Day 4: South down the Parkway

Morning dawned bright and hazy. It was still hot. One by one we slowly emerged from bed and began to gather on the back deck. Coffee in hand we started contemplating our day. After a brief conversation around a map we quickly agreed upon Roanoke, VA.  We packed up and headed out onto the Blue Ridge Highway. Today we truly experienced the Blue Ridge. The road is often covered with a canopy of trees that touch above and shadow the road. No commercial vehicles are allowed on the road, so truly it is all about the journey. So many motorcycles passed up along the way. I am still amazing, as I was from the first day I learned to ridge in April of 2005, at the camaraderie of motorcyclists. We all signal "hello" as we pass each other by. After about 60 miles down the road we headed down an "off-road" leading into a small town. That road was crazy, cool. The windy, twist road made me feel like my head was pointing down and my back tire was pointing upward. The slope was like no other I experiences. You rolled out of one curve and linked into the next. It reminded me of a moguls run down a ski slope. The small town was just that, small. No restaurants so to speak. Because of its proximity to the interstate we were able to find a McDonalds. After a leisurely breakfast it was back to the Blue Ridge. We road along the country side looking for an "on-road". Once found, we were back on the beautiful Blue Ridge. One stop along the way took us near a creek and dam. We pulled off just to stretch, but so many opportunities for pictures. The area look "untouched" by civilization. The beauty of nature brought me awe and pleasure. If I had not already done so, today I forgot about all of my professional life and was just living in the moment. So this is what it means to "live in the moment"! I want so many more of these moments in life. During our stop we made hotel arrangements in Roanoke. Another 80 plus miles later we pulled into a Harley Dealer in Roanoke, Va. It was there, for the first time that day, I noticed just how hot it was. It felt like 140 degrees; and perhaps with my oil pan just under my seat, it might have been. One goal at the Harley Dealer was for Wayne to check his brakes. Apparently on the down hill earlier in the day he felt his back brake catch and hold from time to time. Having the dealer check it would just bring a peace of mind. It also allowed up about an hour to kill in the store. When I first learned to ride I couldn't understand why Harley riders always stopped at Harley stores. While, I'm slowing learning. Besides buying the area specific T-shirt, there is a camaraderie among Harley riders and workers that is like no other customer-business relationship I know. We enjoyed the rest bit, talked about the current bikes and new bikes, until Wayne's bike was finally "fixed". Thankfully it was just a good grease job that freed the back brake to catch and release more easily. We were finally off to our hotel. Our hotel was across from a Red Lobster. After a great meal at Red Lobster, we checked in and unpacked. Unpacking is a combination of efficiency and effort. As a rider you can only take a small amount of clothing. It needs to efficiently fit into a small space. So unloading my bike was easy. However, rearranging the saddle bags that I don't unpack each day is a bit more work. Now I needed to pack my coat back into the saddle bag. That required me to pull out the chaps I wore the night before and roll them tighter so they could go back in first so I could put my coat on top so that it was most readily available if I needed it in the morning. Of course, once you pull one item out you disturb all the items so they need to be pulled out, re-rolled, and repacked. It truly is an art. After unloading the bike, it was a race to the shower. A cool shower felt so good. From there we all congregated by the pool so what we hoped would be a relaxing evening of story telling. Shortly upon arriving we heard it thunder and saw the lightening. We moved out "party" to the sidewalk outside our rooms. There we congregated for a few hours, listening to the distant thunder, enjoying the music of the wind, appreciated the lightening show and told our stories. Finally, as we each reached the point where we wilted in our chairs, we headed off to bed, knowing tomorrow our destination was some place in North Carolina.