DAY 11 Thursday, May 12, 2011

Last night I got to bed at 12:30 AM. I had finally finished my blog and labeled the pictures. Have patience please, the pictures will be posted soon. Bruce was watching the basketball game and when it ended, he started reading his book. I finished my computer work and went to bed. Bruce put his book away and turned the light off. Time to sleep.

My alarm sounded at 6:30 AM. We got up and got dressed and packed. We weren’t in any hurry because Chuck and Bruce were going to ride to a Harley dealer so that Chuck could get a new rear tire and Bruce could get an oil change. Jan was going to ride to Covington, VA to go and visit his uncle. Bruce and I went downstairs to the breakfast room. As we were having breakfast, the others came in and joined us. After we finished, Jan went back to his room and got his stuff, packed his Motor and left. The plan was that when we were ready to leave the hotel, call him and he would head to the end of the Parkway and wait for us. Chuck and Bruce had their Motors empty and they left for the Harley shop to get their Motors worked on. With the three Harley Boys gone, that left C.E., Ken and me at the hotel. We tried to keep ourselves busy by cleaning our Motors and packing them to make sure that they were ready for when Chuck and Bruce called that they were returning. Chuck called me at 8:30 AM and told me that he would be ready in about 1 hour and 45 minutes. I asked the clerk at the front desk if we could have a late checkout in my room. She said that it was OK and C.E. moved Chuck’s stuff to my room. C.E., Ken and I rode our Motors about 4 blocks away to a Wal-Mart to buy and Ethernet cable for my computer, sun screen for Ken and a small battery for C.E. Chuck called at 10:08 AM and told me that a crack was found on the header exhaust pipe. Harley! Chuck told me that he would call later with more information. At 11:24 AM Chuck called and told me that they were done with his Motor and they were enroute back to the hotel. At 11:39 AM, Chuck and Bruce arrived at the hotel. They went to Bruce and my room and retrieved their stuff. They packed their Motors and we were ready to go. Bruce called Jan and left a message on his voice mail telling him that we were now leaving. We left at 11:55 AM.

Bruce led the Group, minus Jan, to Highway 220 and then I-81 northbound. We got off of the interstate at Exit 167 and onto Highway 43, where we made an immediate stop at a gas station/mini-mart. We had ridden for 26 miles and stopped at 12:20 PM. Bruce had stopped to ask us if we wanted to stop for lunch or continue on. We all agreed to eat lunch later. Bruce was about to ride off but I had gotten off of my Motor and called to Bruce and asked what the plan was. He told me that we were going to continue. I told him that we needed to stay for a while as I needed a pit stop. I have to say that the pit stop was all Chuck’s fault! We left with Bruce this morning for 3 hours or so and didn’t assign C.E. or Ken to keep me from drinking more coffee. While Chuck was gone, I drank 8 cups of coffee! That was a mistake…Chuck’s. We left at 12:26 PM.

We continued on towards the Blue Ridge Parkway. It felt strange to me, riding at the rear position, to see only 5 Motors in the Group. We rode north on the Parkway and enjoyed the ride. We had ridden for 48 miles and we stopped at the Rice Mountain View at 1:29 PM. It was time for a pit stop; however, there were no facilities. There were thousands of trees! You get the picture. We left at 1:37 PM.

We continued north on the Parkway and it started to sprinkle. We were going to get off the Parkway at the Highway 60 Exit and go to Buena Vista, VA for lunch. Just before we got to the Exit, we passed a roadside rest area on the left side where there was a sole Motor parked at the far end. The Motor looked familiar as we were passing it. We were passing the Motor and I had to do a double take on him and realized that it was Jan! As the Group was getting off at the Exit, I slowed to make sure that Jan saw that we were exiting. Jan caught up and got behind me. We stopped at the first available restaurant, which was a Hardees, because it had started to rain a little harder. We arrived after riding 13 miles and it was 1:59 PM. We quickly parked and got our rain gear and went inside. We had lunch. Jan had told us that his visit with his uncle was very pleasant and he enjoyed the ride. He had stopped in Buena Vista at the Subway and had lunch. He had just stopped at the rest area and took off his helmet when we came along. After lunch, we all put on our rain gear. A couple of the patrons of the Hardees had questioned us as to where we were riding. It is always fun to hear the questions and see their reactions when we tell them where we are going and where we started from. We saddled up and left at 2:53 PM.

Bruce led us to the entrance to the Parkway. We were going to continue going NORTH. We came to the stop sign and there was a sign pointing NORTH. Bruce stopped at the stop sign, as he should, looked both ways and when it was safe to do so, he turned SOUTH. It was 3:05 PM. The rest of us were positioned to turn NORTH. We all looked at each other, shook our heads and watched Bruce as he rode SOUTH…all by himself! We watched Bruce as his tail lights got smaller…and smaller…and smaller…and smaller, until we no longer could see him. We couldn’t help but laugh and wonder how far Bruce was going to go before he looked in his rear view mirror and saw…NO ONE! Three minutes later, when Bruce didn’t return, Ken rode after him to stop him. At about 3:10 PM, Bruce and Ken had not returned so I figured that we would see them soon so I got my camera and started recording a video. I recorded the guys talking about this incident and what flack Bruce is going to get for it. As I was recording the area SOUTH of us, about 8 minutes from the time Bruce made the turn to the SOUTH, I told the guys that Bruce and Ken were returning. Bruce rode by us and he knew that he “made the blog!” We all followed in behind Wrong-way Bruce. It continued to rain for another 30 miles. After 34 miles, we stopped at 3:49 PM at a road side rest area called, “The Priest View.” I bet that you would NEVER guess what we did here! It has something to do with trees, relief and feeling better. OK, you guessed it…pit stop! We left at 3:58 PM.

As we continued on, the raining slowed. We did get into some patches of very thick fog. At one point, a deer ran across the street from left to right in front of Bruce. Luckily, it wasn’t at a time where there was pea soup fog. Bruce saw it and avoided hitting the deer. We got to the end of the Blue Ridge Parkway and crossed I-64 in Waynesboro, VA. Chuck was sweating little BB’s because he needed gas. We thought that we were going to get off at I-64 to get gas, however, Bruce continued. We rode for almost half a mile and we came to the Guard Shack for Skyline Drive. Bruce stopped and spoke with the female Guard and told her that we were going to make a u-turn and head back. We did and when we got back to I-64, we turned right. There was a gas station where we stopped at 428 PM after riding 23 miles. We gassed up and took out the maps. We were trying to find a place to stay for the night. We contemplated going onto Skyline Drive for a few miles and pull off onto an exit and find a hotel. The map showed two exits. The Drive is 105 miles long. It starts in Waynesboro and ends in Front Royal, VA. We decided that whichever exit we took, we would end up ending the day late and trying to find a hotel in the dark. I looked through the Best Western book for something close and I found a hotel in Waynesboro. I entered the address on my navigations system and led the Group. We left at 5:19 PM.

It was C.E.’s turn to lead, however, for some reason; he couldn’t get the address on his navigation system. I led the group 5 miles and just before we arrived, Chuck saw a Holiday Inn Express. Chuck told me to go and check the price at the Best Western while he went to the Holiday Inn Express. Jan and Bruce rode with Chuck (The Harley Boys). C.E. and Ken rode with me. We arrived at 5:35 PM at the Best Western. While inside at the front desk, Chuck called me with the price and there was an Outback next door. I checked the price of the Best Western and it was better. There was a Cracker Barrel next door. Chuck told me that they were coming to us. We finalized the deal at the Best Western. We have gone through the rotation of roomies so now we are starting over again. Jan is rooming with me, Chuck and Bruce and C.E. and Ken. We checked in, got our bags from our Motors, took them to the rooms, returned and moved the Motors and parked them in a better location. We then tucked the Motors in for the night.

We didn’t ride very much today because we had to take care of some important things, repairs and a visit to a relative. We knew that eventually the rain would catch up to us. It did in Mars Hills, NC (close to the Gulf of Mexico…Ken) during the night and today. We also know that we will probably ride in the rain again. Don’t worry, we will be careful!

Tomorrow, we will head north on Skyline Drive. The Drive has a speed limit of 35 mph for 105 miles. After the Drive, we will head north towards Pittsburgh, PA. We’ll see…