The Blue Ridge Parkway

I've mentioned Skyline Drive here recently on several occasions. It's less than an hour drive from my house, so it's sort of hard not to mention. If I'm not riding on it, I'm crossing over it or riding near it.

What I haven't said much about is its southern relative, the Blue Ridge Parkway. Also administered by the National Park Service, the BRP...

...was designed as a recreational motor road, connecting Great Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah National Parks.

Skyline Drive (105 miles long) can be enjoyed in an afternoon. The BRP, at 469 miles, can be done in a day, but I think two would be more reasonable. Then you could stop at one of the many visitor's centers, scenic overlooks, or other attractions that help make the place so special.

Yes, I'm dipping into the ole archive again. It's only fitting that this post show Hubby and I together with our old rides.

My ride was a Yamaha V-Star 1300. Hubby had a Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad.

We enjoyed the BRP in September 2007 on our way to the Great Smoky Mountains, a region I'd never seen to that point. As much as we enjoyed the Black Hills on two separate visits, it was sort of silly that we hadn't been to the Great Smoky Mountains. Especially since so many people liken the Black Hills to the GSM region.

One thing the BRP has over Skyline Drive is more interesting places to stop. Mabry Mill, pictured at right, is along the Virginia section of the BRP, which also crosses into North Carolina. It is a picturesque restored gristmill, sawmill, woodworking shop, and blacksmith shop. In fact, I think it is one of if not the most-photographed stops along the BRP.

Those of you who follow Fuzzy Galore -- you should if you don't already -- have probably been enjoying the excellent pictures and ride reports about the more-recent trip she and her new Hubby took down the BRP.

It was late-September when we visited and already, at least at the higher elevations, the leaves were starting to change.

I really do need to plan another trip down the BRP. Its northern terminus, approximately 25 miles west of Charlottesville, Virginia, is only about a two-hour drive from our VA place. Sure it would be easy to get down there and back in a day, but we need to have time to enjoy some if not all of the road, too.

Of course, with three dogs, trips like that take a bit of planning. And since we already have a couple of cool trips planned for later this year, the BRP will likely have to wait at least until 2013.

Another difference between Skyline Drive and the BRP is the maximum speed limit of 45 MPH. I am not a speed demon, I swear, but I find it hard to maintain 35 MPH on a bike. Especially when enjoying a pristine, windy stretch of blacktop in the mountains.

But that's just me.

One thing the two roads do have in common is crowds. Especially when the leaf peepers are out. I'm sure it provides an absolutely stunning Autumn vista. But I find crowds frustrating. Especially on roads with limited passing opportunities.

Here are a few more shots from that trip...

Hubby and I on the porch of our rental cabin in Robbinsville, NC.

View from Clingman's Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

Random mountain vista.

Pretty, no?

As much as I love day-tripping, there's just something about multi-day motorcycle excursions.

The only one I see in our near future is our trip to Italy. Which will certainly be awesome.

I am actually really hoping to head north for a weekend later this summer for a blogger meet-up. Fingers crossed we can make that one work.

What was your favorite multi-day excursion? Are you a camper? Or the hotel type? We are most definitely the latter.

Although we have been known to rent cabins for longer stays, so maybe I should say bed-lovers? That just sounds sort of weird. Hey, let's make up a good moniker, if one doesn't already exist, for motorcyclists who prefer lodging over camping. Come on, help me out here.

Black Hills COG Rally

Since my last post featured a shot of me and my old ride, I thought I should post a shot of my Hubby with his old bike.

Yep, that's Hubby with his Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad. The photo was taken in 2006 in the Black Hills of South Dakota. He and our friend, Barry, rode their bikes from Maryland to South Dakota for a Kawasaki Concours Owners Group (COG) Rally.

Why a Councours rally? Because a Concours is Barry's ride.

Barry's wife, Kathy, and I made the trip the smart and fast way. We flew out to Rapid City and hung out with the boys for a few days and then flew back home.

Iron Butt rides aren't for me.

The Black Hills is a great place to ride.

And the nearby Badlands National Park is a fabulous place to take pictures. If you like scenes like this...

This next shot is one of my favorite vacation pics.

We used to ride together often. But various DIY projects, on the part of both couples, have interfered.

Hopefully we'll be able to do a ride together soon. I really miss those days...

Bridges Revisited

The next week or so will be busy for me. I'm not going to be around much. Not wanting to let the blog go stale, I decided to peruse the photo archives to locate material for interesting (hopefully!) posts.

That's where I found this picture of me from September 2004. Almost eight years and two motorcycles ago!

There I am astride my bright yellow Yamaha V-Star 650.

Hubby and I had ridden to Bedford County, Pennsylvania to see their 14 covered bridges. I did a post about that ride in January 2011. Which I won't repeat. But I did discover a tourism bureau video I'd never seen before (embedded at the end of the post).

Since there appears to be a link/path issue with the pics associated with my original post, and I don't have the mental energy at the moment to try and resolve said issue, I decided to post a few bridge shots here.

And don't forget to watch the quick little video.



There's no motorcycle riding in my near future, but I will be doing a bit of gadabouting.

Even if I will be moving around on four wheels, I am really excited.

Details, and probably a few pics, will be shared upon my return.

Way, Way Back

You'll notice, over the next few days, I'll be dipping into the photo archives for blog material.

I'm going to be away from my computer for a few days and didn't want y'all to go through withdrawal.

That shot is from late-2000. It was taken shortly after we bought our first bikes... twin Yamaha V-Star 650 Classics.

I was much thinner then. And my hair didn't have nearly as many natural highlights. Yes, I know you can't see my hair. You'll just have to trust me.

By the way, these pics are so old they were actually captured on film. Hubby painstakingly scanned a bunch of prints into digital images a while back.  

I'm not sure how long it was after we purchased the bikes that Hubby he decided he wanted his to be electric-blue. He loves to do stuff himself. Although he swears he only tackles some projects because he's a "cheap bastard" and hates to pay exorbitant labor fees for simple stuff.

So he painted his own bike. 

He actually painted his helmet to match.

Here's a shot of both bikes.

When he decided it was time to trade his V-Star in for the much larger Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad, he figured he'd get more in trade if the bike was stock. So he switched all of the blue pieces to my motorcycle.

That blue wasn't me. I'd always thought my bike would look cool in bright yellow.

Having never been pleased with the quality of his paint work -- either that or he just didn't feel like the hassle -- we got someone else to paint my bike.

You'll see the bike in that guise in an upcoming post.

Clowning Around

Some people just don't know when to quit clowning around!

Spotted this on a heinous social media site and thought I'd share it here.

It's Back

Summer, that is.

Apparently, the heat index for tomorrow (what it really feels like with the heat and humidity) will be 105 degrees Fahrenheit.

That's right around 40 C for all you metric folks.

In other words... pretty damn hot.

You won't be seeing shots like that one, with a clear sky, any time soon.

The humidity isn't very high right now. It's only at 42%. I think I'd better take a lunchtime stroll while I can still enjoy it!

Warrenton Car Show Wows

I'm going to go all "I love my new town" on y'all again. Sorry. But we keep experiencing stuff that makes us really love it here. It's a combination of the small-town quaintness of it all and the fact that we're right in Old Town (Warrenton's downtown historic district) and can walk to most events others have to drive to.

It's awesome. No fighting traffic. No circling endlessly looking for parking. No worrying about whether clean bathrooms will be available.

The latest event was the 16th Annual Father's Day Car Show. Hubby had been looking forward to it for awhile. I had no idea what to expect. The town is small, so I thought the car show would be small. Maybe a couple dozen vehicles?

I was wrong. Way wrong.

From the time I awoke (around 7:00 a.m.) I noticed that the air was full of rumbles. Some far louder than others. The event didn't officially begin until 10:00. By about 9:15, I could stand it no longer. I had to go see.

I was amazed at the number of vehicles there. And, as the dogs and I strolled through, they were still coming in. I found out yesterday that 228 vehicles had registered. And there were quite a few others to gawk at on the fringes that had not registered for one reason or another.

I took quite a few pics. Since I also did a post on my personal blog yesterday, I'm doing a more-condensed version here. I don't know much about vintage vehicles, but I do enjoy looking at them. This Suburban was a mutual favorite.

Notice anything interesting about that shot?

With so many people milling about, it was hard to get good shots of the cars. But I was able to focus on some of the farkles and odder sights.

I loved seeing the Michelin Man and his dog. Even if they were tiny versions.

And the leashed child made me laugh. I always shake my head at those. I mean, I guess it's practical, but it sure looks silly.I still think leashes are for pets.

There were a few motorcycles there, but none piqued my interest like this Harley Davidson "Air Force" bike, which had the most-amazing paint job ever.

I had so enjoyed hearing the rumbles before the show that I decided to walk up again to watch them leave. Seeing the machines on display is awesome. Watching and hearing them motor down the street was an extra-special treat.

I LOVE the color of that truck.

If you like these pics and want to see more, you should check out the slideshow on my Flickr site.

The car show is one of the reasons I didn't spend much time trying to figure out how to edit the video I accidentally shot during our Saturday excursion. Last night, I invested some brain power and figured the editing program out.

I managed to condense an hour and a half or so of video and edit it so it's watchable. Keep in mind, though, that I did not realize I was shooting video. The next one will be more creative.

Some of the footage is shown at 2x-speed to make it more tolerable. I just wanted to show y'all the variety of roads that surround us.



I know I've said this before, but if you are ever in the area, be sure to let me know. I'd love to share my backyard with you.

Our Really-Big-Hills Ride

Saturday was yet another picture-perfect day here in the Virginia Piedmont.

View from Leeds Manor Road, just south of Paris, Virginia.

Rather than head toward the mountains on repeat roads, I decided to head north through horse country to show Hubby some of the roads I'd seen, but he hadn't. Some of the roads were repeats for us, but we hadn't been in that area for a while, so it wasn't bad.

When there are so many roads to be discovered, it seems wasteful to ride the same ones over and over.


View Bluemont Loop in a larger map

Temperatures were around 70 when we headed out. The humidity was low again, too, which makes for clear, blue skies.

I don't know what is up with this weather of ours. We're usually suffering with the nasty Mid-Atlantic heat and humidity by now. Not that I'm complaining. On the contrary, I am quite enjoying this extended Spring.

We were both excited to go out riding that day. I was even more eager than Hubby as I had a new helmet cam to try out. Finally.

We headed north out of Warrenton on Blackwell Road. It continues to amaze me how quickly we hit country here. I mean, we're not that far from Northern Virginia (NoVA). If you've ever been to this region, you know that NoVA is like one giant suburb of DC. The area referred to as NoVA, which radiates generally south and west from DC, includes several counties and cities in Virginia, and around 2.6 million people, which is approximately a third of the population of the entire state.

Anyway, from Bluemont, we turned right onto Blantyre Road and then right onto Trapp Branch Road, which, after it crosses WV-55 and goes under I-66, becomes Bust Head Road.

Don't you love country road names?

It also turned to gravel at that point. Gravel roads are never fun. It was doable, just disconcerting. I always find myself tensing up on gravel, which is the complete opposite of what I should do. You really need to relax and just let the handlebars wobble as the bike skitters across the road surface. The dual-sports do much better on gravel than the big-ass cruisers did. But still. I'm not sure if I'll ever truly get used to that feeling.

We were back on blacktop soon enough and, before we knew it, were in The Plains, a cute, tiny little artsy town not far from Warrenton.

If you're wondering why you aren't seeing more pictures, it's because I inadvertently had the new helmet cam set to video. And I haven't had time yet to figure out how to edit the video. Sorry.

I'd share the raw video, but it would bore y'all to death. Speaking of boring, I guess the play-by-play, with no pictures, isn't exactly riveting either. So I'll just say we zig-zagged north and west, across at least one more gravel road, until we reached Bluemont.

We stopped at the Bluemont General Store for some refreshments.

It was just as cute as their website promised. Lucky for us, the porch was empty, so we got to sit at a picnic table in the shade and watch traffic go by on the Snickersville Turnpike.

Don't let the term  "turnpike" fool you. Bluemont is a quiet little hamlet with about 200 residents just south of VA-7, perched on the edge of horse country. The town was originally incorporated in 1826 as Snickersville, because it sits at the base of Snickers Gap. The name was changed in the early 1900s to Bluemont in an effort to make it sound more resort-like and promote tourism.

Hubby enjoying the shade on the porch at the Bluemont General Store.

After that lovely respite, we hopped on WV-7 for the blink-of-an-eye, and then headed south on Blue Ridge Mountain Road. That's an eleven mile stretch of a lovely bit of blacktop, which straddles the border between Loudoun and Clarke County, VA. It climbs from an elevation of about 1,000 feet at Snickers Gap (LOVE that name!) to about 1,800 feet at Mount Weather and then back down to about 1,00 feet at Ashby Gap, where US 50 crosses the mountain.

Now, I know the mountains sound small in comparison to those out West -- they are -- but they're still mountains to us. Or at least really big hills.

Quick aside... Mount Weather is one of those places that, if you aren't expecting it, definitely cause a WTF moment. It's a FEMA control station, i.e., large federal government installation. So you go from enjoying a bucolic, winding mountain road one second, to road flanked by imposing, eight-foot-high (at least) barbed wire fence and NO TRESPASSING signs the next second. And then back to country road. You can read more about Mount Weather here if you like.

It's not one of those places you would stop and take pictures, unless you like being greeted by machine-gun-wielding soldiers. We knew it was there, as we've ridden past before, so we continued on.

After turning left on US-50 and re-entering Fauquier County, we headed south on US-17 at Paris and then right onto Leeds Manor Road.

I LOVE Leeds Manor Road.

The scenery along the entire road is just gorgeous. It is referred to as "The Splendid 688" on Motorcycleroads.com for good reason. (Let me know if that link doesn't work. You may need to subscribe to read stuff at the site. But it's free and highly recommended.)

After that one very quick stop, it was on toward home.

Sorry this is sort of a repeat shot, but that silo with stuff growing out the top of it just made for such a cool picture...

Perhaps I'll return to Leeds Manor Road one day when the helmet cam is on the photo setting so you can get a better feel for just why I love that road so much.

I was actually going to go for a ride this morning since it's ride to work day. But it's raining. And I just don't feel like donning all that gear, especially since my actual commute takes me from the bedroom down to the kitchen (for coffee) and then back upstairs to my office.

Hopefully you are having better weather and can enjoy your ride to work today.

Bear Wallow Road

I've always liked cows. I can't help it. I also can't really explain it. Other than they just make for such picturesque scenes when ambling through the countryside.

It was only when I began stopping to photograph the bovines that I realized how curious they are.

The other day, while tooling around Warrenton, I decided to head out Bear Wallow Road.

Having spotted that road name on the map, I couldn't not check it out. Right?

It's not far at all outside of town. In fact, it may even be within the town limits.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a herd of cows AND a convenient place to stop.

Of course, the cows were checking me out, too.

The little one was particularly curious.

It had a little friend across the field that appeared quite intrigued by me, too.

"Mama Moo, I'm going to go check out that really bright, alien-looking thing over there. Okay?"

I was tickled seeing it make its way slowly and carefully across the pasture toward me.

How cute is that little face?

He seemed happier once he was next to his friend. I guess even cows find security in numbers.

Here's an interesting article (with video) about a herd of curious cows and a 6-month-old Boxer puppy.

I've heard that if you lay down in a cow pasture, they'll all come over to have a closer look.

I have yet to test that one...

The Family That Rides Together

Now that we live so close to Skyline Drive, I'd really hoped to pop over and see the Mountain Laurel in bloom. I understand it makes for quite a show.

Although it typically blooms during the first week of June, I figured There might still be some around on June 10.

I figured wrong.

Thanks to a very unseasonably mild winter, the stuff bloomed much earlier than normal. So I missed it. But it was still an interesting ride.

The day was forecast to be hot, so I left the house before 9:00. The Emporium, seller of antiques made daily, hadn't yet opened for the day. I am going to have to go back there one of these days. Not just to see the new antiques (now there's an oxymoron!), but to check out the "complete rest room."

Really. I wonder what makes it complete?

I parked my bike in that spot so I could get a shot of the sign I posted yesterday. Notice how far the bike is leaning? I almost didn't get it off the side-stand when I was once again ready to roll.

Thanks to some brute strength on my part, I did manage to get moving again. When I arrived at the park entrance -- Skyline Drive is in Shenandoah National Park -- I was mentally kicking myself for not having retrieved my entrance pass from my purse during the previous stop. Of course, my purse was in the trunk, so I had to pull over.

I was kicking myself again when a group of Harley riders lined up at the entrance while I was getting things in order.

Oh well. It was a pretty day and I was in no hurry, so I just lined up right behind them.

That's when I noticed the passenger in the way-back position on the last bike to the right.

Did you notice him at first?

Here's a better look...

His Mom, who was riding the bike to the left, saw me taking pictures. She told me his name is Bailey, thinking maybe I could get his attention for a full-face shot.

He was having no parts of that.

So the little girl helped me out.

His doggles were a tad askew, but still. How cute is that?

One never knows what one will encounter on the road.

Even if I did miss the laurel, it was still a lovely day.