DAY
10, TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 2013
I was sicker that a dog last night! I have been sick with a head cold for 3 days,
since I was rooming with Chuck. It was
Chuck’s fault! All of the guys said
so. My alarm sounded at 6:30 AM and Jan
and I got up. We dressed, packed and
went downstairs for breakfast. Not one
of our group was there! Soon after, the
guys started showing up. J.B. came by
and told us that he was having breakfast at 6 AM. This is way too early for me. We finished breakfast and everyone started to
load the Motors. Jan was going to go to
a local credit union to get some cash.
There was a problem with his card.
Jan and Ken were both going and the rest were going to wait; however,
Chuck changed the plans. We all left with
Jan and Ken. Chuck figured that we could
go with him and we would already be on the road and we could continue. Jan asked me to put the address on the
Navigation System. It was dry, cool with
scattered clouds. We left at 8:37 AM.
We rode for 13 miles and at 9:05 AM, we arrived in
Radford, VA at the credit union, which does “shared banking” with Arizona
Federal Credit Union. We took care of
business and now we were headed to Roanoke, VA to gas the Motors. Ken led.
We rode on I-81 North for 44 miles and at 10:02 AM, we arrived at a
Kroger’s gas station. We all gassed up
and took a break before leaving at 10:26 AM and I was in the lead.
I led the group southbound and we all got back onto the
Blue Ridge Parkway. My head cold was
affecting my hearing and it was difficult to hear my music. It didn’t matter; I was in the lead, with my “Wing
Man” Jan behind me. The speed limit on
the Parkway was 45 mph. I set my cruise
control to 58 mph and…away we went! We
rode for 85 miles with twisties, uphill, downhill, wet street, dry street,
etc. It was wonderful! We stopped in Glasgow, VA at 12:20 PM for
lunch at Scotto’s Pizza, Submarines and Delicatessen. I walked in first and contacted a young
gentleman behind the counter. I asked
him if the restaurant could handle 8 hungry men. He replied, “You want to eat here?” I told him that if he had a recommendation to
another restaurant, we would gladly go.
He told me to excuse him, as he just woke up. We all sat and ate. We were there until 1:10 PM when we
left. I led the group back onto the Blue
Ridge Parkway and we were back going North.
There aren’t very many places to stop and go to the restroom on the
Parkway so you have to take every opportunity given. We rode for 44 miles and at 2:02 PM, I
stopped at the Whetstone Ridge. We
stopped for a pit stop and everyone was happy again. We continued on and left at 2:18 PM.
Back on the Parkway, I knew that we were getting very
close to the start of Shenandoah National Park and the Skyline Drive. After riding for 22 miles, we arrived at the
Guard Shack at the start of the Skyline Drive at 2:55 PM. Six of us showed the Guard our National Parks
Pass and we were allowed to ride in. We
all rode in and pulled over to the side of the road. Bruce and Chuck were still missing. Bruce and Chuck finally rode up Chuck
told us that they had to do an emergency pit stop for Bruce. We were all together again and left at 3:06
PM.
We continued and after 22 miles, I stopped, again, at
3:34 PM so that Bruce could go to the restroom.
We stopped at the Dundo Group Campgrounds. Some of the guys were saying that they were in
need of gas. Jan was told by a lady at
the Guard Shack that there was a gas station at US 33, which was about 40 miles
from the Guard Shack. We left at 3:42
PM.
We rode on and then we came up to the US 33 exit. We exited and rode north towards a town named
Elkton, VA. We stopped after riding 17
miles at 4:14 PM. We gassed up and we
were all tired. We discussed it a bit
and asked the ladies inside the mini-mart as to where there would be some
hotels. They told us that there were
several hotels in Harrisonburg, VA, north of Elkton. We left at 4:38 PM with Bruce in the lead.
We rode north through a few little communities and
eventually rode into Harrisonburg. Chuck
rode to a Best Western, Jan took the Comfort Inn and Bruce went to the Holiday
Inn. The Best Western had the best rate
and also a Hot Tub. We chose the Best
Western. We all checked in, parked our
Motors, emptied our Motors and got dressed for the Hot Tub. Ken didn’t join us at the Hot Tub. Ken has been having some troubles with the
left saddle bag of his Motor. It won’t
open! He was working on it and trying to
get it open. We all got dressed and went
to help Ken. Chuck talked Ken into
trying to take off the trunk of his Motor and try to get to the lock in the
saddlebag. C.E.’s tools were used as
they tried this maneuver. Nothing was
able to be done so they stopped working on it and Ken was putting the nuts and
bolts back on the trunk. Chuck turned
and hit his chest, right side, on Ken’s Motor handlebar. Chuck was alright, although, he did go back
to his room by himself. I think that it
was to cry and he didn’t want anyone to see him. That’s what I think. I could be wrong. With all this done, we went to the Hot
Tub.
After the Hot Tub, we changed our clothes, yeah, like we
are going to dinner in our wet trunks and flip flops! We walked next door to O-Charlies Steak House
for dinner. I forgot to tell you, we
rode today and it didn’t rain on us! We
also rode for 281 miles and that puts us over 3,200 miles so far.
As far as I know, we are going back to the Skyline Drive
to finish it. We shall see…
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