End of a journey and a dragon

For my meals, I’d like to only go to small family-owned restaurants, but that would be quite expensive for the whole time I’m on the road. I try to eat light, but the local cuisine is pretty fattening, unfortunately. Also, in the evening, I need to stick to places that have good WiFi to update this blog. So that means big franchises like Burger King, Subway or McDonald’s. Sometimes, when I get good cell reception, I can avoid them.

This morning, for breakfast at the campground, the choices were pancakes or French toast, with meat. They didn’t even have eggs; bummer. They were giving butter-flavoured spread for the toasts and powdered creamer for the coffee. The shame!

After I’m finished with the heavy breakfast, I pack up, ride into town to buy some sunglasses and head back onto the Blue Ridge Parkway, continuing South.

For the last day on the parkway, I decided to document the most common things I noticed about it.

First, since most of it follows the top of the mountain range, most of it looks about the same: a curvy road with a mountain on one side, and a valley on the other, often changing sides. My favourite type of road is when we round a corner around a mountain wall, to the right for example, the road then curves left, and we can see the road ahead following the side of the mountain wall on the other side of the cliff to the left, with an outstanding view of the valley and other mountains further left, with peripheral vision. Beautiful!

Another common part of the road are blind curves, with the mountain wall on the inside, and a cliff on the outside. I tend to slow down on approach and think: Is there a car coming from behind in the other lane and over-steering, veering into my lane? Will there be a cyclist in my lane around the corner? What do I do? Always a mystery, always a discovery.

Also common are the lookouts, named “overlooks.” There are a lot of them. I wish I could stop at each one and take in the view. I love seeing Earth from above. I love feeling like I’m a peer to all the mountains around; looking down at the valley below, and looking at the other mountains like my siblings. It’s so peaceful.

Many people enjoy these overlooks. Today, probably because it’s the weekend, there’s ten times more motorcycles than before. I stopped at the highest elevation on the parkway, the Richland Balsam Overlook, 6053ft, and lots of bikers were enjoying the sight and the camaraderie of fellow bikers. I saw many Harley-Davidson, a few BMW and the common Japanese motorcycles, but I never saw another Triumph. People notice mine all the time and come to chat with me about it.

Near the beginning of the parkway, twice, I saw a really funny sign with a serious message: a curved road with a motorcyclist falling off the edge with the words “Enjoy the view, watch the road.” [Actually, the sign has no words, the souvenirs do.] I wanted to take a picture later whenever I come across one, but I never saw one again. I learned from the Park Rangers that people steal them, so they stopped making them. I bought a patch of it instead.

Yet another common sight are the Park Rangers, they are out and about, especially on weekends, chatting with visitors and manning the information centres. I enjoy chatting with them and learning about the parkway and why they are passionate about their job. I used to be a demonstrator at the Museum of Science and Technology, so I have a similar experience, and I know you have to be passionate about the subject to work in a job like that.

Today, on a long section of the Parkway, there were many cyclists, most of them obviously experienced riders. I can only imagine how tough it is to go up and down the mountains on this challenging ride. Other motorists respect them, and slow down and pass only when safe. Unfortunately, it makes the motorcycle ride a little less enjoyable, since cars tend to line up behind cyclists until safe to pass, but this gives a different challenge for us when we ride up behind such a line.

Another cool feature, I find more and more as I ride South, are the tunnels. I like their rustic look as we approach them. There are no lights inside them, just reflective surfaces, so you have to have your headlights on as your eyes barely have any time to adjust to the darkness.

Well, I finally reached milepost 469, the last milepost on the Blue Ridge Parkway. There is a post marking each mile of the Parkway. At first, I felt sad at the end of such a wonderful journey, with such memorable experiences. I also felt elated at completing such a wonderful journey; I will do this again, that’s for sure, hopefully for much longer, to experience as much of it as I can, perhaps share the experience with someone else.

I feel like my Bonnie and I accomplished something special, and I’ll always cherish this experience. The Bonnie now has a little place in my heart; It performed admirably and will always feel special to me because we shared both our first significant journey together. My skills as a motorcyclist have developed tremendously through this tour, and they continue to sharpen everyday I ride.

After taking a moment to reflect on the trip, I ride on to the next town to have lunch and get ready for the next challenge: highway 129, a part of which is known as the infamous Tail of the Dragon: it has a whopping 318 curves in only 11 miles of road. Many consider it the most challenging road for a motorcyclist.

From Cherokee, NC, I take highways 19, 74 then 28. As I ride, I notice the large amount of motorcyclists on the roads in these parts. I’m definitely in motorcycle country here. Shops, service centres, motels, all have some sign welcoming and servicing motorcyclists. Highway 28 is particularly hilly and twisty, nice! A decent warm-up for the 129.

At the intersection of the 28 and the 129 we find Deal’s Gap, a place of pilgrimage for motorcyclists from all over. The sheer number of motorcycles is staggering! Once in a while, we hear groups of them ride in, and others ride off onto the 129.

After shopping for souvenirs, unsuccessfully trying to find a cell phone or WiFi signal, and giving my butt a chance to rest, I work up the courage to suit up and get going.

It can’t be that bad, since I see many older folks here, some with passengers on their big Harleys. The sheer quantity of riders makes me think the YouTube videos of the number of accidents on this route are blown out of proportion, just like all those accidents we hear in the news. Those are just the infinitesimal percentage of folks who messed up somehow. A great many people ride and never have anything serious happen to them. It’s always best to be aware of what could happen, practice our skills and keep sharp all the time, and never, never fool around and take unnecessary risks. I’ll be fine. No, really!

Riding the Tail of the Dragon is an absolutely exhilarating experience! The curves, the sun through the trees, the climbs, the drops, the hairpin turns, the blind curves, the observers, the photographers, the riding, nay, the piloting, feeling the machine become part of you, feeling at one with the road, eyes always on the road, looking for hazards, expecting the worst, planning the next maneuver, slow down approaching curves, speed up exiting them. What an exciting ride! Wow!

After all those twists and turns and that intense concentration, a nice, straight and smooth road is just the thing to recover and cool down from such a workout.

Now I need to find a campground and food, as the sun makes its way down. A Google search finds a place north of Knoxville that would do the trick. I make my way to Half Moon Campground and find the host very friendly and welcoming. They have showers too, much needed after such a day. And now, to dream of the fun roads I rode on today…

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