I woke up early, and was eager to get out of South Carolina. My 49th State wasn’t as “fun” as I had hoped. The mountains of North Carolina were calling me back. It had rained over night with an impressive thunderstorm. My bike was cleaner afterwards. hah!
I took US25 towards Asheville. I found a coffee shop I wanted to visit there. It turned out to be as good as I hoped, and they even had decent wifi. The chai was good. I might have spent too much time reading my book because when I went outside it just started to rain. I hopped on I40 and headed west.
After entering a tunnel, the rain was gone. My roadcrafter kept me dry, and I was very grateful to have it. I didn’t have to bring extra rain gear, and I didn’t have to stop to put it on like some of the other riders I saw cowering under bridges.
While watching the GPS, I saw some curving looking roads, so I exited to check them out. It turned out to be the foothills parkway which was fun.
And it was sunny! It didn’t seem like it had rained here at all.
I enjoyed the curvy mountain roads and of course the overlooks.
obligatory bike photo
Love the blue color of the mountains in the fog and rain.
Eventually, I had to say goodbye to North Carolina and cross back into Tennessee on the beginning of my journey back north. I am going to miss NC. I need to go back more often.
I stopped for lunch at a nice café in the middle of really no where. The owner was very friendly and we sat and talked for quite a while. With a full belly, it was time to find my hotel.
and that meant crossing into Kentucky. I booked a room in a town called London. I was hoping to see some giant red double decker busses. Nope. They do have a funny accent though! hah.
Is this camera recording still? Yup? ok.
The hotel had a cool charging station with two USB and three outlets. I made it my mission to see if I could use them all. I did. #ChargeAllTheThings. (GoPro, Camera, Kindle, BatteryPack, Phone)
I had a great day of riding today. The rain was very mild and didn’t spoil it in any way. At one point, it was cool enough, I actually was able to put on a long sleeve shirt. Nice. I really enjoyed riding in and looking at the mountains in this area. At times it felt like a mildly religious moment. Lots of joy and satisfaction.
A short day with just less than 300 miles. I finished up the day with some relaxing and devouring the treats I had collected along the way.
Tomorrow I make my way north to Indianapolis to start enjoying the MotoGP festivities.
Related Posts:
- YouTube Playlist: Road Trip 2015
- Road Trip Day #10–Iowa, Minnesota, and Home
- Road Trip Day #9–Indianapolis MotoGP
- Road Trip Day #8– Part 2/2 Motorcycles on Meridian
- Road Trip Day #8– Part 1/2 IndyGP and Motorcycle Motorcycle Midway
- Road Trip Day #7–Indianapolis
- Road Trip Day #6–More Mountains!
- Road Trip Day #5–Mountains FTW!
- Road Trip Day #4–Memphis to Chattanooga
- Road Trip Day #3–Memphis, TN
- Road Trip Day #2–MO to TN
- Road Trip Day #1–MN to MO
Such beautiful views along the parkway.
ReplyDeleteI am still a little jealous when riders back east can hit 2-3 and even 4 states in one day. Would be a really long day in the saddle to get to 2 here, but you know that.
In Alaska it's 2000 miles to the next state. A really long day in the saddle (maybe a week on the Ural)... ;-)
DeleteIn MN we can hit 2-3 states in a day too :-Park
DeleteYou have other things to brag about, so why be jealous of other states
Haha 2k, it several days. Lol. And roll @ural
DeleteGood report. Amazing the amount of stuff we carry for the electronics eh?
ReplyDeleteThabks. I have slimmed down considerably on the electronics. They all fit in one small bag. New laptop helped tons.
DeleteNice roads and photos except for the one of the Interstate hwy. I've had all that charging on the Ural plus the laptop. Perhaps too much electronics...
ReplyDeleteHahaha, not too many. Didn't like the interstate? :-p
DeleteThat's what I love about travelling through the eastern US - in the right spot you can touch 3 states in under an hour (really feels like you're getting somewhere!). Lovely mountain photos. The Appalachians may not have jagged snow capped tops but they are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteWhat did we do before we had the gadgets ... oh yeah, we had to stop more often and read the maps.
Thabks. They are beautiful for sure even if they are small by mountain standards. Highest I got was somewhere around 5500 feet.
DeleteGadgets lol. My first road trip was all printed Google maps and my phone only. Used it for camera and very basic gps when I could find signal.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteGreat to meet you last night at Motorcycles on Meridian. Turns out that I had spent some time with your blog while trying to decide if I wanted to buy an SV. Helped a lot with my decision.
Have a great time at the MotoGP.
Beautiful pictures! I bet it felt like heavrn riding through there.
ReplyDelete