Sunny Days and Rainy Days

Day 13 Friday 15^th April 2011

Had a fitful night last night, kept waking up in the wee small hours thinking about the task ahead – a mixture of intrepidation and excitement. Got up at 7am and did my ablutions and, after breakfast, did my final repacking.

We got dressed in our motorcycle gear and loaded up the luggage trolley with our kit and made our way to the hotel lobby. We loaded up the bikes and set off at around 10am heading west to the downtown inner harbour area where we picked up Pratt Street which took us to the 144 and our journey had now begun.

The 144 runs close to highway 40 but the 144 is a lovely quiet road (unlike the 40) and it runs through nice countryside and little Maryland townships. All good things have to come to an end though and just outside the city of Frederick we pick up the 340 freeway heading south and follow that to Front Royal where we find the entrance to the Shenandoah National Park and the beginning of the 105 mile long Skyline Drive. 

Coffe stop

Like most things in America, most things come with a price and Skyline Drive comes with a $10 toll for motorcycles and a maximum speed of 35mph but the sky is blue, the sun is out and the scenery is spectacular. The park has only just opened for the season so visitor numbers were very low and we pretty much had empty roads apart from the odd squirrel, eagle and deer.

Skyline Drive - the road is all ours

The rangers told us that a storm was incoming and should hit the area some time around midnight and would be dumping around 2 inches of rain. We decided to pull off Skyline Drive at the 33 and headed for a local motel in Elkton but the owner told us that he was fully booked despite having an empty parking lot. We got the message and carried on another 14 miles to Harrisonburg where we found and booked 2 nights at a Motel 6. It is too early really to be having a rest day but better than spending the day riding in torrential rain and high winds with thunder & lightning high up on a mountain.

Our idea is to retrace our steps along the 33 to Skyline Drive and continue to Roanoke where we will pick up the 469 mile long Blue Ridge Parkway so let’s hope that the rain moves on – the forecast reckons that it should pass over by Saturday night so it’s a case of sit tight.

PS Just heard on the news that Virginia has been upgraded from a 4 out of ten to a 6 out of ten - this is for tornados AAARRRGGGHHH !!