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Published: August 22nd 2008
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random turtle
I saw this guy crossing the road as I was riding This morning has been wonderful so far. I got up and had breakfast with Aaron before he left for school. And Whitney was up just in time to see me get on the road too. I think they got a significant amount of rain last night, so hopefully it washed off some of the bugs that are on the front of my bike. I don’t even try to keep the bike looking clean and shiny, especially with frequent rain riding and storms at night. I found out I was their first visitor to their place since their wedding.
I found a local restaurant called Breadmans (thanks to Whitney!), and got a mocha over there while I planned my route for the day. I only have about 150 miles to travel today so it is not bad at all. Tonight I am staying in a cabin at Camp Thunderbird, Kayla arranged this for me while I was in Harrisonburg. But back to the story. I’m sitting at my booth at Breadmans just looking at my route on my laptop, and plugging that into the GPS. The waiter comes by a few times, and finally he comes up and says “I have
close up
I didn't want to get too close, I had to idea what it would do! to dig into this a little more, are you planning some kind of huge road trip?” I think he might have seen the road map and route I was looking at on the laptop. So I told him what was going on and where I was from, and he told me he used to live in Portland doing some shows with his local band. So he goes on doing his work, and as I am about to leave he says the coffee is on him, and wishes me a fun and safe trip. That definitely made my morning! It might not sound like much, but it was a very nice gesture. And so I go out to get ready to ride off, and another guy comes outside and says “Hey, it’s the Honda man!”. He comes up and introduces himself as the owner of the restaurant, and tells me a little about himself. He is a fellow rider; he owns a BMW. I guess word gets around fast for the crazy Oregonian out cruising around the country! So we chat for a few minutes, and he heads back inside and wishes me a fun trip. I was glad I stopped by this place, I almost didn’t since they were more of a restaurant and not a coffee shop. From what I see, Chapel Hill is a great college town, the people are very friendly, and even though it is a larger town it still feels somewhat small.
The riding today was pretty good, although at times I was a little scared I was going to get rained on. Thankfully it never rained. The roads were pretty nice, although the speed limit was, well, limiting my riding and cornering speeds at times. But it was definitely nice scenery, and very remote at times which was good. I am staying in my own cabin tonight, and I think I have it all to myself. It has bunks for probably 20 people, and a bathroom in the adjacent room for all those people. And yes, I have it to myself. And it costs me nothing, sweet! I am stayng at camp Thunderbird, which is a camp managed by YMCA. Kayla knows a girl that works here, and she hooked me up with the place to stay. They even had dinner for me if I wanted it, although I ate a little while before I came so I wasn’t hungry.
I did A LOT of trip planning today and made lots of phone calls. Things are falling into place nicely and I have the next 2 weeks planned out except for 1 day. I’m trying to find a place to stay in southern Ohio this Sunday night, so if anyone knows anyone down there where I could stay, please email me ASAP! I am trying to find somewhere between Knoxville, TN and Akron, OH. I think it is too far to go in one day, so I am trying to find a place about halfway there to stop for the night. I might just end up grabbing a motel if I can’t find a place, not a big deal at all.
I found a web site dedicated to Deals Gap and Tail of the Dragon. I was looking through all the road conditions to find the good roads to ride on and which roads to avoid. It was very helpful indeed! And I was looking through their schedule for the summer and found out this weekend is the Women’s Sportbike Rally! So I think there are going to be a lot of women sportbike riders out there for the days that I am there. That should be pretty cool. Check out http://womenssportbikerally.com/home.html if you want more info. Also check out http://www.dealsgap.com/ or http://www.tailofthedragon.com/ for general info.
Time to watch a couple episodes of the office, then head to bed...I have been awaiting the riding tomorrow for about 3 years now...
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