So naturally I decided to ride the Voyager from my home near Orlando, FL to High Point and then figured I would take the time left in that week to do something I had not done yet. I have ridden parts of the Blue Ridge, but never ridden the entire thing. I also have never ridden Skyline drive, so I added that to the list as well.
Wednesday the 19th I rode up to Front Royal, VA and got on Skyline Drive. I had enough time in the day to do the 105 miles of Skyline drive and then stay in Waynesboro, VA for the night.
The weather was warm and sunny.
On the way to Front Royal, I stopped near Buchanan, VA for some lunch at the Foot of the Mountains Cafe. I attended a Super Magna meet at the hotel that is just up the hill in 2012. Food and service were both good and I needed a break since I had been on the road about 3 hours at that time.
I had about 2.5 hours left to go before I would get to Shenandoah. So rather than taking the more scenic Rt. 11, I stayed on 81 most of the way. Other than very heavy truck traffic around Roanoke, after the Interstate 64 sections, the truck traffic got lighter and the scenery was nice.
As I was getting to Shenandoah I noticed the Voyager had a odd noise occasionally coming from the output shaft area along with some vibration. A quick text to Carl and he mentioned the problem sounded like a U Joint problem. I was not about to stop my trip and it wasn't a horrible noise so I took it as the bike telling me to take it easy, get home, and get it fixed. So onward I went.
I decided to make some use of my phone's panoramic and photo sphere features. I figure it gives a better sense of what the area is like where i was standing. I did take some normal photos too.
Here is a better picture of the Voyager.
I ended up staying here for the night in Waynesboro. Not fancy but clean, quiet, and cheap
The next morning, I got up and planned to ride the Blue Ridge. Since I was riding solo, the only person I had to deal with was myself. I find when I am on trips by myself, I have a tendency to keep riding and keep the stops to a minimum. I have ridden much of the Blue Ridge before in parts so my stops were few and coincided with drink breaks mostly. If I saw something to stop for, I did. I mainly just soaked in the great scenery and enjoyed the ride.
Here is a shot from one of the stops.
Here is a link to one of the photo spheres I took at this overlook:
https://goo.gl/maps/EaUTznUtbHS2
A bit farther down the road was Wigwam falls. I stopped and did a short hike to the falls. Here is a photo sphere of that.
https://goo.gl/maps/3LdWrdpZYtN2
A view down to the Voyager:
A short stop at the James River Visitor Center. Here I removed a bee stinger from my face
A couple miles earlier, had a bee get stuck between my cheek and helmet and it decided to start stinging me during some technical turns. Anyway, got the bee off my face, stinger out, and by the end of the day it was no longer obvious I was stung.
Another rest/drink/stretch stop at I believe Rake's Mill Pond .
Here is a photo sphere link:
https://goo.gl/maps/ERLGHK7Wd8u
This was the last photo for the day. Ended up staying at the High Meadows Inn Motel in Glade Valley, NC. This was almost exactly the mid point of the Blue Ridge. I had a good rest and dinner at the on-site restaurant and got some sleep.
By Friday the 21st, I was now on parts of the Blue Ridge I have ridden many times. My plan for today was to ride up to Mt. Mitchell, have my traditional lunch at the restaurant there, finish the Parkway and start heading home Saturday the 22nd.
Today was more crowded on the Parkway. Not sure if it was all because it was Friday or because I was getting closer to more populated areas. Anyway, I kept riding on. I saw quite a few deer in the morning.
Coming around a corner I had what looked like a woodchuck run right out in front of me while in a turn and this was the result:
A picture from Deerlick Gap Overlook.
By now I was missing my cruise control. I wish I could override the 5th gear requirement for cruise control. Having the cruise to hold me at 40-45 would have been nice most of this Skyline Drive and Parkway ride.
Anyway, I made it to Mt. Mitchell restaurant and they had about a 40 minute wait for a table. I waited and had a good lunch.
As I was leaving Mt. Mitchell, I got into more traffic on the Parkway and then into some rain.
I did make a stop and looked at the weather for the next two days where I was planning to go and made the decision to end my parkway riding at Asheville and start back for FL.
I left Mt. Mitchell at 3:30 pm and arrived at my house 2 am Saturday morning. I discovered that you can have too much of a good thing. The solo riding on the Parkway/Skyline was enjoyable, but I ended up getting plenty and just wanted to get home. So I made it home 2 days earlier than expected.
The Voyager did fine despite the shaft noise when riding slower on the parkway and the broken air dam.
I did try out a new Arctic Cool shirt and it did a good job of keeping me comfortable in the heat. I normally wear moisture wicking shirts when riding in the summer and I am not 100% sure what makes this different, but whatever it is it sure does work well. It seems to hold the moisture in a layer away from the skin which helps to keep you cool. Also in the heat I sweat a lot and I did not stink so the anti-microbial stuff worked too.
Anyway, it was a good short notice trip and the Voyager as always was a pleasure to ride.
