Smokey Mountains, Blue Rodge Parkway and Skyline Drive

I left Pigeon Forge early enough Friday morning and rode easrt through Great Smoky Mountain Park. I had my first formal encounter with the local constabulary after having been pulled over by a park ranger for driving beyond the 35 mph speed limit.  I hadn't noticed him directly behind me when I passed a slower car in front of me.  While he clocked me at 52 mph, since I had passed in a legal passing area and immediately reduced my speed to something closer to the speed limit, I was let off with a warning by the young officer who cautionned me that there were many collisions with bears in the park and that I should be very cautious.  I thanked him and continued my trip more mindful of how easy it is to go from the speed limit to much faster very quickly.


The Smoky Mountains:

The bottom of the west to east Smoky Mountain Parkway ends at the southern tip of the Blue Ridge Parkway which I turned onto. The Parkway is an amazing 469 miles that runs along the crests of the Southern Appalachians that links the Great Smoky Mountain national park at the southern end to the southern limit of the Shenanadoah National Park in Virginia. The scenery is breathtaking and those who laid out the route most assuredly were thinking of the generations of motorcycle riders who would be enchanted by the sweeps, curves, rises and dips in the road.  In addition to the landscapes on either side of the road, the parkway is often hedged by massive beds of yellow, red, pink, orange and blue wildflowers and massive rhododendron bushes that have been beatan back so that they don't completely choke off the roadway.

Because for reasons unknown the parkway was closed for a section north of Asheville, I detoured eastward a bit and ended up, after getting caught in a downpour, in Lenoir where I slept Friday evening. I'm afraid that dinner that evening at the Mayflower, a fish and seafood establishment accross the street from the Day's Inn was less than satisfying. Even the Chardonnay had a funny taste.

Saturday morning I rode from Lenoir through Blowing Rock to the Blue Ridge Parkway, and 437 kilometres later I was at a Howard Johnson in Lexington Virginia. The ride was nice, except for the heavy showers bit north of Buchanan which were so strong that I had to pull over under an overpass to let the worse go by.  I had a very nice Mexican dinner with a couple of beers in a new restaurant just accross the street from my hotel.

Today I completed the last section of the Blue Ridge Parkway and all of the Skyline Drive which is the road on the ridge that goes the lenght of the Shenandoah National Park. Again at the end of the afternoon dark clouds rolled in and it started to pour; so much so that I had to pull over and seek refuge under the overhang of an abandonned park cabin near one of the many overviews that you find all along the route.  Once the rain slowed down I was back on my bike and headed north. Then the sun came out and I was rewarded by the sight of brilliantly white clouds below me in green valleys on either side of the raod I was driving on.

The Blue Ridge mountains:

 And after the rain; looking down into the valley.

This evening I am in Winchester Virginia at the George Washington Hotel, an establishment I stayed at on my motorcycle trip last year.  And again like last year I had dinner on the outdoor patio at the Village Square Restaurant on Loudoun Street (like Ottawa's Sparks Street Mall but with people on it). And a fine, no better than that, an excellent meal. The daily special was a veal porterhouse grilled exactly medium rare with smooth mashed potatoes, tiny asparagus, and a perfect sauce of caramalized mushrooms and small dices of onion and carrots, garlic slivers in a herb scented veal jus reduction.

The glass of California Pinot Noir that I chose was a fine match for meal.  I enjoyed every bite.