Ride Report: Blue Ridge Parkway, Oct 9-11, 2010

[Switch]

Day 1, from my point of view:


As with all good trips, my ride started with planning. I had already made a checklist on Wednesday and packed everything I needed. This was new to me, as I typically just go off the top of my head. Friday is when I got the consumables. Eggs, Dry Ice, Bread. Hannah came home that night from college. She knew I was leaving the next day, so she wasn’t too disappointed when I went to bed early that night.

7:15am, Saturday, Oct 9th. My phone is making the most annoying sound I could find in the presets for the alarm. I roll out of bed and take what will be my last shower for the next three days. I feed my two dogs, Bowser and Holly, and pack my cooler on my bike. I packed everything else the night before.

I kiss the fiancé goodbye and head out on the road. Just a few miles up the interstate and I’m at Nick’s house. I make the usual loud entrance, which is quickly stopped by Nick telling me to, “Shut the hell up,” as Andrea is still asleep. In the garage, we finish the packing. Nick pulls out his headsets and asks if I have a lighter outlet on my bike. Of course, I don’t. He considers not bringing them now, but in the end we figure “what the hell, might as well.” Thank God for that. Those headsets were a lifesaver.

We depart Lenoir City and make our way through Knoxville. We ride down I-40 for a while, then we hit I-81. Our headsets are filled with meaningless banter, windnoise, and typical “guy talk.” We recollect old high school relationships and tomfoolery. We talk trash about every car we see, and try to freak out our fellow interstate travelers. The range on the FZ1 is nowhere near the GS’; only 120 miles for me on the interstate, so we stop. I don’t remember the first place we stopped, but, I do remember the second.

I really had to do number 2, so I run inside and start my business. Not 2 minutes later, some random country song comes on the radio. This doesn’t surprise me, as we are in rural Virginia. What does surprise me, however, is that the man in the stall next to me starts singing along. I tell Nick about this over Google Talk, and he tells me to join in. I would have, except I don’t listen to country.

We carry on, down the road, and eventually end up at the BRP. Sometime between where we turned off and where we needed to turn on the BRP, our headsets cut out. If you’ve ever ridden behind Nick, you know he doesn’t use turn signals, nor does he come to a slow stop. It is abrupt and without warning. Our trip was almost cut short before it began because of this. Thankfully I was able to brake without washing out the front-end (thank you Trackdays!).

We get on the BRP and take the mandatory pictures of us standing at the “Start of the Blue Ridge Parkway” sign. After this, we hop on our bikes and head down the road to the first campsite. About 10 minutes in, we start seeing what the BRP is all about: the amazing views. We pull off the road to check it out at Raven’s Roost. We walk out to the precipice in full gear, amongst the other tourist. We drew some looks, but most of the attention was focused on the view. We notice there are climbers here as well, and joke about cutting their support lines.

We carry on after the pictures. 20 something miles later, we stop, finally, at Montebello Campground: mile marker 27 on the BRP. We arrive at the site and find that Fred is nowhere to be found. The only trace of him is a decrepit tent, hastily put together, with the wrong length poles.

Nick sets up his tent and we ride our bikes to the local store. The store is definitely interesting. It has the feel of a General Store of days gone by. We get some firewood, marshmallows, and bug spray. Nick requested I get him chocolate, so I obliged since he was sharing his tent with me. The cashiers were a team of a sweet older lady with gray hair in a denim vest and a younger woman, mid-30’s, with a long blonde braid and a plaid button-up shirt. Neither of them seemed to fit in with the landscape. Perhaps transplants from another life, just trying to “get away from it all.”

We get back to the campsite and start our fire for dinner. Fred meets us, finally, and shows up with a 12-pack of Yuengling and a 3-man tent. We decide, after much argument, that I will share the tent with Fred as his tent is bigger than Nick’s. We change out of our riding gear and start dinner: Chili Dogs. We filled the Dutch oven with water and cooking oil, threw the Hebrew National hot dogs in, and put the lid on. Nick opened the chili can and set it on the grate above our fire. 10 minutes later we were feasting on the best chilidogs I’ve had in my life.

After dinner, Nick took a shower. Fred and I shot the shit and roasted marshmallows. After Nick got back, I decided to take a shower. When I got in, I was alone. After I finished my shower, which was more of just a rinse since I had no soap or shampoo, I hear this voice , “Are you done?!” I think it’s Fred and I respond “yeah.” The raspy voice then questions “Is there any hot water?” I now know it isn’t Fred and become very short. I respond with a simple, “Yes.” The stranger replies: “Oh good, cause I’ve been in these places where there is no hot water!” I do not reply.

I grab my towel, dry off, and put on my clothes in the stall. I walk over to the mirror to dry my hair and make it somewhat presentable. The stranger walks out of the stall from taking a dump, wearing no pants, no shoes, only a t-shirt, and walks right into the shower. I found this strange, to say the least.

I return to camp and know that I have to sleep well tonight, so I take a couple Benadryl and wash it down with a beer. We talk some more, and are interrupted by a dog running through our camp site. This is shortly followed by a somewhat distant female voice saying “I swear, your only job was to was to watch her! You can’t even do that right! Go find her!”

A man appears shortly and I say, “Your dog is down there,” pointing in the general direction of the dog’s path. Later, the same man asks if we have any extra “fire starters.” I tell him that we used pine needles, which are abundant all around our campsites. He replies with “Well, good God, I’m not a woodsman!” I am instantly disappointed with his manliness. We later see, what I presume to be, his son spraying some kind of flammable aerosol on their fire and saying “I GOT IT STARTED!” Way to go kid.

After this excitement, I go to bed. I toss and turn all night, and my face is cold throughout the night. I may have gotten 6 hours of sleep, but I am constantly woken up by the campsite noises. I wake up the next morning with back pain and a headache.

[marko138]

Originally Posted by Bonesaw

Day 1, from my point of view:


As with all good trips, my ride started with planning. I had already made a checklist on Wednesday and packed everything I needed. This was new to me, as I typically just go off the top of my head. Friday is when I got the consumables. Eggs, Dry Ice, Bread. Hannah came home that night from college. She knew I was leaving the next day, so she wasn’t too disappointed when I went to bed early that night.

7:15am, Saturday, Oct 9th. My phone is making the most annoying sound I could find in the presets for the alarm. I roll out of bed and take what will be my last shower for the next three days. I feed my two dogs, Bowser and Holly, and pack my cooler on my bike. I packed everything else the night before.

I kiss the fiancé goodbye and head out on the road. Just a few miles up the interstate and I’m at Nick’s house. I make the usual loud entrance, which is quickly stopped by Nick telling me to, “Shut the hell up,” as Andrea is still asleep. In the garage, we finish the packing. Nick pulls out his headsets and asks if I have a lighter outlet on my bike. Of course, I don’t. He considers not bringing them now, but in the end we figure “what the hell, might as well.” Thank God for that. Those headsets were a lifesaver.

We depart Lenoir City and make our way through Knoxville. We ride down I-40 for a while, then we hit I-81. Our headsets are filled with meaningless banter, windnoise, and typical “guy talk.” We recollect old high school relationships and tomfoolery. We talk trash about every car we see, and try to freak out our fellow interstate travelers. The range on the FZ1 is nowhere near the GS’; only 120 miles for me on the interstate, so we stop. I don’t remember the first place we stopped, but, I do remember the second.

I really had to do number 2, so I run inside and start my business. Not 2 minutes later, some random country song comes on the radio. This doesn’t surprise me, as we are in rural Virginia. What does surprise me, however, is that the man in the stall next to me starts singing along. I tell Nick about this over Google Talk, and he tells me to join in. I would have, except I don’t listen to country.

We carry on, down the road, and eventually end up at the BRP. Sometime between where we turned off and where we needed to turn on the BRP, our headsets cut out. If you’ve ever ridden behind Nick, you know he doesn’t use turn signals, nor does he come to a slow stop. It is abrupt and without warning. Our trip was almost cut short before it began because of this. Thankfully I was able to brake without washing out the front-end (thank you Trackdays!).

We get on the BRP and take the mandatory pictures of us standing at the “Start of the Blue Ridge Parkway” sign. After this, we hop on our bikes and head down the road to the first campsite. About 10 minutes in, we start seeing what the BRP is all about: the amazing views. We pull off the road to check it out at Raven’s Roost. We walk out to the precipice in full gear, amongst the other tourist. We drew some looks, but most of the attention was focused on the view. We notice there are climbers here as well, and joke about cutting their support lines.

We carry on after the pictures. 20 something miles later, we stop, finally, at Montebello Campground: mile marker 27 on the BRP. We arrive at the site and find that Fred is nowhere to be found. The only trace of him is a decrepit tent, hastily put together, with the wrong length poles.

Nick sets up his tent and we ride our bikes to the local store. The store is definitely interesting. It has the feel of a General Store of days gone by. We get some firewood, marshmallows, and bug spray. Nick requested I get him chocolate, so I obliged since he was sharing his tent with me. The cashiers were a team of a sweet older lady with gray hair in a denim vest and a younger woman, mid-30’s, with a long blonde braid and a plaid button-up shirt. Neither of them seemed to fit in with the landscape. Perhaps transplants from another life, just trying to “get away from it all.”

We get back to the campsite and start our fire for dinner. Fred meets us, finally, and shows up with a 12-pack of Yuengling and a 3-man tent. We decide, after much argument, that I will share the tent with Fred as his tent is bigger than Nick’s. We change out of our riding gear and start dinner: Chili Dogs. We filled the Dutch oven with water and cooking oil, threw the Hebrew National hot dogs in, and put the lid on. Nick opened the chili can and set it on the grate above our fire. 10 minutes later we were feasting on the best chilidogs I’ve had in my life.

After dinner, Nick took a shower. Fred and I shot the shit and roasted marshmallows. After Nick got back, I decided to take a shower. When I got in, I was alone. After I finished my shower, which was more of just a rinse since I had no soap or shampoo, I hear this voice , “Are you done?!” I think it’s Fred and I respond “yeah.” The raspy voice then questions “Is there any hot water?” I now know it isn’t Fred and become very short. I respond with a simple, “Yes.” The stranger replies: “Oh good, cause I’ve been in these places where there is no hot water!” I do not reply.

I grab my towel, dry off, and put on my clothes in the stall. I walk over to the mirror to dry my hair and make it somewhat presentable. The stranger walks out of the stall from taking a dump, wearing no pants, no shoes, only a t-shirt, and walks right into the shower. I found this strange, to say the least.

I return to camp and know that I have to sleep well tonight, so I take a couple Benadryl and wash it down with a beer. We talk some more, and are interrupted by a dog running through our camp site. This is shortly followed by a somewhat distant female voice saying “I swear, your only job was to was to watch her! You can’t even do that right! Go find her!”

A man appears shortly and I say, “Your dog is down there,” pointing in the general direction of the dog’s path. Later, the same man asks if we have any extra “fire starters.” I tell him that we used pine needles, which are abundant all around our campsites. He replies with “Well, good God, I’m not a woodsman!” I am instantly disappointed with his manliness. We later see, what I presume to be, his son spraying some kind of flammable aerosol on their fire and saying “I GOT IT STARTED!” Way to go kid.

After this excitement, I go to bed. I toss and turn all night, and my face is cold throughout the night. I may have gotten 6 hours of sleep, but I am constantly woken up by the campsite noises. I wake up the next morning with back pain and a headache.

[Trip]

Originally Posted by Bonesaw

I return to camp and know that I have to sleep well tonight, so I take a couple Benadryl and wash it down with a beer. We talk some more, and are interrupted by a dog running through our camp site. This is shortly followed by a somewhat distant female voice saying “I swear, your only job was to was to watch her! You can’t even do that right! Go find her!”

A man appears shortly and I say, “Your dog is down there,” pointing in the general direction of the dog’s path. Later, the same man asks if we have any extra “fire starters.” I tell him that we used pine needles, which are abundant all around our campsites. He replies with “Well, good God, I’m not a woodsman!” I am instantly disappointed with his manliness. We later see, what I presume to be, his son spraying some kind of flammable aerosol on their fire and saying “I GOT IT STARTED!” Way to go kid.

After this excitement, I go to bed. I toss and turn all night, and my face is cold throughout the night. I may have gotten 6 hours of sleep, but I am constantly woken up by the campsite noises. I wake up the next morning with back pain and a headache.

I got to add that the woodsman decided to have a conversation with his wife and two people who showed up at like 1am so loud the entire campsite heard them. They were literally 3 feet from my tent when they did this too. The two women in the group had the most annoying laughs. After about 2 mins of this, some redneck somewhere far away in the campground yells out "WHAT PART OF IT'S QUIET TIME DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!" Fred didn't tell us til the next morning, but you sign something saying you will be quiet after like 10 or 11 when you check in. Well they spend 5 minutes debating if he is talking to them in hushed voices and then proceed with their conversation about bullshit. After about 15 minutes of this I am getting pissed and about to yell something at them when the same redneck makes sure they understand his point by yelling at them again. They thank god decide to go to bed. About 3am, someone lost a dog that was going ape shit and it ran by my tent and they chased them through the campground yelling "shhhhhh!" At about 4 am, some kid decided it would be a good time to start screaming and it took awhile to shut the little bastard up. At about 5-6, some people started waking up, so I didn't get much sleep. I am a light sleeper.

The second night was worse though, it was really windy that night and we slept under trees. The leaves/acorns were falling all night and a big branch landed right on top my tent and scared the ever living shit out of me.

[Mr Lefty]

Originally Posted by Trip

I got to add that the woodsman decided to have a conversation with his wife and two people who showed up at like 1am so loud the entire campsite heard them. They were literally 3 feet from my tent when they did this too. The two women in the group had the most annoying laughs. After about 2 mins of this, some redneck somewhere far away in the campground yells out "WHAT PART OF IT'S QUIET TIME DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!" Fred didn't tell us til the next morning, but you sign something saying you will be quiet after like 10 or 11 when you check in. Well they spend 5 minutes debating if he is talking to them in hushed voices and then proceed with their conversation about bullshit. After about 15 minutes of this I am getting pissed and about to yell something at them when the same redneck makes sure they understand his point by yelling at them again. They thank god decide to go to bed. About 3am, someone lost a dog that was going ape shit and it ran by my tent and they chased them through the campground yelling "shhhhhh!" At about 4 am, some kid decided it would be a good time to start screaming and it took awhile to shut the little bastard up. At about 5-6, some people started waking up, so I didn't get much sleep. I am a light sleeper.

The second night was worse though, it was really windy that night and we slept under trees. The leaves/acorns were falling all night and a big branch landed right on top my tent and scared the ever living shit out of me.

this is EXACTLY why I like primitive camping in random locations not at camp grounds... when I want sleep... I want SLEEP!

though KOA's are very good about keeping people quiet

[Trip]

Here is my report:

I made a plan to do the BRP over the Columbus Day Holiday weekend and camp along the way. All 469 miles from Waynesboro, VA to Cherokee, NC. I needed to do this as a test trip for my 2011 California Adventure. I enlisted two friends to come along with me. One would ride with me from Knoxville and do the whole trip and another from Maryland would meet us at the first campground and ride halfway with us and then go home.

Me and Kyle left from Lenoir City early on 10-9 and traveled up Interstate 75 to 81. We had to make a bunch more stops than needed for me because the FZ1 Kyle was riding was far more limited in range. Here is us stopped in Wytheville, VA because the FZ1 needed gas and it's rider had to poop.



All that Virginia interstate riding was terrible, luckily we were using the Sena SMX 10 headsets that I purchased and had a good time entertaining ourselves with the usual male banter and berating cagers we passed. We finally made it to I-64 and into Waynesboro and finally the start of our real trip, the BRP.



As you can see I was super excited to be here.



It started out with some sweepers and it was much more enjoyable than the stupid interstate, we had a good time making fun of a lot of the signs along the way, the BRP has some hilarious names for places and signs for our immature brains. We got our first real treat of scenery and ravens roost not far from the start. So we stopped and got a few "oh pretty pics."





Don't want to fall off of it. It might hurt.



Well we get back on the bikes and make our way to MM 27 and down the road to Montebello Campground where we will spend the first night.



Yes, it is that full and yes it was loud all night.

It was nice to be under trees instead of being in a hotel though.



We decided to hold a rave for all the rednecks.



It was a loud night though. We had our neighbors start having a domestic dispute with the woman yelling at the man and then the man telling us it's always his fault. They were a lot of fun. He didn't know how to start a campfire and so he asked us and we told him to use pine needles and twigs as kindling and he promptly told us "he is not a woodsman." They also started having a long conversation at 1AM, 3 feet from my tent. Luckily a fellow redneck somewhere in the campground screamed at them a few times telling them "WHAT PART OF QUIET TIME DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND!" til they went to sleep. They lost their dog at 3AM and chased it through my tent area too. They were great people. There was also kids screaming for no reason all night. I do not recommend this campground. Only positive I got to say is I got a hot shower this night, because the food sure did suck.



Yeah, we made eggs in the same dutch oven we burnt some bacon in. They look nasty, but weren't too bad.

We took off out of that redneck nightmare early on 10-10 and were treated to this view not far down the BRP.



It all started blending together after awhile though.



We saw a sign for the natural bridge (we were bombarded with this all the way up interstate 81) and thought we would check it out. There was a nice twisty asphalt road to the natural bridge, so it wasn't too bad of a detour. We found this guy waiting on us when we got there, he looked like he meant business.



We didn't go to the natural bridge, it cost money and we were not interested after seeing the prices and the line to get in.

On the way back to the brp, I tried to take a different route to get back on, but it led right into a gravel road. It was a great little surprise find that was twisty and fun.



Kyle on the FZ1 with PP 2CTs was not amused.



We got back on the BRP and it sort of leveled out and was kinda boring Virgina roads and we didn't really stop much or see anything great in this lower section of Virginia. So I don't really have pics of it. Eventually the FZ1 needed gas again, so we made a little pitstop in Floyd, VA.



We stopped in the dumpy section, apparently there was a much nicer part if we would of kept going a little bit as we found out on the way back to the BRP.