 Crossing the border into WV on my way to Shepherdstown for the start of the tour. 640 x 480 800 x 600 |
 The main house of The Bavarian Inn, where we stayed in Shepherdstown, WV on the first night of the tour and the last night of the tour. 640 x 480 800 x 600 |
 I'm normally not one to go to flea markets, but this one definitely had me interested. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to wait around to see if he showed up. 640 x 480 800 x 600 |
 The view from The Panorama Overlook near Berkeley Springs, WV. No...that's not smoke. It's clouds/fog. 640 x 480 800 x 600 |
 Cool old fountain in Pinoak, WV. 640 x 480 800 x 600 |
 Crossing back into Virginia. Seemingly, while taking this picture, a bee landed on me, and it would sting me on the neck shortly after this picture was taken, once I started riding again. 640 x 480 800 x 600 |
 At Mile 0 of the Blue Ridge Parkway, about to do the entire thing. 640 x 480 800 x 600 |
 View from the first overlook on the parkway. The parkway has 250 overlooks, so I got one picture from the first one to get it out of the way. 640 x 480 800 x 600 |
 Mabry's Mill. This is the most photographed site on the Blue Ridge Parkway. 640 x 480 800 x 600 |
 Crossing into North Carolina on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's interesting to note that in order to accurately represent the state line on the Parkway, the actual line is drawn diagonally across the road. 640 x 480 800 x 600 |
 Local/family cemetery that was alongside the parkway. Small cemeteries were frequently in view of the road. 640 x 480 800 x 600 |
 View from the back porch of my room upon waking up at the Pisgah Inn. The bumps are the peaks of lower altitude mountains, and the white is clouds/fog. 640 x 480 800 x 600 |
 Welcome to driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway at 11:00 a.m. on an otherwise sunny day when you enter a cloud. Unfortunately, this is pretty tame compared to the worst of it. I was afraid to take a picture when it was really bad, for fear of getting run over. 640 x 480 800 x 600 |
 Try not to break down in western North Carolina. The motorcycle repair shops are very primitive there. Actually, this is a display of an old motorcycle repair in the Wheels Through Time Museum. 640 x 480 800 x 600 |
 At Mile 469, the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We did it end to end except for two stretches where we had to detour off because of hurricane damage. 640 x 480 800 x 600 |
 Cooter's Place in Gatlinburg, TN, featuring the General Lee. 640 x 480 800 x 600 |
 Crossing into Tennessee the second time. I went back into North Carolina after visiting Gatlinburg. 640 x 480 800 x 600 |
 The entire gang (sans our fearless leader, Frank) at The Hotel Roanoke. Notice my enormous head completely blocking the sun so it's impossible to see Millie. 640 x 480 800 x 600 |
 Swaying foot bridge across a river in Rockbridge Baths, Virginia. I saw a number of these swaying bridges in North Carolina, but this was the only one I noticed in Virginia. According to the sign, they are maintained by VDOT. Specifically, this bridge is numbered 9002. The sign above the bridge says something on the order of a warning to walk carefully and not do anything to cause the bridge to sway. I found by experiment that even if you do walk carefully, the bridge creaks and sways. Click here to see a dull 1.4M movie of my crossing the bridge. You can hear the creaking and a see a bit of the swaying at the very end. 480 x 640 600 x 800 |
 We took the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway going south, and caught the 105-mile Skyline Drive coming back north. The two roads are connected, both of them managed by the National Park Service. Where one ends, the other begins. So, what's the difference between the two? There are a number of basic ones. For one, Skyline Drive costs money, and the Blue Ridge Parkway is free. Second, Skyline Drive is surrounded by Shenandoah National Park, and the Blue Ridge Parkway is, at parts, not surrounded by much of anything. At a few points on the Blue Ridge Parkway, houses are right up against it and the park itself is a few hundred feet wide. Third, the default speed limit on Skyline Drive is 35 MPH, and it's 45 MPH on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Anyway, where they connect in Lyndhurst, VA, I expected something a little more dramatic. Instead, it's just this basic sign pointing you one way or the other. 640 x 480 800 x 600 |
 On our last night back at the Bavarian Inn, we were all given high-end rooms. My bathroom had this crazy water fountain in it. I don't know what the deal was...the water didn't taste right. 640 x 480 800 x 600 |
