24 June (519 miles)
Morning at Blue Ridge Motorcycle Camp.
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The road home. Hard to believe we’d be riding home today. All that planning, preparation, and discussion was behind us, and a one-day ride home was all that remained of the trip. After packing and load up at BRMC (and some cool photog work by Bill), we started the day with a breakfast at the Pisgah Inn Restaurant, just north of BRMC on the BRP. Bill noticed that our waiter looked like Leland McKenzie from LA Law. Bill has this knack for linking average, everyday folks to their closest Hollywood counterpart. We ate well, and took some time discussing Chan’s cellular thingy that allows him to get online. Neat. The Pisgah Inn is a sweet lodge complex on the BRP, and a high point in the Pisgah National Forrest. This is a place to visit with Connie sometime. Across the street is a primitive campground that needs to be checked out too. Beautiful views from the Inn and restaurant.
South on the parkway, we headed for Hwy 215 south to Hwy 64. 215 is quite a nice road with wonderful morning light. 64 would be a great road, without all the commercial traffic. We found that taking 281 south and crossing over on 130 to Hwy 107 south would be a good way to reduce time on 64, next time.
We headed south on 107 to Hwy 28, then up to Warwoman Rd. Warwoman over to Clayton GA. From Clayton, it was slabby to home.
Aside from eating up miles, the interstate can be interesting from time to time. While passing through Atlanta, we came upon slowing traffic. Why? Well, because there was a spare tire rolling, bouncing down the road. 5 minutes earlier and that puppy could have been up close and personal. Whew.We all arrived home safe, and the trip was a complete success for me. Not everything worked as planned but that mattered little on this trip. I was geared up well, thanks in large part to chats with buds and posts on sites like advrider.com. I learned that this type of ride and distance was well within my reach. And I’d confirmed that the Strom is indeed a bike well-suited to the variety of conditions in which I found myself. I can see why these puppies are popular, and why they have such a dedicated following (and aftermarket). I’m glad to own this bike and look forward to many more miles.
I'd been gone for 7 days and it would take a bit of time to get back to normal. Unpacking, cleaning, and refitting was the order for the next day. It was time to get everything ready for the next trip -- which we already started to plan while eating in Phenix City AL. Newfoundland? How about Alaska? Canada? Hmmm. It's good to dream.
