If You Have Not Done This, You Should Try It!

[SledgeHammer]

A friend and I just completed one of the most spectacular trips that I have been on, and it was in my backyard. We started at Front Royal,Va and rode the 105 miles of the Shenandoah National Park. The Shenandoah National Park (Skyline Drive) ends and the Blue Ridge Parkway begins. We rode the 469 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway from beginning to end. The Parkway ends in Cherokee, NC. We then rode to the Dragon. Although, I was at Vogel and the Dragon in August with VentureRiders, and even though, I have been riding the Parkway for years, it is the first time that I have ridden from the Shenandoah and completely through the Blue Ridge on a single trip. We ended up doing over 700 miles of nothing but mountain roads in 4 days and a total of 1300 miles in 6 days. You can easily ride the Shenandoah and the Blue Ridge in 3 days. We took our time and stopped at a lot of overlooks. The scenery was spectacular. The weather was great. We ran into rain on the last day when we returning home. The wildlife was great. We saw dozens of deer, scores of turkeys, several hawks, and even 2 black bear at 2 different times. One of the bears was on the shoulder of the road. The other bear was in the road. We were not even sure that it was going to run away to begin with,but it did. I have been going to the Blue Ridge since I was a kid, and have never seen a Black Bear there. How lucky can you get to see 2 of them on the same trip. Everything about the trip was great. We met lots of great people on motorcycles along the way. If you want a spectacular and memorable trip, I strongly recommend this route. It gave me a different perspective of my own backyard.

 

Now for my Harley riding, high school friend;Bruce. He is retired Air Force and lives in Dover,De. He has owned his Harley for 4 years, and this was his first trip that he has taken on it without towing it in it's enclosed trailer. He found out that it is much more enjoyable to ride your bike than to tow it. I think I have him hooked on riding it now. The farthest he had ridden on any trip before this was 300 miles, and that was only once. Now I have to teach him how to pack. As you can see by the pictures, he had the trunk and both saddlebags packed, the trunk rack packed, a bag on the passenger seat, and then bags stacked on them. This was for a 6 day trip. All the bikers poked fun at him for bringing so much stuff. We got ask several times where we were camping at. I would be laughing while he explained we were not camping. We stayed at a motel every night. I would grab my Beer 30 made trunk bag and go into the motel room. I had one saddle bag empty and an empty bag on my trunk rack. He had to get a cart every night to haul his stuff in the room. And I got to sleep until he got his bike loaded every morning. But hey, the rookie had to learn, and he did.

 

All the razzing aside, we had a great trip and I highly recommend this route to you.

 

And one final note. The dam in the picture is Fugitive Dam in NC. That is where Harrison Ford did the swan dive while Tommy Lee Jones was holding a gun on him in the movie The Fugitive.

[mini-muffin]

Wow that is alot of stuff for one person. We don't pack that much and there's two of us. Of course Jeff tows the trailer with all sorts of stuff when we do maintenance at places.

 

By the way Tim are you coming on the 13th to the meet at the Radish?

 

Margaret

[BuddyRich]

:rotf:

Love the pic of the hotel cart and a motorcycle. Its takes a couple of trips before you sort out what is needed and what's not

[SledgeHammer]

Margaret,

I will not be able to make the Radish on the 13th. I have been somewhere on the bike every week since Labor Day. I have been gone every week-end since Labor day and including Labor Day week-end. I need to spend a little time at home now. The wife has been really tolerant, but I know I have pushed it being on the road so much lately. So I need to work on the Honey-do list and finish getting moved into the new home. I will have to catch you and Muffinman on the next one.

[Sleeperhawk]

I am glad you had a great time. Sounds like the makins of another WildHair.

 

:rotf:

[Gary N.]

Great pics Tim. Leslie and I did part of the Skyline Drive about 30 years ago after a trip to Washington DC. I seem to recall a very slow speed limit (30 or 35 mph). We were using a '66 Chev pickup with a 9' slide in camper back then and owning a bike was only a dream. I'd sure like to make that trip again and do the Blue Ridge too.

We're planning a fall trip in the next week or so and maybe we'll get over that way again.

[ADC]

Glad you had a great trip Tim.I rode the Skyline a couple of weeks ago and saw bear and deer.At the loft mountain wayside deer were in the parking lot just wandering around the people and cars didn't bother them they were just about tame.

Arthur

[Guest KitCarson]

A friend and I just completed one of the most spectacular trips that I have been on, and it was in my backyard. We started at Front Royal,Va and rode the 105 miles of the Shenandoah National Park. The Shenandoah National Park (Skyline Drive) ends and the Blue Ridge Parkway begins. We rode the 469 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway from beginning to end. The Parkway ends in Cherokee, NC. We then rode to the Dragon. Although, I was at Vogel and the Dragon in August with VentureRiders, and even though, I have been riding the Parkway for years, it is the first time that I have ridden from the Shenandoah and completely through the Blue Ridge on a single trip. We ended up doing over 700 miles of nothing but mountain roads in 4 days and a total of 1300 miles in 6 days. You can easily ride the Shenandoah and the Blue Ridge in 3 days. We took our time and stopped at a lot of overlooks. The scenery was spectacular. The weather was great. We ran into rain on the last day when we returning home. The wildlife was great. We saw dozens of deer, scores of turkeys, several hawks, and even 2 black bear at 2 different times. One of the bears was on the shoulder of the road. The other bear was in the road. We were not even sure that it was going to run away to begin with,but it did. I have been going to the Blue Ridge since I was a kid, and have never seen a Black Bear there. How lucky can you get to see 2 of them on the same trip. Everything about the trip was great. We met lots of great people on motorcycles along the way. If you want a spectacular and memorable trip, I strongly recommend this route. It gave me a different perspective of my own backyard.

 

Now for my Harley riding, high school friend;Bruce. He is retired Air Force and lives in Dover,De. He has owned his Harley for 4 years, and this was his first trip that he has taken on it without towing it in it's enclosed trailer. He found out that it is much more enjoyable to ride your bike than to tow it. I think I have him hooked on riding it now. The farthest he had ridden on any trip before this was 300 miles, and that was only once. Now I have to teach him how to pack. As you can see by the pictures, he had the trunk and both saddlebags packed, the trunk rack packed, a bag on the passenger seat, and then bags stacked on them. This was for a 6 day trip. All the bikers poked fun at him for bringing so much stuff. We got ask several times where we were camping at. I would be laughing while he explained we were not camping. We stayed at a motel every night. I would grab my Beer 30 made trunk bag and go into the motel room. I had one saddle bag empty and an empty bag on my trunk rack. He had to get a cart every night to haul his stuff in the room. And I got to sleep until he got his bike loaded every morning. But hey, the rookie had to learn, and he did.

 

All the razzing aside, we had a great trip and I highly recommend this route to you.

 

And one final note. The dam in the picture is Fugitive Dam in NC. That is where Harrison Ford did the swan dive while Tommy Lee Jones was holding a gun on him in the movie The Fugitive.

I agree with you. I have been all over the United State, I am not retired, most likely never will be, so I have to work longer trips in. I have always been impressed with the States of Virginia, and North Carolina, and Jealous!! All we have in our backyard is sand and pine trees! Virginia is a very pretty place, sure is.

[Riderduke]

Glad to see you had a great trip. I wish I could have met up with you guys and rode a couple of days.

I have seen a Few bikers (me for one) lock up their breaks because of a Black Bear ran out in front of them. I also saw a biker go down because of a bear. He and His bike were ok.

[VTirelli]

That's exactly the trip we took this summer, weather didn't cooperate on the Blue Ridge as it was raining so hard we decided to Interstate it until it cleared, but what we DID ride was spectacular.

Loved the Cherahola too.

definitely in our plans to do again.

[bmxndad]

Me and my brother (Gold Wing) did this trip from South to North in May. It was very fun and scenic. We did the Cherahola before we got on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I liked the South end of the Parkway the best, although all is nice. Its fun to whoop it up and get noisy in the tunnels, although it can be hard to see in those tunnels sometimes. After seeing parts of Kyle Petty's 2006 ride, my dream ride is now Glacier National Park, that looks like some tremendous riding.

 

Ross

[Midrsv]

my dream ride is now Glacier National Park, that looks like some tremendous riding.

 

Ross

 

Follow your dream. I rode the "going to the sun highway" through Glacier with friends in July. It was an impressive ride.

 

Dt

[SledgeHammer]

I have done the Glacier National Park in a cage. It is spectacular also. I would like to do it on a bike next time.

[Freebird]

I had the pleasure of doing it on the bike about 4 or 5 years ago. It was fantastic. Be sure and do the "Road to the sun" if you make it up there. Fantastic and beautiful place to ride. We crossed over into Canada and went to Banff (did I spell that right:confused24:). On the USA side, we stayed at a small motel right inside the park. Had a great time. Even went white water rafting while we were there. Here is a pic of Eileen and I at the top of the "Road to the Sun". Wouldn't hurt to wear a jacket.