As previously posted I was a little anxious about our first road trip, which was to Skyline drive. We left the Eastern Shore of Md on Sunday morning at 9am which saved us from the traffic nightmares of returning Ocean City vacationers and Route 495 beltway madness. We made it to Front Royal on Rt 66 in three hours, which I thought was really good time. On main street in Front Royal we stopped at the Visitor's Center. In the same parking lot were about two dozen motorcycles. Turns out they were next door at the Tavern for lunch. The visitor's center was great. They must have had 500 brochures and one knowledgeable greeter.

We decided to head up to Antietam National Battlefield. It was terribly hot.....96degrees actually! The Battlefield Visitor's Center had a theater and a very good speaker who gave an hour by hour account of the bloodiest day in America. It was too hot to do the battlefield tour so we headed off to Harper's Ferry, expecting to find a nice place to stay for the night. We pulled into the H.F. Visitor's Center just before they closed but they told us that there was heavy traffic stuck in Harper's Ferry and we'd be better off to come back the next morning and take the shuttle bus in. We were hungry and tired so we decided to grab something to eat at a Mexican Restaurant and headed back to Front Royal to the Hampton Inn. We found about a dozen bikers already there (probably because of HD Forum posted like the one I read about it being a good place for bikers). Anyway they let us park in a protected area and treated us nice.

In the morning we hit the North end of Skyline Drive. There were very few visitors on the drive this morning (Monday) so we could ride at our own leisurely pace and pull over whenever we wanted. After 25 miles we took
Rt 211 towards Luray and then went on to New Market and took Rt 11 south to Endless Caverns. My riding buddy had been here before. It's kinda out in the middle of nowhere but the advantage is that there are much fewer tourist there and the caverns are as interesting as Luray. I'd speculate that over the years Luray Caverns have just done a better job of marketing themselves. The parking lot at Endless Caverns however is on a shape slope and unfortunately while turning my new Crossbones around I lost my balance and once she leaned over so far I couldn't stop her from dropping to the pavement. OUCH! I was hopping mad but the only damage was a broken clutch lever and a scratched derby cover. We called the Staunton Harley Dealer (Shenndoah) and they had a clutch lever. Thankfully the clutch still worked I just had to push the lever back out to engage the engine. We hightailed it down Rt 81 to Staunton (60 miles away) in record time at 70 mph. They got us fixed right away. This is a big Harley dealer and were a great bunch of people. They recommended staying in Staunton at the Stonewall Jackson Hotel and eating at "the Mill". We took their advise and ate some of the best ribs we've ever had at the Mill. Staunton was a beautiful historic town (I'm sure we'll return and spend more time here again). The SWJ hotel was really clean and beautiful and it didn't cost any more than the Hampton Inn. In the morning we found a little "mom & pop" breakfast shop around the corner and had a hearty stack of pancakes before heading for the south end of Skyline Drive.

From the south we again encountered few visitors, more were on motorcycles than cars. I was surprised to find they allow bicyclist on the drive! We had close encounters with two deer that stood right next to the road. Thankfully neither decided to take us down (though one biker from the Hampton Inn group did hit a deer wrecking his motorcycle and sending him to the hospital with a broken collarbone, so watch out for deer!).

At around 40 miles up the Drive we headed east on RT 33 towards several wineries near Barboursville. We visited the Horton Wineries. The temp difference from the top of Skyline Drive and down it the valley was surprising. We almost needed jackets on the Drive but down in the valley it was almost too hot to be outside.

We all wanted to visit Monticello so we headed south on Rt 20. We were told at the Winery that this would be a very scenic route and not much traffic. They were right. THis area is mostly rolling hills with expansive farms, really beautiful.

Once in Charlottesville we headed to Monticello. The visitor's center there was huge, offering a theater, shopping and a nice cafe'. We thought the admission price of $20 per person was a little steep but nontheless we took the tour. It was interesting to learn more about the life of Thomas Jefferson. Something we found interesting was the fact that he died in debt. Anyway while the tour for the garden was forming we saw dark clouds forming and heard thunder so we decided to get off the mountain and find a room for the night before gettings soaked. We found the Comfort Inn close by. They gave us a nice discount for being AARP members ($20 off) and allowed us to park our bikes under the enterance protected from any rain. We took a nap and when we awoke the storm had blown over (never did rain) so we decided to head to downtown Charlottesville for an evening of good food. We easily found the walking mall which was probably 8 blocks of restaurants and trendy shops. It was really beautiful and not crowded on a Tuesday night. After having some great food at the Blue Grill we had some gelato and headed back to the hotel room for some rest.

In the morning (Weds) we took Rt 231 to Gordonsville and then RT 15 on to Orange to visit Waugh Harley. This route is recommended because again it's very scenic and traffic was heavy. Waugh Enterprises Harley was a nice dealership with super friendly people and a lot of customized bikes. It's much bigger than it appears because basement runs the entire length of the building housing clothing and accessories.

From Orange we took RT 20 over to RT 3 into Fredericksburg with heading home in mind. We didn't find this area all that appealing with a lot of traffic and stoplights. We pressed on to RT 301 all the way back up to Rt 50 where we stopped on RT 2 south at Chevy's to get some good Tex/Mex food. We were planning on stopping at Annapolis Harley but storm clouds were again forming so we decided to get across the Bay and head for home. We were home within an hour but never felt a drop of rain, although not 20 mins later it poured!

We had a great trip with memories that will last a long time. We did a total of 750 miles and never got one rain drop on us (prayers help!). On a new bike (just bought it in June 09 and put 3000 miles on it before our trip), with my wife on the back and having never been in the mountains on a bike, I did have some anxiety on the sharp decending turns / blind corners. The bike handles differently with a passenger and in these conditions. Overall it was great and we'd do it again without hesitation.

Thanks to everyone who offered advise like, write down the names & phone numbers of Harley dealers in the areas visiting (which came in handy when we had some trouble), enjoy the ride not just the destinations, check tire pressure, oil, etc before leaving.

 

Sounds like a nice first trip. One problem is it'll become habit forming

 

Very nice, other than the minor slip-up, sounds like a great trip and glad you had a good time. We did our maiden voyage this summer as well. Did about a thousand miles through wyoming and just a touch of Montana. A eye problem for me cut our trip a bit short. But we're already planning for next summer.

 

Just wondering what all you used to carry your clothes and gear with the wife along. Just saddlebags or did you also use a T-Bag or something on the XBones? Did your wife use the small passenger pillion and XBones sissybar or did you have something different for her comfort. I know my wife hates the passenger pillion and the SB on my XBones.

 

Fantastic write-up and sounds like an excellent trip! Thanks for posting!

 

As for luggage we used Harley's 3600 cu in multi-fit tour bag, which is secured by the sissy bar and a small luggage rack on the back. It provided enough room for severals days clothing and our bathing supplies, camera, etc. We didn't use any saddlebags. After I bought it I saw the new Saddleman bag, which is about the same size but had better features (like more side compartments, etc.) and it was about $60 less........I'd buy this one if I hadn't already bought the Harley bag.

As for passenger comfort, we purchased a pillow extension at a bike show. It lays over the passenger pillow and extends the width by probably 6-8". It's a piece of leather (with a decorative surfer's cross embrodiered on it) that lays across the pillow, on each side there is a large cylinder like piece of foam (3" in diameter and 8-10" in length) which is covered by leather. It's a nice alternative to changing out the stock passenger pillow. She never complained once about discomfort. When we test rode the Bones she did find the stock Bones sissybar/back-pad uncomfortable so we traded it for a stand med height Harley sissbay/pad that fits her back better.



We used bundge cords to hold our FXRG jackets on top of the tour bag ( temps were near 100 degrees several days).

 

Nice write up!

 

Thanks for sharing and a wonderful writeup. My wife and I did the Skyline Drive ride from Front Royal to the exit to Lexington (105 miles on the skyline) back in June. Wonderful ride. We had a black bear run across the road about 30 feet in front of us at about mile 30 or so. Great memories of the ride. Hope to do it again sometime.

 

Sounds like you had a great trip. Thanks for sharing.