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DAY 2: Tuesday Oct 21th
We got up on the late side, and didn't leave the hotel until 10am. We pulled out of western Allentown (heh heh, I did get to sing more after all) and headed west. We were looking for a McDonalds to get a brunch at and suddenly there were gigantic gaps between the exits ... and we ran out of gas! Luckily the weather was very nice - TOO nice you might say, as we pushed the 800 pound bike about a mile to the nearest gas station. Again luckily the last part was downhill to the exit, and then I waited at the exit with the bags while Bob pushed the bike the final distance to the station. A nice guy came and helped him with the last part, saying that he'd "been there before" too. |
Bob eventually came back for me, I'd worried that the bike had fallen over around the corner or something! Here are the 3 photos I took when he got back, of the interesting plants I'd been staring at while I waited.
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Finally we were all set again and ready to move out. We headed south towards Virginia. We did in fact find a McDonald's in short order, and it was so warm out that we ate outside!!
A note on diet here. Our plan was to eat a meal a day at a fast food restaurant and one at a real restaurant, to balance our speed needs with our food needs. Bob was very good and stayed on his low carb diet - eating delicious grilled chicken salads that he loved, and he lost a few pounds. I ate burgers with buns, fish filet, plus diet cokes. I didn't even eat any french fries ... and I gained 6 pounds. So that was a REALLY clear indication of just how pound-inducing those buns and breaded meals are!!
Anyway, after playing with the yippy dog at the table next to us and waving at the little birds, we headed south. We crossed into a short stretch of Maryland, then a short stretch of West Virginia. Both were tiny strips! And then down into Virginia!
It wasn't that long before we were heading up onto Skyline Drive, which is a ridge-top north-south road which goes most of the length of Virginia. It is windy and slow, and looks down on gorgeous valleys, farms and forests. The trees were all gorgeous with rusts, deep yellows and burgundies. We remembered that we thought the same thing the last time we were down here in foliage season, a few years ago - that the colors were very muted compared to New England, very quiet and sedate but rich.
There were gorgeous tree groupings up on our ridge too - in particular there were areas with tons of tall, skinny trees with bright yellow leaves. Very nice! We stopped at an overlook for photos, and the overlook was right next to the Appalachian Trail. You could see its markings along the ground below you. The trail stretches all the way from Georgia to Maine and it crosses Skyline Drive several times. The view from here was simply gorgeous, and the weather was beautiful.
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Click for larger version
Click for larger version
There were also TRILLIONS of deer up here. We counted 15 of them, often in groups of 2 or 3. They were everywhere. As before there were many up on the "meadow" in the top center area of the drive. There was one special one, a dark red color, right when we were beginning our drive too. We wondered why it was darker than all the rest were. We've since heard reports from other motorcycle riders on skyline that black bear have been sighted here recently, too!
My favorite deer sighting was near the end of skyline drive, where a big cow field was on the left. The cows were all over near the road, and two deer were against the fence, looking like they wanted to get in! When they saw us they bounced across the road to the right like kangaroos, their white tails flashing, and boinged into the trees.
Now we headed over to Blue Ridge Parkway which is the free southern part of the trail. It was equally as pretty, but there weren't any deer there. The deer probably know they're safer in the Skyline part. Then we headed down out of the mountains into Roanoke, Virginia.
There were a bunch of hotels here and we chose one at around 9pm or so. The Mexican restaurant right next door looked a bit suspicious, but after scouting the area we decided to give it a try. It was actually really good!! Bob had a salad and I had a burrito and both were quite tasty. I tried a low carb beer - Miller Lite - which was watery but reasonably OK.
Back to the hotel to watch baseball and sleep!
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