Days 4 and 5 - North Carolina to Alabama | Alabama to Houston

Days 4 and 5 brought about the end of my trip back to Houston - they were full of rain, as if mother earth was sad I had to return to Texas.  Monday (day 4) morning was the last bit of 'fun' roads I had planned out.  I had spent the previous night in Murphy, NC and rode up to Andrews, NC so I could turn off onto a road recommended to me called Wayah Rd.  The torrential rain prevented me from getting any good views from this road but it was a hell of a ride nonetheless-  mountain switchbacks with hairpin turns in the rain keeps you on your toes...

Once I got the bottom of Wayah I decided to go visit South Carolina (state #21 visited this trip) before heading south for the evening.  Still getting poured on I rode through SC, Georgia (where the highway was flooded out in Atlanta due to the storms) and on down toward Pensacola, FL.  I unfortunately took an exit too soon and ducked down into Florida (state #22!) before I intended to.  I ended out back tracking a bit and ditched the plan of spending the night in Pensacola and went for Mobile, AL.

Tuesday (day 5) was about as boring as it gets: 480mi of straight highway, about half of that time in severe rain storms.  It was literally one straight line west.  After spending a couple days in Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina there really is not a single redeeming thing about riding I-10 for hours on end.

This was on Wayah Rd. just before the skies opened up on me

The old-school gas pump at the end of Wayah Rd, and yes that was $9 to tank up..

State visited #21

Florida!

My incredibly awesome one-piece rain suit that saw quite a bit of use

And I finally arrive home...

Day 3 - Off Road, Deal's Gap, Fontana Dam and Cherohala Skyway

Today was spectacular.  I got to ride a fun (challenging) gravel road with multiple river crossings, Deal's Gap (aka 'Tail of the Dragon' 318 turns in 11 miles), Rt 28, and Cherohala Skyway.  At Fonatana Dam I met a group of three riders, a father and hid two sons;  after chatting for a while we parted ways only to run into each other again on Cherohala Skyway.  I joined up and rode with them down the Skyway until they peeled off to the north to make for Virginia and myself to the south where I was headed for the night.
 Cherohala easily had some of the best scenic views I have ever laid eyes on. I'm going to let the pictures do the talking here...


I met two guys from Florida who were trying to find the dirt trail I happened to be headed down and they were nice enough to snap this of me:



Unfortunately it is hard to show how steep this road is...

However, it is very easy to show how wet it was

On to Deal's Gap- due to the rain there was only one police officer on the entire 11mi stretch. 

He must have been bored with so few people out on the Dragon today but at least he picked a spot with a good view

Slowly making my way south

Made it to the bottom without getting bitten

On to Fontana Dam

View from atop the dam

Cherohala Skyway - riding through clouds certainly gives you the sense that 'skyway' is an apt name for the road

This road is also full of twists and turns...

One mile high!

but still enveloped in clouds...

The father + 2 sons group I ran into on the Skyway

And on Rt. 129 there are two professional photographers who snap pictures all day and you can find your picture online.  I'll have to order the originals to remove the watermarks but until I receive them these will have to suffice Originals can be found in the final picture update!

Day 2 - Philadelphia -> Tennessee

September 19th -

Saturday got a bit later a start than planned... After making my way out of Philadelphia I headed west as to avoid Baltimore and DC.  With my goal of riding Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park down onto the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway I had my work cut out for me.

Skyline Drive, while a bit slow with a 35mph speed limit, was quite breathtaking.  It was also a good 'intro' to what I should expect on the roads going down through the national parks.  Mountain riding is a completely different experience to anything in the Houston area for sure and I was glad to ease into it on this bike!

When I arrived at Blue Ridge Parkway, I stopped at the first rest stop and ran into a wildlife group that was releasing two birds back into the wild after being healed up; a tiny little guy and a red-tailed hawk.   After riding down BRP for a while I had to make my way to the interstate to ensure I had enough time to ride through my planned routes in Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.


Anyway enough rambling and on to the pictures!
 

Skyline Drive!

They have caution signs here with motorcycles riding off the side of the mountain and the rider 'flying'...

A hawk decided to pace me for a little while

Lots of curves...

This one jumped out of the guys hand, didn't want to wait around for a 'releasing' ceremony...

The female red-tailed hawk, pre-release

Putting up a bit of a fight

Annnd off to freedom (she then went and sat on the nearest branch possible...):

The gorgeous Blue Ridge mountains

Finally headed back to Texas!

After putting off my return trip for a week I finally set out for Texas on Friday the 18th. I was originally going to ride all the way to Front Royal, VA after work but didn't leave as early as planned and hit some very heavy traffic going through New Jersey. My wonderful alternative to heading the VA was to stop in Philadelphia and see Kea+Tom!  Fairly uneventful day, city/highway riding.  Ah, I finally named my bike: Härkä (Finnish for Taurus)

I did order some crash bars for my bike as I plan on going through some nice trails and gravel roads down in Tennessee and North Carolina and would prefer not to crack my engine case if/when I fall in the dirt.  When I ordered the bars I received an email from someone at Touratech confirming my shipping address- the sender's name (Kimmo) was distinctly Finnish so I decided to call him to confirm.  Upon hearing his accent,  we chatted and found out he grew up just east of where my mother is from;  due to the 'Finnish connection' he tossed in a free team t-shirt along with free shipping on the order.  Hyvää Suomi! 

All loaded up and ready to ride for TX:

A nice Jersey sunset en route to Philadelphia:

Long Due update

Long overdue for an update here. I've gotten a ton of riding in since being up here ranging from an afternoon ride with a co-worker and his friends around CT to a 'long way' back to Stamford from my family's place outside Boston through Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

I had to change my oil when I was in upstate New York for the horse races and dropped down to MAX BMW in Troy, NY - the largest dealer of BMW motorcycles in North America.  At first I was told there was a 2 week wait list to get in for services but they said to stop by in case they could squeeze me in as I was traveling.  I rode in on Saturday and I was told they could fit me in for a quick oil change.  Much to my surprise, when I brought my bike around back I ran into an old friend I went to high school with, Ben Stratton, who happens to own and run both of these shops (they have one in NH as well) with his brother. 


Since leaving TX I've ridden about 3,400 miles through 18 states.



visited 18 states (36%)



On the Taconic returning from the Travers horse race up in Saratoga Springs

Riding up/down the coast in New Hampshire with a family friend.

At the parent's house in Boston before heading up into Maine, NH and VT.

I had to stop for some fried clams at Woodman's in Essex, some of the best seafood out there, served in cardboard beer trays.

The Woodman's clam

the back roads of New Hampshire