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Published: June 14th 2013
Almost heaven, West Virginia, Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River
Life is old there, older than the trees, younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze
Bumpy roads, for too long at a pace that's all wrong
West Virginia, motor momma, speed controlled, winding roads
All my memories gonna save her, all that's missing is some running water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky, moths and humidity, sweat gets in my eye
Forest roads, lacking streams, in the place we ride along
West Virginia, getting hotta, take me home, country roads
I hear her voice in the morning hour she calls me, the radio reminds me of my home far away
And driving down the road I get a feeling that I could have blogged this yesterday, yesterday
Country roads, take me home to the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain Ranger, raise the speed, on these roads
Country roads, take me home to the place I belong
West Virginia, near a coma, speed it up, country roads
Let's ride, let's corner, let's go! Damn, the speed limit is only 55
km/h and it's monitored. So much for the anticipation!
At the hotel in Gettysburg yesterday, two Harley couples on bikes equipped with trailers (jealous) also recommended we ride the Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia on our westward journey. The ridge route 320 however is preceded by the Shenandoah Valley (isn't that a Benjamin Moore green paint colour?) National Park also on route 320 so we opted to start here. Surprisingly, we rode through 4 states: Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia in the span of 50 miles. Once through Mount Royal, VA and to the start of the park, the (whoa) $10.00 each park entrance fee got us onto Skyline Drive that traverses the mountains for 160 kms. We climbed up to 3500 feet at times, the summits offering spectacular valley views throughout the ride. I enjoyed the small, forested, tightly winding road more than Ian, who found it boring after a while because of the low slo-mo speed limit and lack of streams to keep him interested. 99% of the ride was under tree canopy with dense woods either side, the only openings being at the viewpoints. A few times we were able to break the law and
speed up, but they were shortlived as we caught slower traffic ahead of us. The humidity was unbearable most of the day, and after only a few minutes, our jackets and jeans adhered themselves to any wet bare skin they could find. Stopping at the viewpoints was the worst because my favourite, the moths, would swarm us the instant we stopped. If you think I'm taking off my helmet right now, not a chance. I will put up with sweat rolling into my eyes and down my cheeks and neck before I allow disgusting moths to land on me and disintegrate on the spot. Ugh. They are worse than my fear of mice, metal deck bridges, grooved pavement and wasps combined. I think Ian must have been trying to wind me up because he kept suggesting we camp for the night in one of the park's campgrounds. Nice try. NOT, in this ugly-scary-heartattackinducing-butterfly infested neck of the woods. We did check out the sites merely out of curiosity (with me secretly hoping they would be full), but they offered little privacy and not on Ian's beloved stream, so we are safe for tonight.
We were in the park riding
slowly and stopping to take in the views of the Shenandoah Valley for about 3 hours riding only 100 kms before exiting on route 33 at 6:00 pm to find a nearby town and accommodation. We inadvertently turned left instead of right due to Ian's GPS (I can't see anything on my screen anymore due to rain abuse and condensation - guess rice is on the next grocery stop) which was determined to get us to the nearest hotel and backtracked eastwards and then south for 30 miles to the outskirts of Charlottesville, about which we know nothing! McDonald's here we come again, dig out the iPad, find a hotel! It's a regular pattern and we're thankful to you for providing free WiFi for the duration of our trip thus far. The Fairfield Marriott Suites won us over, and within minutes of moving in, we were in the outdoor moth-free pool cooling off.
We have no idea where we are going from here. We did make a post-Skyline Drive decision to only ride the Blue Ridge mountains for a few miles if there is no park entrance fee, just to see them, and then we will continue west avoiding
big cities, tornados, thunderstorms and forest fires if we can. More research tonight!
P.S. Thanks John Denver!
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