Day 1 done, ready for more.

Today in Stephens City when it was time to depart, it was overcast, misty, and a bit cool. The weather forecast from the previous night indicated the further south we went the nicer it was suppose to become. That could not have been further from the truth. We were in and out of the fog all morning and it stayed cold enough that we never came out of our cold suits. I do not remember where we were, when on one section of road, but I could barely see through the windshield of the bike, the fog, the mist, and almost went into a corner with to much speed. That made me mess in my pants a bit!!

 We stopped in Franklin, WV for lunch and once we got back on the road, the weather and roads improved dramatically. I was so warm at one point that I had to come out of the cold gear. When we crossed back into Virginia it was was like a curse, the overcast, mist, and cool temps returned. Oh well, no rain and for the most part we had good time riding.

Causalities ??? Well today unfortunately I crushed a chipmunk that darted out in front of the bike while I was doing about 45mph. I saw the little guy way to late to adjust. The other victim I think survived, but he scared the bejesus out of both of us. The dang bird swooped in from the left, banged off my windshield, and as far as I could tell, just kept on flying.

My poor bike. I gave her a bath, a wax job along with a clay bar, but to look at her today? She is one ugly beast. But I did all this knowing she was going to get dirty, I just wanted to protect the finish and make it easier to clean.

While we were stopped at an overlook just east of Warm Springs, I noticed a Kayak coming down the stream. It looked as if he was having a good time.

Once we approach Natural Bridge and the end of ride for the day, we stopped to eat Mexican. With bellies full, and legs stretched, we jumped back on the bike to finish our day and begin a nights rest at the Natural Bridge Hotel. Nothing fancy, but nice place to visit.

Today we completed 322 miles of the planned 380. Mark was tired, hungry and had had enough of the wet and foggy roads. I would love to do the leg again in the sun.

Tomorrow we will blast 60 miles on 81 south to the Blacksburg area and join the Blue Ridge Parkway. We will visit Grand Father Mountain, Mt. Mitchell, and end up in Asheville, North Carolina. We are looking at about 315 mile day tomorrow.