October 11 - 280 miles

Leaving the parking lot next to Lisa's building.

It was drizzling and cold the morning I left. I left my rain gear on all day, more for warmth.

It was exciting to finally be on the road after having planned this trip for more than six months. I was also sad. To be away from Lisa for so long was going to be difficult. Though I would be seeing her in a few weeks in Mexico, I knew I was going to miss her.

My first destination was near Delaplane, VA, about 60 miles west of Washington DC. Patricia, a roommate of mine from ye olde Boston days, and her husband David, live on a gorgeous farm there, with three horses, three dogs and one cat. Oi vay! A veritable menagerie.

There's Ed by the pool. He was one dopey dog.

The view of their land. Nicely fenced paddocks, and rolling hills.

Patricia in full crackup mode. Check out those choppers!

I took a little walk with the dogs while Patricia finished up some work. Here's a little video. Ed has such a funny gait to his walk, I just had to show it.

Patricia and David all snugly-wugly.

The dogs: Simon, Ed and Duma.

Simon gets to work on a rawhide.

Ed is just a big goofus.

Zoinks! Duma's possessed.

October 12 - 290 miles

My plan today was to ride the length of Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park, despite the warning from the woman at the park entrance that it was "foggy up there."

So, she was right. It was foggy as hell. The riding was nice, but you couldn't see any of the amazing scenery. None. Visibility was about 15 feet in some places.

I pulled up to a scenic overlook where you could actually see something, and saw a guy next to a new R1200GS. This is Roy. We chatted for quite a while about bikes, riding, riding gear, and other stuff, then went and got some lunch.

Roy is from Clinton, MA, and was out for a week-long ride. This was his farthest destination, and he was heading back after riding the Shenandoah. I found out a few days later that there was absolutely torrential rains in the Northeast and thought of him slogging through the crap.

Here's the one scenic overlook. Wish I could have seen more. I ended up leaving Shenandoah before the end, as it was wet with fog and not that exciting without the views.

I stayed the night at Bluestone State Park, near Hinton, WV. I arrived after dark and found the cheap tent-only campsites, but there was no one there and it was kind of creepy. I then remembered that Deliverance was about West Virginia (I think), so I went to the more expensive sites. There were a few other people staying there, and they were in RV's. Good enough. I made some dinner and got in my tent.

It was a long day of riding - without covering that many miles - and I was pretty beat.

October 13 - 265 miles

More fog! Damn. This was the third day of overcast weather, and it was getting me down.

I stayed at Big Ridge State Park in Tennessee that night, and woke up to some more serious fog. I was hoping it would clear up later, and was pleasantly surprised.

October 14 - 356 miles

My plan for today was to not ride on any highways. I had been riding some in order to make time. Highways just suck the joy out of riding. It's just plain boring. I figured that it would be an easy day and I would make it to my destination, Land Between The Lakes, by late afternoon. Wrong!

I passed through Allardt, TN, which to my great surprise, is the Home of the Giant Pumpkins! Whoo hoo!

I stopped in a convenience store, that when inside, smelled like it had been deep-fried. I asked the woman behind the counter where all the giant pumpkins were, and she said the festival had been last week. Damn! Then she pointed out the back wall. Oh wow! There's actually a World Pumpkin Confederation?

Here's the winner from 1998. He looks pretty psyched. And look at that pumpkin!

This is about a third of the plaques that were displayed.

A guy I talked to out front told me that the festival is getting out of hand. Way too many people are attending, and the town just can't handle it. He said that Dolly Pardon wanted to take it away from Allardt and move it to Dollywood. Though the festival was getting out of hand, he didn't like the idea of it being taken away. He also thought Harley Davidsons were over-rated, which was a strange thing to hear from someone in that area. His friend, who seemed really shy, just stood behind him spitting the whole time.

A little movie of riding a road in Tennessee. It's actually not that little: almost 4Mb. There's a lot of wind noise, unfortunately.

Mmmm... the Dale Hollow Dam. This is for you, Matt, since you love dams so much.

Fascinating! Actually a cool old sign.

So, I didn't make it to Land Between The Lakes in the late afternoon. Sun had just set when I arrived at the Gatlin Point campgrounds. This is because the other campgrounds I had checked out had signs posted saying that the roads accessing them would be closed the next morning at 7am, and wouldn't re-open until 4pm. Fearing that I'd be trapped I scouted around for an alternative. This took about an hour, or so.

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