The copycat Skyline/BRP ride Oct 31-Dec 3 2017

[jrou111]

Glenn aka Nice Goat had mentioned about doing a BRP trip but unfortunately I had already made plans to take the week off and ride the week AFTER his ride. I had already solo'd the BRP in May of 2015 but was looking forward to the comradery of riding with friends as well as finally getting to ride on Skyline Drive (and at peak leaf season!) but always skipped it.

So since I couldn't make the trip during the group ride, I figured I'd do the next best thing and solo it again. I'd never gone during the fall when the leaves are changing. Only spring and winter.

The original plan was to trailer the bike and take the family from our home in North Georgia over to Huntsville and then depart and return from there while the wife and kids stay with family in AL. Unfortunately that didn't work out due to a big cold front that dropped snow and ice on the BRP, closing most of the sections from Cherokee to Mt. Mitchell. I also wanted to camp which meant waiting till my panniers arrived from Italy, an additional 3 day delay. "Oh well, I've got the whole week off!"

My return trip back to Georgia was uneventful but cold and windy. I just bought this bike about a week before the ride so I had to do my 600 mile service in the Autozone parking lot in Adairsville, GA. Thankfully the S10 is easy to service for an oil change and final drive change.







I got back home and had the next couple of days to do some mods on the bike. I added a Madstad bracket, wired up and mounted an LED light bar, heated gear lead, snap lock Givi tank bag, highway pegs, and Givi Trekker Outback panniers and racks. The panniers arrived on a Tuesday after lunch, so I hit the road about 3:30pm EST.

The southern end of the BRP was still somewhat iced over, so I decided to run up to Front Royal, VA first and then work my way down. The weather was looking better for the latter part of the week which would allow the ice to thaw in the higher elevations.

From my house, SC is only about 20 mins away.



It wasn't long either till I figured out I had a lot more weight and so I stopped to crank up the preload on the front and rear.



There's a lot of really nice twisty roads up in the high country of SC, in case you didn't know. I rode up 178 into Rosman, NC and then over to Brevard. Not too much longer after Hendersonville it got dark. I passed through Chimney Rock and Lake Lure in the dark which sucks but I hope to come back through soon. The trail up to Chimney rock is closed due to erosion so it wasn't that big of a loss. It started to get pretty cold so out came the heated gear. I stopped at a Chick-fil-a in Morganton, NC to use their wifi and eat dinner. CFA always has really good wifi.

Like I mentioned before, I had planned on camping every night but the lows were still pretty low in the mid to upper 30's. It was late and I was cold so I opted for a hotel room in Boone, NC. Riding US 321 up through Blowing Rock was fun and curvy, but it was dark and cold. The elevation change and road at night going up steeply in elevation and then coming back down into a city really brought back flashbacks of riding from Laughlin, NV up US 95 and then down in elevation as you arrive into Las Vegas. Only difference was it was 99 degrees at 11pm in Nevada and it was cold and humid this time in NC. The temperature change as you go up and down is still just as visceral. The hotel desk clerk let me park under the awning which was nice since I'm still paranoid about staying at hotels since my FJR was stolen on that trip out West in 2014. I made sure nothing was left out on the bike this time.




To be continued...

[jrou111]

Here's the track from day one:

[jrou111]

Day 2

I woke up after a great night's sleep in Boone, NC but didn't manage to hit the road until after 9am. It was still cold out and I wasn't looking forward to what was to come - slabbing it up I-81 to get to Front Royal, VA! The first section was nice 4 lane...





Hopped on I-77 and crossed into Virginia...



Once I hit I-77 from the Virginia border up through Fancy Gap, VA the amount of truck traffic was pretty brutal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTr34KUvJzY

Just after I merged onto I-81 in Max Meadows, VA I stopped to fill up gas at a truck stop (I think it was a Love's?) and grabbed a Subway sandwich for lunch.



I had thought that the weather would have warmed up by now, but instead it was now sprinkling a little. I added on a few more layers and cranked up the heated jacket liner and gloves and off I rode back down the on ramp and merged onto I-81 again. If you've ever ridden up I-81 through Virginia I think you'll probably know that it's a lot of up and down hills and some light curves, but most importantly it's got a TON of tractor trailer traffic. This was on a Wednesday which probably made it more noticeable compared to one of my weekend trips. It took a lot of concentration to get around all of the trucks, especially when they'd go to pass another truck and traffic would back up a lot. In retrospect I wish I had just planned on avoiding the interstate all together but I had already lost a few days on my trip and as usual, I try to push through and cover more ground (more on that later).

The last 40 miles were with the digital fuel gauge blinking and the counting up "fuel's running out" odometer on the Tenere reminding me that I was pushing it. In the back of my mind I was thinking about Al mentioning that him and Melony managed to get 55 miles after the warning so I was trusting that was true and I wouldn't need to push my bike down the side of the interstate. I stopped in Strasburg, VA not far from Front Royal and filled up with just over .5 gal still left in the tank.

I took back roads over to Front Royal which was just a short but scenic drive.





Front Royal town was kinda neat, especially the downtown area. But I was a man on a mission. I stopped at the sign to take an Instagram-worthy photo.



Here's a clip of my ride into the park. Check out the deer towards the end!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO3DXR9JLAM

The next ~3.5 hours were mundane and boring at 35mph..... Just kidding, the ride was awesome! And I usually hung around the 45mph mark.















https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErS1FwcFgPI



I stopped at Elkwallow Gap and bought a magnet. Years ago my wife and I would buy magnets from the places we visited. And I have bought some as well from my moto travels (except the ones that got stolen in Vegas). There's probably 50+ magnets on the refrigerator now. I also took some time to have my "dinner" which consisted of the other half of my Subway sandwich, some Oreos, and some Pringles. While I was sitting at the picnic table I saw something I haven't seen in years.



A quick fill up of the water bottles and porta-potty trip, I got geared back up and prepped for the dropping temps. It was about 4:30 or 5pm by this time and I knew I had no chance of completing the full length in the light. I had been wanting to camp but again the temps were in the mid 30's with a chance of rain. No way. So I decided to try and get as far as I could (again, trying to push on through vs taking my time). Maybe even getting on the Blue Ridge Parkway and finding somewhere to camp. I don't know what I was thinking but I should have just stopped at Big Meadows Lodge and paid $125 for a room there so I could enjoy the drive the next morning. Instead I pressed on...

The sun took forever to set. The horizon to my right was illuminated with orange, red, and even purple glowing haze beyond the clouds for at least 30 or 45 minutes after that big glowing ball disappeared from view. It was now dark up on the mountain. I passed the last intersection of highway that crosses Skyline Drive and I saw a sign that said "Rockfish Gap: 39 miles". Crap. That's at least an hour to get to the end of Skyline Drive and who knows how long to get to somewhere warmer.

I used to ride all the time at night. I'd get off work and take off somewhere in Alabama to grab a tag, or visit a county. I visited all 67 counties in Alabama and probably 1/2 of them were at night. Some past midnight. But in December 2014 I got lasik and although I have KILLER 20/15 vision and don't have to wear glasses/contacts the trade off is things start to get "fuzzy" when it's dark. I compensate for this with aux LED's and brighter headlight bulbs, but I can only go so fast and see so far at night. It's kind of debilitating and one of the reasons why I just don't get to ride as much as I used to. It's so much more dangerous now.

Speaking of dangerous, the deer made a showing in full force once it got dark. On the previous ~66 miles I'd ridden I only saw one deer on the road back at the very beginning. In this last section I saw at least 200. Most would just be grazing on the side of the road, but a few got a case of the stupids and tried to either run alongside me, or would be stopped in the middle of the road. I was down to 35mph by this point due to the visibility so it wasn't a big danger, just mainly required a lot of concentration and focus which was draining. The temps kept dropping too.

I finally got to Rockfish Gap which is the end of Skyline Drive and the beginning of the Blue Ridge Parkway. It also bisects Charlottesville, VA and Wanyesboro, VA. I stopped at a pull off and thankfully I had cell service again. I took a moment to look at where my camping would be and the weather. I'd stayed at Otter Creek Campground off the BRP and I loved it there. But it was 1-2 hours ride in daylight so no chance of getting there at night in less than 2.5 hours. I found out the next day that the campground had closed, as most BRP facilities (more on this later) on Nov 1 as well. Guess what day it was? Yep, Nov 1. I decided to ride into Waynesboro and grab the buffet at KFC there while I looked for accommodations for the night. I absolutely hated to pay for another night's stay at a hotel but there were a few inexpensive ones listed. When I got to the 3 least expensive they were all really sketchy (remembering Vegas again). I settled for staying at the Holiday Inn Express which looked safest but was nearly $120 even with the "biker discount". I was really kicking myself for trying to push through so much today (460 miles!) and regretted not staying at Big Meadows Lodge. Oh well it's too late now. Time to back up and clear memory cards, charge all the devices, and figure out the happy balance on the crappy wall-unit AC.

To be continued...

[jrou111]

The route on day 2 was mostly interstate  ::)

[springer]

 Great ride report! Looking forward to more!.  ;) 

[bblass]

Great ride report!

[Fencejumper09]

Great ride report, pictures and videos! I really am having to fight the urge to get a bigger adventure bike for trips like this! Thanks for taking us along!

[Chuck & Susan]

I really am having to fight the urge to get a bigger adventure bike for trips like this!

I tried to set you up with a WING... But it went MEAN..... lol

[Fencejumper09]

Haha I still have hopes of it being an adventurous Wing!

[jrou111]

Thanks y'all. Klaviator has been inspiring me with his ride reports. Trying to work on communicating/sharing mine more.

Stay tuned for day 3.

[klaviator]

Thanks y'all. Klaviator has been inspiring me with his ride reports. Trying to work on communicating/sharing mine more.

Stay tuned for day 3.

Well you are going a great job with this one.  Looking forward to the rest.

[VWCarlos]

Great job so far. Looking forward to the next post.