Day 10 Overlook overload

Deliberately I left the hotel at kicking out time, the weather radar had the rain clearing and I wanted dry roads for today’s adventure. Google maps didn’t want to play along, who could blame it, its algorithms finely tuned for the fastest or most economical route, I was an outlier in a data world. It took four waypoints to finally persuade it to get with the plan.

Not an ambitious one, unless your gearbox and motorcycle were in pieces less than 48 hours ago, 100 or so miles along the Skyline Drive, a gorgeous scenic route through Shenandoah National Park constructed I believe at the instruction of President Herbert Hoover, an incumbent with taste and vision (and a summer home nearby).

The road has a 35mph speed limit to protect the wildlife and, on this occasion, my gearbox. That meant at least 3 hours in the saddle so I thought, and booked, ahead, securing the last room in the Super 8 M/Hotel in Waynesboro. What I hadn’t anticipated was quite how magnificent the route would be, a folly to automotive leisure, a road built not to get from A to B (or C and D for that matter) that would hug the valley and only venture upwards grudgingly when thwarted. Instead it sort out the vistas, evidenced by the 80 lookouts, and flirted with the ridge, sometimes to the west and sometimes to the east.

I made steady progress with only a mild disregard for the limits. The bike has, somewhat alarmingly, developed or discovered a slow speed wobble shaking its head violently if I have the temerity to remove my left hand from the bars on certain road surfaces and speeds. I think that moving weight forwards will help and will put a bag on the tank tomorrow and maybe experiment with pressurising the forks.

On the way down I met Caroline from CA appreciating the view and to a lesser degree the Guzzi. We chatted for a while while I attempted time-lapse videos of the clouds and were joined by Sareth and his fiancé, also named Caroline, who plan to have their wedding at that very lookout.

I hope that the videos work, do let me know in the comments if not and I’ll desist. Supper tonight at the Fishin’ Pig, catfish, delicious, no picture. More Blue Ridge Mountains tomorrow, mostly pine less.