Day One Hundred Twenty, Date Sunday, June 28, 2009
Time in Saddle: 6:43
Distance for the Day: 48.37 miles From BRP SC#4 To BRP SC#5-Deep Gap
Accumulated Trip Distance: 5735.4 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 3575’/3267’, Highest: 4409’ Accumulated: 4613’
Speeds: Avg: 7.2 mph, Max: 42.0 mph
Weather: 63° partly cloudy
Expenditures: $18
Time in Saddle: 6:43
Distance for the Day: 48.37 miles From BRP SC#4 To BRP SC#5-Deep Gap
Accumulated Trip Distance: 5735.4 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 3575’/3267’, Highest: 4409’ Accumulated: 4613’
Speeds: Avg: 7.2 mph, Max: 42.0 mph
Weather: 63° partly cloudy
Expenditures: $18
I woke up at about 5:30am, but went back to sleep until 6:30am because I was so well hidden, there was no way anyone would find me. I was packing up my stuff and – horrors! It was the Attack of the Giant Black Ants! These big, fat ants had found and decided to infest my trike. Fortunately, most of the compartments were secure, so they didn’t get inside my stuff so much, but even so, I spent a good 40 minutes chasing them out of the little nooks and crannies, including the inch-thick mesh seat cushion. I knew I wouldn’t be able to find them all, and figured I’d be seeing a few more in the future, crawling around (and I did for the next 2 days). I
took off at 7:22am, and went up the Parkway a few miles before taking a short side trip to stock up on supplies at a gas station in Linville Falls at 9:30am ($18); there was a detour to go around a bridge that was out, so I had to take an alternate route around the closed section, which added maybe an extra four or five miles – not too bad, though there was about a half-mile over a gravel road as part of the detour. Again, not too bad, but not much fun, either, especially when one rather inconsiderate car driver zoomed past, throwing a ton of dust in the air. Must’ve been James Bond on his way to defuse a nuclear bomb, or something. I got back on the BRP at 5:54pm, and the road became a lot easier for q
uite a while, so I was able to make good forward progress. I got to and past Grandfather Mountain (a former hang gliding site), the Julian Price Memorial Park, and the Moses H. Cone Memorial Park. I hit *another* detour, and had to pass through the town of Deep Gap (didn’t like the sound of that place). Just as I entered the outskirts of the town, it started to rain, so I hid under the eaves of a business and read my book. When it looked like the rain was stopping, I started out, and the rain started up, again, so I went under another eave. After the rain stopped again, about 15 minutes later, I continued on, and then found a promising stealth camp location in the fo
rm of a business building that was for sale, and currently unoccupied (N36 14.512’ W81 32.341’). I rode right up a ramp onto the front porch behind the porch’s rails, and was invisible to the traffic that passed by. I sat there reading my book until it got dark, and then lay out my tarp, air mattress and sleeping bag. There were no gnats or mosquitoes, so I didn’t even need my tent. There were lots of fireflies, here, and I even helped one that seemed to be having trouble getting away from a wall. I put the cycle into stealth mode, inserted my earplugs against loud truck noise on nearby highway, and got to sleep at about 10pm, clean and dry as could be – how nice!
took off at 7:22am, and went up the Parkway a few miles before taking a short side trip to stock up on supplies at a gas station in Linville Falls at 9:30am ($18); there was a detour to go around a bridge that was out, so I had to take an alternate route around the closed section, which added maybe an extra four or five miles – not too bad, though there was about a half-mile over a gravel road as part of the detour. Again, not too bad, but not much fun, either, especially when one rather inconsiderate car driver zoomed past, throwing a ton of dust in the air. Must’ve been James Bond on his way to defuse a nuclear bomb, or something. I got back on the BRP at 5:54pm, and the road became a lot easier for q
uite a while, so I was able to make good forward progress. I got to and past Grandfather Mountain (a former hang gliding site), the Julian Price Memorial Park, and the Moses H. Cone Memorial Park. I hit *another* detour, and had to pass through the town of Deep Gap (didn’t like the sound of that place). Just as I entered the outskirts of the town, it started to rain, so I hid under the eaves of a business and read my book. When it looked like the rain was stopping, I started out, and the rain started up, again, so I went under another eave. After the rain stopped again, about 15 minutes later, I continued on, and then found a promising stealth camp location in the fo
rm of a business building that was for sale, and currently unoccupied (N36 14.512’ W81 32.341’). I rode right up a ramp onto the front porch behind the porch’s rails, and was invisible to the traffic that passed by. I sat there reading my book until it got dark, and then lay out my tarp, air mattress and sleeping bag. There were no gnats or mosquitoes, so I didn’t even need my tent. There were lots of fireflies, here, and I even helped one that seemed to be having trouble getting away from a wall. I put the cycle into stealth mode, inserted my earplugs against loud truck noise on nearby highway, and got to sleep at about 10pm, clean and dry as could be – how nice!
1 comment:
In the picture of the guys riding with no brakes on the Blue Ridge Parkway, I am 3rd from the left...it was a motivating moment meeting you.
www.nodavelo.blogspot.com
Geoff
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