Georgia on my mind...

 So after a long ride on Oct-6 I arrived at the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Located in the Shenandoah National Park in VA. My first thing up arriving was looking for a campsite. It was getting dark and I was getting a bit tired! Luckily there was a campground just up the road. Here are a few picks from the start of the road and a few miles inbound.

 My first tunnel!

This is just a preview of the views to come...

 Couldn't pass up a picture of the motorcycle :-)

 And me! I can't even explain how pumped I was upon arrival. I was yelling in my helmet to myself just laughing like a little kid. Nothing like the feeling of setting your own goals and agenda and seeing it through to end. Even though this isn't the end (Portland is though!) this was still on the list of things to accomplish.

 So this is how to make dinner for one on the road. Camp stove, some water and some microwavable mac'n'cheese from the organic section at the grocery story. Just boil the pasta and add the cheese packet! Double portions for the energy and nothing like sleeping with a nice dinner in ya!

So I had visitors all through the night if you remember an earlier post. Here is the early hours of the morning. Checking out who was checking out me.

So after eating breakfast it was time to pack up and hit the road. 

Just one of the many views along Skyline Drive...

 The temp was starting to get pretty warm. It actually went from 43 to the mid 60s so I since I was dressed pretty warm I found some shade to grab a bite to eat. 

After a lot riding  I finally made my way from VA to NC! The roads here beautiful but after constant twisting and turning I was really ready for some straight roads. I wouldn't be seeing any of those until the next day on my way to GA.

Hey ya'll! I'm in North Carolina! 

One foot in VA and one in NC. 

Checking out the atlas to see where I was, am and going to. 

Site D-11 at the Julian Price State Park.  I didn't think i was going to get much sleep. Lots of party goers having a good time when I arrived. Thankfully some ear plugs and a good dinner and I was out. Best night rests I've had yet!

 More views along th parkway. It was interesting how the day before just 50 miles North the trees hadn't start to change as much and where much greener.

It was eventually time to leave North Carolina, ride through South Carolina and head to Georgia. The entire ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway was like watching a car commercial. You could hear the sound of the engine roaring along, the curves matched the beats to the music, the brightly colored leafs are gently floating to the ground as you drive a long. Looking in your rear view mirror you can see the twirl of leafs as you zoom past. Absolutely spectacular.  I highly recommend this trip to anyone. Either in a car or a motorcycle or a bicycle for that matter. Although I will say try and avoid the weekend. I had to bail with about 30 miles of parkway left because there where just too many people driving along at 15 mph. Which is fine but when you see you're holding up the whole world behind you, move over! Anyway, it was delightful and I thought I would be home free after jumping off onto route 26 South but man was I wrong. It was like switchback city! Hard corners, down hill, sweeping corners, carving left, carving right, back on the gas through the apex of the turn to keep that big bike going forward and then it was back on the brakes and tucking that monster deep into backed switch back turns. This went on for 45 mins...I was really ready for a break! After a few more hours I eventually found my way to the highway. Hopping on Route 85 South towards ATL I was blasting along at 80mph (that was in the right lane, the left lane was moving faster still....) and on my way to Cumming, GA.

I'm staying with some friends of mine that I knew from Williamsport, PA. They had moved to GA for work and so it was time I paid them a visit.First on the list was dinner at 'cue check it here. I had an awesome chicken pulled bbq sandwhich and some super creamy mac'n'cheese. The next morning it was off to do some dirt jumping with my friend Jarret Reid (link here). Jarret was going to teach me to catch some air. We'll see about that. I'm a little lacking on the "jumping anything category" but I'm sure I can figure it out.

Here is a pic of the park we went to ride at. 

So here I was thinking I was super cool, flying along finally after about 20 runs down this short course. I was finally getting the hang of it and this is the result. About 1 foot of measly air. haha. 

Then Jarret came down and did a back flip...

And two shots of a him doing a nac nac. If you want to try on a motocross bike here is a link. I'm so bummed the first pic I cut his head off. The color and lighting was much better than the second one below. I guess I could photoshop it but we'll save that mess for another time. 

So right now I'm at Ice Cream Social  which is my friend's mom's entrepreneurial adventure. Posting up pics and getting th blog up to date was fun. I felt like a little kid who skipped his homework the last two nights. Although being back in society with cell service and internet service has been great. Getting connected again :-)

Tonight is still up in the air. Tomorrow I'll probably go riding again and then its of to visit my cousins in Douglasville, GA.