riding day today guys, and what a ride.

We left Winchester to Front Royal and headed into the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. The park runs pretty much along the Virginia / West Virginia border.

There was lots of views and stopping points along the way as you'll see below.

After riding it for over 100 miles we got down off the mountain trail - I think 3400 ft was the highest look-out we saw - and crossed over on highway 33. Again, a nice ride.

We ended up in Roanoke for the night. Planning to do some more of the trails tomorrow !!

Similar tastes

I guess Virginians like (or maybe not) hot dogs and beans as well !

Harpers Ferry

Some more pics of H F

Winchester

Some more pics of Winchester

Winchester, Virginia

Did you ever come across someone who was definitely in the wrong profession? Well, there is this man at Harpers Ferry at the tourist information bureau, ...... Good lord! No personality, not that interested in being helpful, and he gave us wrong directions ! What's his job again...
We did get a laugh out of it in the end on our way to Winchester.

The only reason we were going was because I thought it was a pretty cool name - Winchester ...guns, ammo... And it was on the way to Front Royal.

What a beautiful downtown. Heck, we ended up getting a room here and going back downtown tonight for supper and to walk around.

Old Winchester is very historic, all the buildings are made of brick, and they have a pedestrian street that is great to walk thru and great eating.

We took lots of pics but I can only attach 4 or 5 per e mail

Harper's Ferry Aug 6th

Well, after a stop at Gettysburg, and keeping with the theme of the day so far, we decided to stop at Harper's Ferry......civil war, confederates....strategic position...Again, a really neat and interesting town. In addition to that, they serve the best BBQ beef burger at this pub....The town could be the scene of a good John Wayne, I mean, Clint Eastwood movie. It has quite the train bridges over the Potomac and shanadoah rivers. While we were there (for about 1.5 hours) there were 4 freight trains that went thru the town.

Gettysburg Aug 6th

From Harrisburg, Pa we headed towards Gettysburg. Not that we're much on American history, we thought it would be cool to see - and it was. A lot of old buildings, very period looking town, and just a neat place to walk around.

Most of the shops were military history related. We did get a pic of Abe himself discussing the declaration he was writing (four score and seven years ago...) with a buddy of his when this guy in a beige sweater came along, he stuck out like a sore thumb....

Harrisburg pics

Here are some pics of downtown tonight