Trip to Stecoah, NC and stops along the way.

[BillyRok]

I'm headed to the South East rally in NC but leaving a couple days early to enjoy some sites along the way, so why not chronicle the trip and post some pictures ... hope you enjoy!

[MaximPhil]

Hi Billy,
Good to hear you are going to XSSE. Me too
If you find yourself at the Southern end of WV. Princeton look on the map for tazwell and then find the road through Hungry Mother State Park to Marion Virginia on I 81 it is lovely ride this time of year.
If I get far enough on Thursday I will be riding it. From Gatlinburg TN to Chrokee NC is another good road on a week day but the week ends can get busy. Take lots of pictures.....i never do but enjoy looking at yours
Phil

[BillyRok]

Here is the bike all loaded up, this will be the first long trip on it in the 3 years I've owned it.

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Fall is just getting to upstate NY but not a lot of leaves changing yet. Here is Canandaigua Lake from the south end as I rode past it today...when the leaves have changed it's quite a view.

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Headed through PA on Rt. 15 to pick up Rt. 81 just north of Harrisburg. Stopped once to take a quick pic of the PA landscape from the welcome center.

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Once the fall colors are at peak these rolling landscapes are really something to see. I'm anxious to get back to the NC mountains again, haven't seen them since my college days at South Carolina in the early 80's.

I'm in Chambersburg, PA now for the night...tomorrow I'll pass through MD and WV on my way to VA to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway. Never been on it so I can't wait!

[MaximPhil]

Hi Billy,
Be aware there is NO GAS on the BRP. The North end where you will be getting on has no where to get off for quiet a long way too so be sure to top off the tank before you get on. The middle section has quite a few towns close to BRP where you can get fuel. Cooler at altitude and be aware of sudden fog patches. It is a great ride. Have fun.
Phil

[XJOK2PLAY]

Hi Billy,
Be aware there is NO GAS on the BRP. The North end where you will be getting on has no where to get off for quiet a long way too so be sure to top off the tank before you get on. The middle section has quite a few towns close to BRP where you can get fuel. Cooler at altitude and be aware of sudden fog patches. It is a great ride. Have fun.
Phil

Hey Billy,

Scenery looks nice! Enjoying the pics. Keep posting them!

I like your Maxim. Brings back a lotta good memories!
Looking forward to meeting you there, and seeing 'ole Max in person at XSSE.
Ride safe!
Bob

[BillyRok]

Wednesday...

I woke up early today to cool temps in the upper 40's with bright blue sky. In less than an hour I went from PA through MD & WV and into VA, heading south on RT 522 from Winchester to Front Royal looking for Skyline Drive.

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Couldn't figure out what the big plume was, it was too far off the road. You can see the clouds building in the east from the storm system along the coast but the rain stayed east of the I-81 corridor. I stayed dry all day but that was when the blue sky started to go away. Here we go!

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The posted speed limit is only 35 so that's what most cars are doing, so it can be slow and congested at times. Traffic wasn't too bad and I tried to stay about 45, at 105 miles long your looking at close to 3 hrs. After about 30 miles I turned east on RT 211 for the 10 miles to Luray, VA to visit Luray Caverns...what a cool place --- http://www.luraycaverns.com

[BillyRok]

Luray Caverns

I'll post some pics of the caverns so you get an idea how big the place is, tour takes an hour. Some formations are 50' tall and the guide it takes between 120 to 300 yrs to add an inch, depending on water flow rates, to the stalactites.

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This is a cool pic, a small pool of still water that perfectly reflects the ceiling...

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You can see the hand rail in this pic, gives you an idea how big the caverns are--

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It was a pretty cool place to see. Then I went into the museum they have that is dedicated to the early days of the automobile. Unfortunately there wasn't time to really look things over closely ( still have to make Stecoah by Fri) but I took a couple pics to share...

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Early engines --

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Ok, time to get back on the Skyline Drive...

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I finally reached the end of Skyline and you head right onto the Blue Ridge Parkway, 45 mph limit so now we can really make time!

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Originally I planned on riding about 380 miles on the BRP to Asheville, NC that day but there was no way to go that far on the winding road so I went the 120 miles to Roanoke and stayed the night. It was just starting to mist as the storm system hadn't cleared out yet. Besides I knew the plan was to ride more of the Parkway at the rally. It's a great ride if you have enough time to really stop and enjoy the sites, and a month from now when the leaves have changed it has to be spectacular!

Thursday I stayed right on I-81 until I hit I-77 and headed south to Columbia, SC. Was about 300 miles. I keep waiting for the warm sunny weather the forecast keeps promising but haven't seen it yet. I went to college here, class of '84. Took a little tour of my old stomping grounds and hardly recognized it, been 15 yrs since I was last here, and the students all look like they transferred here right straight from Jr. High!! Man I'm getting old. Had dinner with 6 friends from Carolina that I hadn't seen in 15 yrs either, what a great time we had!

Now it's time to head to NC on Friday for the rally and meet some of the people from the XS11 site. I'll have somewhere around 1200 miles on the bike by the time I get to Stecoah, quite a ride to go riding! But I know there will be guys traveling farther than that...looking forward to a great weekend!

[trbig]

That's one of my favorite things about riding east.. the historical stuff. Our historical signs around here are something along the lines of, "Last cattle thief hanged here..." Out east, I remember one sign with "John Wilkes Booth set out from this point by boat on the night he assassinated Abraham Lincoln". Civil War stuff.. Founding Fathers stuff..

Oh... And some pretty awesome roads to ride as well! Have a great time but ride safe. Keep the pics coming!

[BillyRok]

Friday

It was overcast and misty all the way up I-26 from Columbia until about Asheville but then the sun started to shine some. Having plenty of time to reach Iron Horse I stopped in Maggie Valley to see the Wheels Through Time museum, dedicated to American bikes. Lots of HD stuff, Indians, military bikes...it would take several hours just to look at everything there. The owner was visiting with everybody and would occasionally fire up one of the bikes, I heard him say that almost everything there is in running condition...pretty impressive!

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Raffle bikes --

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Lots of stuff to see if you are ever traveling through the area. Then I grabbed some lunch and rolled over the last 50 miles to Stecoah...

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Now the good stuff, stay tuned!

[Gmac]

Great Picture!

Thanks for sharing the great pictures Billy!

Maybe next year I'll have both of my bikes running so I can enjoy the wonderful scenery first hand and make it to the SE meetup.

[STEPPENWOLF]

Thanks for the report.I'll make it next year