Home...Home Again

Well, we made it home about 7:30 pm last night.

It's become an unfortunate tradition to ride home in the rain.

The difference this time is instead of catching rain in PA. We caught it in Middletown N.Y.

We're home safe, and happy to be back. Long ride yesterday, from Front Royal VA. to home.

Now let's sum up the trip shall we?

First of all, it was great to have Alan there. He's a great person, and loves riding. At night when we would get back we would eat a great meal, then sit and shoot the shit about anything and everything. Of course Alan being a fellow gearhead the conversation always came back to motorcycles, cars, and trucks. Motorcycles, cars, and trucks...oh my!

Alan if you read this, anytime you want to ride with us again we would love it.

I know there's the whole logistic thing, you being in Ohio and us in CT.

Maybe Vermont for pancakes and maple syrup!

Fontana Village was great. Perfectly located right in the middle of arguable the best motorcycle roads in the East. There were bikes everywhere!!! The cabin was clean and plenty comfortable.

We met many great folks too, both on and off motorcycles. For example we met this retired couple on the "Parkway" on the way down. They told us to try this great BBQ place in Blowing Rock N.C. called Woodside. We did and it was excellent!

Food. Oh yea there was plenty of food. I probably put on 15 pounds. Most nights Sue would make dinner for us. A couple of nights we ate at one of the two restaurants on the premises.

Sue also made us breakfast every morning. Thanks again Sue. We usually ate lunch on the road we found some pretty good places, but they just don't compare with home cookin'.

The bikes were flawless no problems at all except my horn. I think water or some dirt got in there, it's really weak. In place of the horn I just yell really loud, that worked just fine.

We rode a total of 3090.8 miles on this trip and it was all good.

Hopefully we can take another trip next Summer. Until then, keep the rubber side down and the shiny side up.

See ya

North

Sue & I decided to get back on the road today. We headed north on the B.R.P., after we went to the top of Mill Hill to see the Roanoke Star. What a view from up there. You could see all of Roanoke. We rode to the northern end of the "Parkway" and hopped on the Skyline Drive. The "Drive" was really crowded today, so we exited onto Rt 221 West to Rt 340 north. That took us into Front Royal, where we are staying tonight.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!

And Yet Some More

How 'bout Some More Pictures?

On The Ridge Again.

Sue & I got back on the "B.R.P." heading north. We avoided the rain all day, except for a little drizzle here & there. We went to the top of Grandfather Mountain, it was pretty windy up there.

It's over a mile high. We eventually ended up in Roanoke VA. We are staying in The Roanoke Hotel in downtown. This is a very nice place. Just by chance there is a BBQ & Blues Festival going on in Elmwood Park, two blocks away from the hotel. Of course we went and devoured some BBQ and listen to some great music. How lucky is that? We might stay an extra day here.

More later.

Farewell Fontana

Today was our last day at Fontana Village. Allen left this morning, around 8:30. Sue and I left close to Noon, because we had to do some laundry. We took Rt19 North to the Blue Ridge Parkway. We picked the "Parkway" up just outside Maggie Valley N.C. We stopped in Ashville for gas, and that's when the sky opened up. It poured!!! We waited about an hour until the rain let up. We got back on the "B.R.P." and made it to Little Switzerland N.C. We are staying at the Big Linn Lodge.

Hey Len it's nice and cool here in the mountains. Sue & I will see Laura and you when we get back to CT.

Bye for now

We've Got Pictures!

You Want Pictures?

Sue's Choice

The ride yesterday was Sue's choice. We rode the Cherohala Skyway again, which is always great, and stopped at Cherohala Harley Davidson. That's at the western end of the "Skyway" in Tellico Plains Tenn. I bought a T-shirt. Sue & Allen made fun of me saying that I was a typical "Harley guy" paying way to much for a shirt. Then we rode south on Rt 68 along the western border of N.C. until we hit Rt 294.

On Rt 294 we stopped at Field of The Woods. This place was alot like Lourdes Shrine in Litchfield Ct. It even had a cafe and little gift shop. We had lunch there, it was good but not as good as Lourdes. Then we continued back, heading east. Then up Rt 19 to Rt 129 to Rt 28 to Fontana. Sue pick a nice route. It's hard to find a bad "bike road" down here.

When we got back we went on the Ghost Tour, which included the old Gunther Cabin from the late 1800's. Then walked down to the administration office, that was a hospital back in the 40's. This village was originally for the workers who built the Fontana Dam. Neat tour , but we didn't see any ghost.

Last night Sue made us chicken papricosh(spelling) and some green beans for dinner. Boy!! Was that good! C-Ya.

Three States

Yesterday, Sue, Allen, & I rode South on Rt 28. South of Rt 19, the "Hellbender" turns into the "Moonshiner" and runs down to South Carolina. What a great ride!! It also runs through the very Northeast corner of Georgia. Believe it or not that's the first time Sue & I have rode motorcycles in Georgia & S.C. Unfortunately, we got rained on on the ride back. Still a great ride though.

Bye for now

Pictures Again

Late Start

The rain stopped around 1:00 pm, and we were on the road by 2. We rode the "Dragon", the Foothills Parkway, and Rt 441 through the Smokies. Of course we rode the "Hellbender" too.

That's Rt 28, the road Fontana is on. We rode about 200 miles, and got back to the cabin around 8:30. Riding the "Hellbender" in the dark was certainly interesting!

Sue made some pasta and meat sauce for us when we got back. Oh yea we had garlic bread too.

That's what's great about these places, having a kitchen with all the utensils, pots, & pans.

Later

Rain

We woke to rain today. According to the weather report it's suppose to stop this afternoon.

Maybe we'll be able to ride later. Otherwise , looks like a laundry day.

Happy Birthday Nicole!!!!!!!

Joe, we brought our own coffee, so the coffee is fine.

Pictures

What a Great Day!

Today started with a power outage. Last night we had a storm which knocked down a tree branch, which took out a power line. So I walked to the General Store that's on the premises and got coffee for all 3 of us. Coffee is free all day there!! Then Sue made breakfast for Allen, herself, and I, once we got the power back on. Bacon & eggs, with toast. Thanks Sue! We finally hit the road around 11:00 am.

What a great ride today. First we went to see the Fontana Dam & Lake of the same name. Beautiful!!!! Then we rode the Cherohala Skyway in both directions. Excellent!! Sue and Allen smoked me out there, They had to wait up for me and my "ship anchor" I meant Harley. We had a blast.

Then we went to the supermarket in Robbinsville(about 22 miles away) to stock up on supplies.

Len, there are these bright blue salamanders all around here I will try to take a picture of one.

Pat, the bikes ran great no problems at all thanks for asking.

C-ya

We Made It

Sue & I made it to our cabin in Fontana last night. We arrived here about 7:00 pm in the pouring rain. Our good friend Alan showed up about an half hour later. The road the resort is on is rt. 28. What a "twistie" piece of road that is. Lots of sport bikers. The cabin is really nice, since it was raining last night I didn't take any pictures, but I will today.

Alan rode here from North Canton Ohio, a little over 600 miles, in one day. It took him about 12 hours to get here. It took Sue & I 3 days to get here, and right around 1100 miles. Of course we took the scenic route form Front Royal VA.

The weather was great except for the last hour or so yesterday, even then it really didn't rain hard until the last half hour or so.

There is no cell phone service here so if you have to reach us TOUGH!!!!! No...no...no you could always use e-mail. Obviously there's Wi-fi. The e-mail address to use is fandsq@yahoo.com.

Well I'm going to have my coffee now.

C-YA

Up in the Mountains

Hi,

Well, today Sue and I took on the Skyline Drive from the top(Front Royal VA.) and rode it to the end(Waynesboro VA.). Then we rode the Blue Ridge Parkway all the way to Meadow of Dan VA.

We are at the Blue Ridge Motel right off the "Parkway". It's not to fancy but it's cheap, and convenient. All told we rode about 400 miles today. Although it was hot today, it was much more comfortable and enjoyable up in the mountains. We met many motorcyclist today. A large group from Illinois, and a couple of good guys from Ontario Canada. It's always nice to met other riders on the road.

Bye for now

Change of Plans

Hi Everyone,

WOW!!!! Was it HOT out there today.

Our original plans were to camp out at some camp ground in Northern Virginia.

That didn't happen. Because of the heat and a later start then we had hoped, we changed our minds. Instead, we are at the Super 8 in Hagerstown Maryland. I LOVE air conditioning !!!!!

MMMMMM Refrigerated air!!! We are getting Chinese food delivered to the room.

C-YA

Related Links

Hi All,

Here are some links related to our trip.

http://www.fontanavillage.com/home

http://www.blueridgeparkway.org/

http://www.tailofthedragon.com/

http://www.cherohala.org/

http://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm

A Little Different

Hello Again Everyone,

It's that time again! Sue & I are going on another bike trip. This time we are doing it a little differently. Instead of staying somewhere different every night we are staying in one place for a week. This is what we call a "hub trip". Except for the two days on the way down and the three days to come back, we will be staying in Fontana Village in Fontana Dam North Carolina. A great location right in the middle of motorcycle riding heaven!! For example, roads like; Tail of the Dragon, Cherohala Skyway, Foothills Parkway, Rt 441 through the Smokies, and of course the Blue Ridge Parkway are all close by. We are very excited as you can imagine. We will arrive there on 7/9/10 and staying thru 7/16/10. I think our friend Alan from Ohio will be joining us too. If you remember from our trip to Nova Scotia (found elsewhere on this very blog) we met Alan and his lovely wife Cindy, and became friends with them. Easy to do seeing how nice they are! Alan & I have kept in touch exchanging e-mails. We have talked several times about meeting up somewhere and riding together. Well, when this opportunity came up I contacted Alan & Cindy and invited them to join us down there. Unfortunately Cindy wont be able to make this trip, and Sue & I would be lying if we said we weren't disappointed. Some other time. We are looking forward to seeing Alan down there. This should be great fun!!

Please follow along if you want and enjoy!!