October 18
The bright sunny skies of yesterday were replaced with overcast and drizzle today. We slept till about 7:30 and finally got ready to leave at 9. I couldn’t find my keys…I had left them in the bike all night. Trying to donate it to some crackhead, I guess. The fall colors were just breathtaking at the beginning of the day, and, for some reason, slacked off as we headed north. Maybe we lost some elevation, because the trees north of Fancy Gap had not turned as much as those further south.
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We stopped at the Puckett Cabin, which I remembered from previous trips, then went on to Mabry Mill, the most photographed place on the Parkway. We made our obligatory photos, and chatted with a guy riding an older Magna that he had just bought. There were a few other bikes around…a couple on a Goldwing, a couple of Beemers, and a guy on a Harley that we struck up a conversation with. His name was Dave Willett. He had put over 400,000 miles on a 1987 Tour Glide that he called “Old Charlie”. The Motor Company had been so impressed that they asked him for his bike in exchange for a new one. He was on the new one that day, a 99 Electra Glide that he had almost 200,000 miles on. He said that he also had a Suzuki Burgman scooter at home that he had over 40,000 miles on, and that it was his current favorite bike. He told us that Old Charlie would soon be in the museum that Harley was building in Milwalkee. He also explained to us why he preferred a Harley over a Jap bike for long distance travel. “You see, when you need parts, you have to be towed to a shop and wait on the parts to be shipped in. When I need parts, I just have to walk down the side of the road, and whatever I need will be laying there, where if fell off some other Harley passing by”! We thought that was pretty funny. |
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Mabry Mill
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Dave Willett |
Around 2, we pulled off at Peaks of Otter for lunch. There was a BMW GS with California plates and two helmets locked to it that just had a smallish top case and one TINY saddlebag on it. Man, I wish I could travel that light!
We waited for a while to be seated in a dining room with plenty of empty chairs, and had a pretty good lunch. While we ate, rain began to fall, and it was still raining when we got done, so Eric pulled out the rain gear and I donned my stylish, high-tech waterproof over-gloves.
Don't laugh, they work.
A local warned us to be wary of speed traps further north, and we were off.
Not many miles north, a passing car flashed his lights and motioned for us to slow down. A mile later, the rangers had that California GS pulled over, issuing a performance award. We felt bad for them. Later in the trip, we heard that in the National Parks, speeding fines are $75, regardless of how fast you are going, and the points don’t show on your license. I don’t know if this is true, but I am going to find out. If it is, I am headed to the nearest National Park with a pocket full of cash! Just doing my part to make sure that the Parks are solvent, you know…
There is a rule in motorcycling that says that once you put on your raingear, it will not rain. The rule proved true this day. Eric finally got hot and stripped it off. I fully expected it to pour after that, but the overcast skies still refused to unburden themselves. We stayed on the Parkway all day, and finally ended up near it’s northern terminus, in a Holiday Inn Express in Waynesboro, Virginia. After we settled in, I visited the local Wal-Mart for incidentals and the liquor store for necessities, and we skipped dinner, still full from our late lunch. |
Stats: 219 miles, moving average 47 MPH, moving time 4.39, average speed 33, maximum speed 84 (on the parkway? that can't be right....)