Made a last minute decision a few weekends ago to head south and ride a bit of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Also decided to pop my motorcycle camping cherry and give that a go instead of staying in hotels along the way. Here's my story...
Day 1 Finally got home from work and finished loading everything on the bike and was able to get on the road shortly after 2pm. More than likely I had packed entirely WAY TO MUCH STUFF... That's normally how it goes though. My original plan was to shoot out to Hillsboro real quick and stop at a BBQ joint I had been to before, make my way south to the river and follow that until I found a campground. As luck would have it, the little BBQ place was no more and I settled on a quick stop at McDonald's. Boy was that a great idea [video=youtube;LDZIARCRQJ0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDZIARCRQJ0[/video] The stretch of road in the video was about 10 minutes before the McDonald's experience, It is on Evans Rd, which is about a lane and a half wide through cornfields. It must have been a dirt road in a previous life and at some point, a bunch of asphalt was dumped on it... Anyway, the start of the video shows a van rolling by and it was at that point, I thought of the head on collision that I may have just avoided by stopping to get the camera rolling. To continue the story, I'm riding pretty cautiously through this little stretch of road (the van fresh in my mind) and about halfway through, I encounter another car moving along at an alarming rate. There is always that moment when everything moves in slow motion. The reaction on the kid's face that was driving tells me he knew flying down that little road could have been one of the worst mistakes he had made in his short life so far. I guess the same could be said about me choosing to take that road too. Next stop = McDonald's Walking into McDonald's, I was greeted by hundreds of children and what seemed like every Wal-mart shopper I have ever encountered in my life... No problem, I'll just grab my food, eat real quick and get back on the road. I sit down at a table near the window so I can keep an eye on my bike while I eat. At the table behind me, there are a couple old guys (let's call them Bob and Jim) and they seem to be talking about the news. I am overhearing bits and pieces of their conversation and every story seems to be about someone dying or getting killed. One story that sticks out most has to do with a motorcycle helmet. Bob asks Jim; "Did you hear about the guy that got his face shot off at the convenience store?" Of course he hadn't heard the story, so Bob says "Yeah, this guy on a motorcycle stops at a convenience store and doesn't take his full-face helmet off when he goes inside..." "He walks up to the counter to pay and the clerk thinks he is going to rob the place, pulls out a gun and shoots him in the face." There is silence for a moment, and the next thing I hear is Jim and he says, "What's a full-face helmet?" At this point, I knew what was coming next, Bob says (I assume he is pointing at my helmet sitting on the table) "It's just like the one that guy over there has."I now have two options, continue eating as if I didn't hear a thing or turn and strike up a conversation. I decided on the first option, since it was too early in the trip to be dealing with strange people already. I finished eating and got on the road as I was excited to hit OH-247 and get down to the river.
I know all of you have these shots when you are getting your camera ready! :thumbsup: A few shots rolling down OH-247 Out of my way van! Corner of OH-247 and CR-2
Glad you didn't get flattened on that sketchy road. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip and seeing more pics. Rollin
