Ah, what a much better day today. The sun was out and the temperatures were cool and none of my teeth hurt. You knew I was going to say something about that damn tooth. At this moment in time, the tooth is doing fine and we are on the motorcycle with trailer in tow.
Today once we got rolling we basically did an Interstate 81 south blast until we reached the entry point of day 2 of my path. So once we reached Buchanan, Va. we stopped at Subway and grabbed a quick sub to refuel our engines and then off we went.
I have never really traveled southern Virginia west of Interstate 81 and it was fantastic. The rolling green country side with mountains deep in the background surrounding you in every direction. We rode through so many small communities and farms that looked so relaxing that it would make anyone my age or older to want to retire.
We did a drive by on a couple of homes today just to get an idea of there location in relation to life. Life meaning to me, away from most humans. To Lori that means, how near is the closest shopping whether it is for food or stuff in general. Both homes were very nice and we will see more tomorrow. Just so you understand, we didn’t actually go into the homes, just a visual drive by.
At one point today, I was so busy having so much fun on all the curves and up and downs that I basically lost track of my fuel situations. Not completely, just a little bit. Normally when I get within 30 miles of reserve, I do a GPS scan on route for fuel stations 30 plus miles in front of me. Well I forgot to do it until I was within 5 miles, and when pulling a trailer the first time in a new season, I didn’t really know what my fuel mileage was going to be. Then factor in that I was not being gentle with the throttle and now you have doubt. Going through one very tight turn and at a very good speed, the Valkyrie coughed as if it was starving for fuel. So I reached down and flipped to reserve. I knew at this point, I should have 25 – 30 miles left in fuel and I was 18 to 20 miles out. So I started throttling back and conserving fuel. Going downhill, I had the clutch pulled in and just coasted. We made it with plenty to spare. I fueled up with 5.6 gallons in a 6.9 gallon fuel tank. It wasn’t even close!!! I guess when going through that one corner, I leaned the bike at just right the speed and angle, and it coughed. First full tank gave me, 32.7 mpg, so I should be able to run 195 miles easy.
While we were fueling up, a local in a pickup truck of course, started talking to me about motorcycles in general and we wasted a good 20 minutes yapping. I felt so much like Lori that I almost, almost called myself Jabber Jaws. We left the fuel station and in just a few miles, stopped at a McDonald’s to get a apple pie and ice cream. Hey, we are on vacation. Once again, here comes a good ole boy and we talked another 15 minutes about bikes. I will say this, these folks down here are nice.
After leaving McDonald’s in Pulaski, we headed back into the country for another 2 hours of back road riding. We found one stretch somewhere between HWY 221 and shooting creek that was deep in the woods away from civilization. The road was a little rough, tight, and twisty. Let’s just say, a few times that Lori went airborne and she needed an Excedrin for here achy breaky butt. It was fun, but it was a little rough.
The Claiborne Bed & Breakfast is nice. It is in the middle of downtown Rocky Mount, Va. I believe the building itself dates back to 1893 and some of the exterior shows the wear, but it is still beautiful. Inside it is just gorgeous. I do not have many pictures to show for the day, but I have a few of the house. I will post a link at the bottom of this post for you to see. There are only 5.
Tomorrow, we’ll tour all around Smith mountain lake just to see the layout of the land and the residents that live there. I also want to find the state park that is located on the lake, because I would like to come back and tent camp. It would be a good test run on the BMW for my Alaska trip. We also have at least 4 homes that we will drive by and that is it. Weather for tomorrow looks to be the same as today, so I’m ready. Lori, Myself, Bike, and trailer are all doing fine.
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