Saturday, June 16, 2012

Post 015 - Towards Perfection

Day 12 - Friday June 15
A Perfect Driving Day

Left Peaks of Otter Campground just before 7am and drove to Roanoke for breakfast and gas. Cool morning. I wore my rain gear just in case. No rain but perfect for warmth.


Today was a day of driving with stops for photos and food. The temperature was cool, but perfect for the road. The Blue Ridge Parkway is a roadway enclosed by forest. It is smooth without blemish. Each turn is engineered to perfection. There are few rock outcroppings, everything is covered in green, but when the rocks expose themselves, they are spectacular. Most of the day was spent above 2,500 feet in elevation. Far above the valley below.

The speed limit is 45 mph. I maintained between 35-40. When cars came up behind me I would pull over and signal them to pass when it was safe. Despite the high amount of vehicles, I spent most of the day alone on the road. The bike ran smoothly.

Stopped at Tuggles Gap, Virginia for lunch, then picked up some food in Blowing Rock, North Carolina before settling into Friday night's campground at few miles south of Blowing Rock. Met lovely and interesting people along the way. Did the motorcyclists's wave hundreds of times. At the campground I was surrounded by a dozen or more children. Their laughter and play is wonderfully boundless.

One extended family walked by my campsite. An adult asked about my bike which led to a cacophony of questions from the children. I answered as quickly and succinctly as I could. It was all good natured. A ruby haired pigtailed girl held out here hands as if to dance. I took her hands and swooped her around in a circle. "No!" she exclaimed. "Hug!" I swooped her little frame up with my forearm. We circled about. The adults clapped. "I feel I've been blessed," I told them. "You have," said a mother. Such is the life of a wanderer. Who knows where the coulee flows.

2 comments:

  1. test comment-this one may be successful (so far profile selection which is required to post is not liking any of my selections) but I have been reading your entries most enjoyable and glad the trip is filled with positive coulee energy flow

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  2. Thanks Joy. Keep reading, I'll keep riding. :-)
    From Little Switzerland, North Carolina. - John

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