Departed NYC Sat 4/8 towards the entrance of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. Was a bit cold that morning, around 37 degree around 6pm when we departed. Had a 3 hr pit stop at Susquehanna Harley Davidson in PA for my 1k on my new RGU. Finally got to our destination around 4pm. Left for enough time for a short hike. We climbed up the Hump Backed Rocks. Highly recommend but make sure you are can handle a strenuous hike. It's mostly up hill. That night we stayed in a hotel in Waynesboro, VA. Slept in a little that morning and did about an hour ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway. After about an hour we hoped onto I-81 to check out the Mile High Swinging Bridge and Crabtree Falls. Stayed in Ashville, NC that night and departed that following morning (Monday) for NYC. The ride home totaled a little over 700 miles and did that in about 13 hours with stops. Logged a little over 1500 miles in the three days.


Take aways:

1) What a magical three day trip this was. Blue Ridge Parkway was everything I wanted and much much more. I highly recommend taking the trip to check it out. It's truly magical. Even I-81 was very very nice.

2) I'm fairly new on taking longer trips like this on a motorcycle. I'm finding it a bit overwhelming on how to properly dress. That first early morning when we left it was almost freezing and by the time we got to out destination it was 75 degrees. I might look into some HD convertible clothes.

3) The 700 miles day on the way home was a bit much. Doable but my butt was a little tired by the time we made it home. I don't know if it's worth upgrading the seat on my bike to a Hammock. But 700 I imagine is tough even with a nice seat like that.

4) Thankful I wore a full faced helmet. I usually ride with a half when I'm local. We were pretty beat when we got back, prob a lot more beat if we wore halves.

5) Was riding 2-up the entire time. Could have used some extra luggage space even with my tour pak. Looking into Nelson Rigs GW-1200 or one of T-bags. Not sure which company yet.

Here are some photos

 

that is one of my dreams is to ride the BRP before departing this world.

 

you could pass for Eric Church in this pic....

 

Excellent! Here in the Raleigh NC area the BRP is just 2 hours North. I plan to make an overnight trip later this Spring. Great pics!

 

Man that's a Helluva way to break in a new bike! Great pics. Looks like a blast.

 

I love it up there, some of the views are magical. I try to get up there at least once a year.

 

It looks like you had a blast!. That is some beautiful country that you rode though.

 

I ride the BRP and many nicer local rides on a regular basis. The leaves are just as of this week starting to turn green. As far as riding gear, decent leather along with chaps would have done you just fine. At some point you were not too far from Fox Creek Leather in Independence Va. Too bad you could not have waited another week as the forecast is to be a bit nicer going forward. Glad you got to enjoy some of Gods greatest blessings!!!

 

Certainly is a beautiful ride this time of year. I usually pick it up in Luray VA and ride it down to Standardsville and come back through Gordonsville and Orange VA and stop at Waugh HD for a bit. Its a good days ride for us.

rk classic

 

Excellent pictures.