{"id":84,"date":"2012-07-07T07:54:10","date_gmt":"2012-07-07T11:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wherearemomanddad.com\/?page_id=84"},"modified":"2021-06-16T14:38:27","modified_gmt":"2021-06-16T18:38:27","slug":"2011-skyline-drive-ride","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wherearemomanddad.com\/?page_id=84","title":{"rendered":"2011 Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway Motorcycle Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Mr. Smith and Dad decided that it was time that we took our own bikes on a nice long trip so we rode to Sanford, Florida and loaded our bikes onto Amtrak for an overnight trip to Lorton, Virginia where we jumped on the beginning of the picturesque\u00a0Skyline Drive.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>First, just a little bit about our Amtrak “Adventure”.\u00a0 Since it was an overnight train ride, we decided to book a double sleeper cabin.\u00a0 More like a closet!\u00a0 3.5 feet wide, 6.5 feet long, and just tall enough to allow Mr. Smith some room on the top bunk (age has its privileges!).\u00a0 What was missing in spacious accommodations was more than made up for by our dinner characters.\u00a0 There was Gerald the ex-body builder, ex-body guard, night club owner, Jackie Mason impersonator, our bartender Danette (yes that really is her name), and best of all, Miriam our half Puerto Rican, half Indian waitress\/comedienne.\u00a0 What a hoot.\u00a0 People from other tables were coming to our table to find out what all the laughter was about!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Our first day on our bikes started with a ride through Skyline Drive which was beautiful!\u00a0 Almost all new roads through the mountain forest surrounding the Shenandoah Valley.\u00a0 “O Shenandoah, I long to hear you…”<\/em> Anyway, 100 miles of tight twisties and perfectly paved rode.\u00a0 We then headed directly into the Blue Ridge Parkway.\u00a0 We did another 110 miles of great twisties there as well.\u00a0 The pavement was not as pristine, but a great ride none the less.\u00a0 All in all, 300 miles most of which was great technical riding for nearly 8 hours.\u00a0 We finally called it a day in Roanoke, Virginia.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>On Day 2, we jumped back onto the Blue Ridge Parkway for another 300 miles to the Asheville, North Carolina\u00a0area to the home of our good friends, Dave and Alice.\u00a0 Plenty of twisties and the N.C. section of the Blue Ridge is even prettier than the Virginia section.\u00a0 David and Alice live in a gorgeous mountain side home with incredible views.\u00a0 Alice made dinner and we had a great time telling stories, laughing, and enjoying a few adult beverages.<\/p>\n

Riders beware!\u00a0 There are about a dozen or so tunnels along the Blue Ridge. They are short, but unlit, and your headlights do nothing to add light.\u00a0 Luckily only two are curved so you\u00a0can see daylight through the others when you enter.\u00a0 The best advice is to slow down before the tunnel and follow the yellow lines out of the tunnel.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We left David and Alice on Day 3 and jumped back on the Blue Ridge Parkway to finish the last 100 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway on our way to Deals gap and The Tail of the Dragon (BA BA BAAAAA).\u00a0 “The Dragon’s” best feature is that many of the turns are banked and close together so if you build up enough speed you can coast and sway into each turn, which was a lot of fun.\u00a0 Honestly though, Route 28 which leads you for about 12 miles to the beginning of The Dragon was more challenging and fun.\u00a0 Great T-shirts though.\u00a0 Yes, those are damaged motorcycle parts from unfortunate riders who failed to “TAME THE DRAGON”.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We finished Day 3 in Chattanooga, TN after another 350 mile day and stayed at the old Train Station turned Hotel.\u00a0 The train station was made famous by the great heavy metal classic “The Chattanooga Choo Choo”.\u00a0 (Pardon me boys is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo..)\u00a0 You can actually stay in a refurbished railroad car instead of a hotel room if you prefer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>On Day 4 we started our way back south.\u00a0 But first we decided we would head west through Tennessee on State Route 64 which was a beautiful rolling highway that took us over the Tennessee River to the Natchez Trace Parkway.\u00a0 Riding through the Natchez Trace Parkway is like riding through a 110 mile park.\u00a0 Rolling grass meadows lined by majestic pine trees and oak trees.\u00a0 The Parkway took us southwest from Tennessee across the tip of Alabama and into Mississippi ending in Tupelo, Mississippi.\u00a0 After a pit stop, we headed due south on State Route 45 into Meridian, Mississippi.\u00a0 All in all, a long day of 487 miles.\u00a0 Our butts were aching.\u00a0 No wise cracks Tony!!!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>No bike trip of ours would be the same if we didn’t get chased by weather somewhere along the line.\u00a0 This beauty met us on Day 5 in Gulfport, Mississippi and followed us east through Alabama until Florida.\u00a0 We managed to stay dry through most of the day though.\u00a0 Not having been to Gulfport before, it looked to me that this gulf-side town that had been decimated 6 years ago by hurricane Katrina was back to normal.\u00a0 Mr. Smith, a frequent visitor of the area, says that there used to be several casino barges floating in the gulf which are now gone and most of the homes and restaurants that used to face the gulf are gone.\u00a0 I’m sure that the area will build up to its previous glory soon.\u00a0 On a positive note, we had the best fried fish lunch at “Bozo’s Fresh Seafood Market” in Pascagoula, Mississippi.\u00a0 The lunch and a beverage cost us $6.00 each!\u00a0 We finished the day on the panhandle of Florida in Sandestin after 353 miles of highway riding.\u00a0 Couldn’t wait for a real shower!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Day 6 found us traveling east across the panhandle on Route 98 into one of our favorite Florida cities, Apalachicola for lunch.\u00a0 Dad can’t go to the panhandle without getting a dozen oysters on the half shell.\u00a0 As it is a little early in the season (no “r” anywhere in August) the oysters were a little thin, but delicious just the same.\u00a0 After lunch, we continued east to Perry, where we turned south on highway 19.\u00a0 Just south of Perry, we stopped at a little country store and enjoyed another southern delicacy, Moon Pie.\u00a0 These delicious little chocolate covered marshmallow and cracker treats are hard to find. Little Debbie makes a terrible knockoff; accept no imitations.\u00a0\u00a0It’s the real thing or nothing! We finished our treats and rode into our favorite overnight spot on the Florida west coast, Crystal River after 335 miles of hot Florida riding.\u00a0 Our trip ends tomorrow with a total mileage of around 2800 miles.<\/p>\n

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Mr. Smith and Dad decided that it was time that we took our own bikes on a nice long trip so we rode to Sanford, Florida and loaded our bikes onto Amtrak for an overnight trip to Lorton, Virginia where … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1170,"menu_order":103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wherearemomanddad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/84"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wherearemomanddad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wherearemomanddad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wherearemomanddad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wherearemomanddad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/wherearemomanddad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/84\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1361,"href":"https:\/\/wherearemomanddad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/84\/revisions\/1361"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wherearemomanddad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wherearemomanddad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}