JimVonBaden1
10-31-2005, 11:40 PM
Yet another short trip report with lots of pictures.
Mike and I decided to take a run down as much of the Blue Ridge Parkway as we could this weekend. We took Friday off, and headed out at the ungodly hour of 8:00 AM.
It rained on me all the way to the start of the BRP at our rendezvous point at Afton, 250 and Hwy 64. Not a great beginning, but it was just that. Almost exactly as I got there at 11:00, the sun came out, and we pretty much chased the clouds south all day. It was cool, about 40 degrees, but a great ride.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-BRP-My-GS-mikes-Duc2.jpg
Our first stop about 30 miles into the Parkway, nice bikes!
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-BRP-POO-Tree.jpg
Peaks of Otter at about 75 miles in. The foliage was a bit dim compared to last year, but still very cool!
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-BRP-James-river-Dam2.jpg
James River, I think, Mabry Mill? About 170 miles in.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-BRP-James-river-Dam.jpg
Some kind of mill, near the dam, and with a train in the background. I took the picture from a pretty high bridge with a short rail!
We stopped for the night in Mt. Airy VA, an unfortunately semi-dry town, and a bit of a drag. We got dinner at a Ruby Tuesday and over priced drinks. Not much fun, but it could have been worse.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-Frosty-seat.jpg
It was a bit on the cool side the next day!
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-BRP-music-patriotic.jpg
The next stop was the Blue Ridge Music Center just shy of the NC border. Very cool photo ops, but the “Museum” was a bit lacking. I guess they have interesting performances there during the summer.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-BRP-music-Mike.jpg
My art! LOL
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-BRP-music-color.jpg
The hills really are alive! OK, dying leaves, but it sounded good.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-trees-color.jpg
As you can see, it was sunny, and almost warm. Somewhere near 55 degrees. Great for me, but a bit cool for Mike on his Duc with no heated grips, and no heated gear. I didn’t use my heated gear till that night.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-BRP-Ninja-Mike.jpg
Mike was a bit cool in his Ninja costume, a bit early for Halloween!
We decided that we were not interested in killing ourselves, and went only 110 miles more south to about Deep Gap, then turned around and headed back.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-trees-color.jpg
There was no lack of great places to stop and admire nature. I couldn’t get enough of the awesome riding, but the pics were worth a brief stop.
On Friday we had nearly zero traffic, and managed to average 55-60 mph with nary a cop in site.
Saturday was a bit busier, but judicious passing made it not too bad. Damn double yellows anyhow!
We had a harder time finding a hotel and ended up in a Super 8 in Christiansburg, VA. Chosen for its proximity to a pair of ratty bars for the evening. We had dinner at Denny’s, then hit the freak show!
The bar was a bit odd. The Whisperer was a redneck rock bar, and the Silver Saddle was an old time country bar. Oddly they were owned and run as one bar, but were only connected by a tunnel, and you could only get in and get drinks AT the bar in the rock side. Nonetheless, Mike and I managed several watered down drinks as we watched the parade of not so beautiful people, and a few hotties, plus a group of Yahoo Chat people that were partying in the hotel as well. Costumes were interesting, ranging from a porn star sheriff to Little Red Riding Hood, sorry, no pictures.
Funny rule, you could wear a Cowboy hat but not a baseball cap, and you had to have a collar according to the dress code, though they enforced the baseball cap, they didn’t mind my MOA T-shirt..
Continued
Mike and I decided to take a run down as much of the Blue Ridge Parkway as we could this weekend. We took Friday off, and headed out at the ungodly hour of 8:00 AM.
It rained on me all the way to the start of the BRP at our rendezvous point at Afton, 250 and Hwy 64. Not a great beginning, but it was just that. Almost exactly as I got there at 11:00, the sun came out, and we pretty much chased the clouds south all day. It was cool, about 40 degrees, but a great ride.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-BRP-My-GS-mikes-Duc2.jpg
Our first stop about 30 miles into the Parkway, nice bikes!
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-BRP-POO-Tree.jpg
Peaks of Otter at about 75 miles in. The foliage was a bit dim compared to last year, but still very cool!
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-BRP-James-river-Dam2.jpg
James River, I think, Mabry Mill? About 170 miles in.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-BRP-James-river-Dam.jpg
Some kind of mill, near the dam, and with a train in the background. I took the picture from a pretty high bridge with a short rail!
We stopped for the night in Mt. Airy VA, an unfortunately semi-dry town, and a bit of a drag. We got dinner at a Ruby Tuesday and over priced drinks. Not much fun, but it could have been worse.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-Frosty-seat.jpg
It was a bit on the cool side the next day!
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-BRP-music-patriotic.jpg
The next stop was the Blue Ridge Music Center just shy of the NC border. Very cool photo ops, but the “Museum” was a bit lacking. I guess they have interesting performances there during the summer.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-BRP-music-Mike.jpg
My art! LOL
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-BRP-music-color.jpg
The hills really are alive! OK, dying leaves, but it sounded good.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-trees-color.jpg
As you can see, it was sunny, and almost warm. Somewhere near 55 degrees. Great for me, but a bit cool for Mike on his Duc with no heated grips, and no heated gear. I didn’t use my heated gear till that night.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-BRP-Ninja-Mike.jpg
Mike was a bit cool in his Ninja costume, a bit early for Halloween!
We decided that we were not interested in killing ourselves, and went only 110 miles more south to about Deep Gap, then turned around and headed back.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/JimVonBaden2000/BRP%20October%202005/01-trees-color.jpg
There was no lack of great places to stop and admire nature. I couldn’t get enough of the awesome riding, but the pics were worth a brief stop.
On Friday we had nearly zero traffic, and managed to average 55-60 mph with nary a cop in site.
Saturday was a bit busier, but judicious passing made it not too bad. Damn double yellows anyhow!
We had a harder time finding a hotel and ended up in a Super 8 in Christiansburg, VA. Chosen for its proximity to a pair of ratty bars for the evening. We had dinner at Denny’s, then hit the freak show!
The bar was a bit odd. The Whisperer was a redneck rock bar, and the Silver Saddle was an old time country bar. Oddly they were owned and run as one bar, but were only connected by a tunnel, and you could only get in and get drinks AT the bar in the rock side. Nonetheless, Mike and I managed several watered down drinks as we watched the parade of not so beautiful people, and a few hotties, plus a group of Yahoo Chat people that were partying in the hotel as well. Costumes were interesting, ranging from a porn star sheriff to Little Red Riding Hood, sorry, no pictures.
Funny rule, you could wear a Cowboy hat but not a baseball cap, and you had to have a collar according to the dress code, though they enforced the baseball cap, they didn’t mind my MOA T-shirt..
Continued