Starting Location: Mt. Pisgah, NC
Ending Location: Meadows of Dan, VA
Daily Miles Ridden: 275
Cumulative Miles Ridden: 487
This Day's Route: North on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Cooking breakfast (coffee and oatmeal) at the Mt. Pisgah campground.
More scenery from the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The Parkway has a speed limit of 45 MPH which is actually very comfortable
considering all the twists and turns. One very nice thing about the road is the
complete lack of stops except for the endpoints and an occasional detour.
At one point I rounded a corner and saw a couple dozen Harley riders stopped and parked in the right lane. One of them motioned for me to stop so I pulled up to him and asked if there was a problem. He said they had things under control and he just wanted me to take it slow as I passed them. Sure, will do. As I eased past I noticed a lot of somber faces and finally, at the very end, I saw two women climbing up the roadside embankment with tears streaming down their faces. Oh no! Rider down.
I rode on for a few more miles and met the emergency vehicles responding to the accident coming from the opposite direction. I have no idea how badly the rider was injured (or possibly worse) but the incident was a fresh reminder of just how close the edge can be. Very sobering.
I stopped for lunch at the Switzerland Inn, Little Switzerland, NC and had a tasty Carolina BBQ sandwich plate.
By late afternoon clouds had rolled in and it started raining hard. I had originally planned to camp at the Willville motorcycle campground this evening but it was closed due to flooding from unprecedented recent heavy rains. So I got a room at a small motel at Meadows of Dan, VA.