Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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I have to say it is nice to be on the road again. When I am staying with my friends for more than a day or 2, sometimes it feels like I am not doing anything productive. I don’t really enjoy leaving my friends, but after I leave it feels like I am experiencing life in a whole new way. There is just something about being on the bike and soaking up my surroundings.

I had some odd experiences throughout my day so far. I rode on the Blue Ridge Parkway for about 60 miles, and what a beautiful area! The speed limit is 10mph faster than on Skyline Drive, so it makes some of the turns a lot more interesting. The road is in great shape, and there are some awesome stretches of road and viewpoints out there. There’s not really much sign of civilization along the way, which makes it a neat experience. I was just about to pull off the road at one of the viewpoints, and right as I got into the gravel on the side of the road I see a HUGE (ok maybe not huge, but larger than your average snake from back home) snake slithering across the gravel. I stopped quick to see if I could find it, but had no luck. From what I remember it was black, if you stretched it out I think it would be at least 4 feet long, and its largest diameter might have been around 1 inch. I think this might have been the largest non-domestic snake I have ever seen! I didn’t even get a chance to snap a picture of it, otherwise I definitely would have.

Further down the parkway I saw 2 deer and 2 fawns along the road. Luckily they didn’t jump out in front of me, because I was going fast enough where I wouldn’t have had time to swerve or slow down. I figured I would turn around quick and go snap a picture of them. In the process of turning around I just about ran the bike off the road into the grass/mud mix. The bike was situated so that the front tire was about a foot off the road and heading down into the deep mud, and the rear tire was pointing in the same direction. I managed to keep the bike where it was, hop off, get a good grip of the handlebar with one hand, I gripped the right foot peg with the other hand, and just pulled backward as hard as I could. I barely got the bike out, managed to not tip it over, and luckily there were no cars that came by. So I told myself that I gradually had to go faster in the upcoming turns, so that I could get any mud off the front tire. Ok that is a lame excuse, but I am always looking for one to push the bike a little harder in the twisties.

All of the roads today were awesome. They were in decent shape, very scenic and hilly, very little traffic, and all of these together equate to a good time. I did manage to hit about 1.5 miles of gravel, which wasn’t too bad. It was either ride on it or backtrack for 5-10 miles. And it was nice and warm today (80’s) with no rain, another factor that adds to the fun level. I hit a stretch of road about a mile long that was AMAZING. It was freshly paved within the last year or 2, many corners with a posted speed of 15/20/25mph, many long switchbacks, and no traffic. I had to let loose a little, and it turned my ride today into a memorable experience. I think it also warmed me up for Tail of the Dragon, which I will ride multiple times in the next few days.

I’m just getting ready to head over to see where Aaron and Whitney live, and I grabbed a quick bite to eat at Quizno’s. I will still have a few hours to kill today, so I might head to the library to see if there is internet access. Until next time…

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Photos

Blue Ridge Parway
nice view

The dog
Aaron and Whitney's dog, we must have worn him out so much that he was comfortable sleeping like this