| Blue Ridge Parkway Trip Sept 7th - 14th, 2002 A Daily Journal by Fran Hill |
| 9th |
| We rode the first 200 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway�.. WOW�. There were breathtaking views at every turn. That early in the morning we pretty much had the road to ourselves except for a few deer and a large number of squirrels. I have deduced that Virginian squirrels are just as suicidal as NH squirrels, running across in front of our bikes, changing their minds halfway across the road. The deer are not much smarter�I was admiring a beautiful doe grazing alongside the road, when she decided to run right across in front of me, rather than take the shorter route to safety in the woods beside her. That was a close one..I was going about 35 mph and she ran across about 6 feet in front of me! I guess the Blessing of the Bikes in Colebrook paid off! We also saw some wild turkeys and a groundhog. |
| Another beautiful sunny day..we are really lucking out on the weather. The Holiday Inn Express in Waynesboro had an EXCELLENT continental breakfast. Robin had a go-round with the waffle maker�it did not want to let go of her waffle..but female persistence paid off and she finally got it. We have decided to rate motels we stay in along the way�so far this one offered the �best breakfast�. We were on our way by 7:30 am�. |
 |
 |
| We stopped for lunch and gift shopping at the Peaks of Otter. When we sat down in the restaurant, a young waitress asked if we wanted to order breakfast or lunch..to which we replied, lunch. She gave us the menus and our drinks ..and then we waited for her to return to take our order�.and we waited �and waited. We looked around and found all the waitresses sitting at a table in the corner, obviously taking a break. She saw us looking funny at her and came over to say �you know we do not serve lunch until 11:30?� OK, looking at our watches, it was 11:25am.. �Can you take our orders now and put them right in at 11:30 ?� �No, I am not your waitress..I only do the drinks.� At precisely 11:30 our waitress came to the table to finally take our orders. Then it was a long wait to get the food� We do not recommend eating here if anyone ever goes down that way again! |
| The rest of the days ride went from scenic mountain views and endless tight turns to open farmland with more sweeping corners� a pleasant break from the blind mountain curves. |
 |
 |
 |
| The real strange event of the day occurred when we had stopped at one of the overlooks for a break. Robin commented that we needed to find a place to stop for a cold drink and go to the bathroom. No sooner were those words out of her mouth when a small car , brightly painted and decorated on the roof with a big Red Bull Energy Drink can pulled in beside us.. This guy jumped out and said, �you ladies look like you could use a drink�..and handed us free, cold Red Bull drinks out of a cooler in the back of the car. Really strange because there were very few cars on the road as it was�That took care of Robin�s thirst�.we did not wait around for a porta-potty to show up. |
| We finished the 200 miles easily and got rooms at the Hampton Inn in Hillsville, A. There was not much for restaurants around so we went to a fast food place near the motel. We have discovered that nothing in Virginia is fast ,except the tractor trailers on the highway! It took forever to get our food. Robin was all done eating by the time the rest of us got ours. The stay in Hillsville did not improve. We got in our swimsuits and headed to the whirlpool, only to find out that the pool and whirlpool heaters were not working. The pool was freezing and the whirlpool was only lukewarm. On top of everything else, Robin�s arm was swelling up even more from the bee sting so she had to go find some benadryl. It was not a very good end to an otherwise gorgeous day. |
 |
| Total Miles � Day 3- 230 Miles |
 |