Today is the beginning of a two-day bike ride on the Shenandoah Skyline. It is more or less a continuation of the Blue Ridge Parkway starting up, where the former left off. Because of Labor Day weekend, traffic was busier than normal and at the park entrance, they informed me that all lodges and campgrounds were full! With no exits to escape off the Skyline to nearby towns, I had the rest of the day to figure out where to find refuge later that night. The plan was to make it halfway up the Skyline to Big Meadows, a paradise for big game watching, in hopes that they would be able to squeeze me in at the campground. If the last two days of the Blue Ridge Parkway is any indication of what is yet to come, I will be in for the ride of my life. Someone told me that you haven't seen bears until you get to the Skyline! My only reaction to that was to quote a now famous, but dumb remark: "Bring them on!"
The road surface on the Skyline was courser than I had been accustomed to on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and on one of the down hills, going into a hairpin turn, at thirty-five miles per hour, the pavement was loose with gravel, and caused my bike to shake uncontrollably, reverberating from the front to the back where the Bob trailer reacted by sweeping it's weight back and forth, pushing me into the opposite lane and almost out of the saddle. Somehow I remained upright and was able to slow down enough to return to the right lane. Close call is all I could think of, as my heart rate quickly thumbed up a few notches.
By five-thirty I made it to my destination. Deer were roaming the alpine meadow, followed by a flock of people chasing them down, armed with telescopic lenses, for a picture perfect moment. I settled in at the camp store to have dinner and a one-on-one, to figure out where to spent the night. Almost done with both, and not having come to any conclusion, Ed walked up with his, as he calls him, Regal Beagle Charlie. He sat down at the picnic table next door, and soon we were involved in "serious" conversation. As it was getting darker, Ed inquired where I was spending the night and trying to be humorous, I retorted: "Don't know, the campground is full, probably right here under the pick-nick table!" I gladly accepted his invitation to park my tent on his campsite, and before long was enjoying a front row seat around the fire that Ed had stoked up for the night. Charlie and I became best of friends and another perfect day came to an end.
The road surface on the Skyline was courser than I had been accustomed to on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and on one of the down hills, going into a hairpin turn, at thirty-five miles per hour, the pavement was loose with gravel, and caused my bike to shake uncontrollably, reverberating from the front to the back where the Bob trailer reacted by sweeping it's weight back and forth, pushing me into the opposite lane and almost out of the saddle. Somehow I remained upright and was able to slow down enough to return to the right lane. Close call is all I could think of, as my heart rate quickly thumbed up a few notches.
By five-thirty I made it to my destination. Deer were roaming the alpine meadow, followed by a flock of people chasing them down, armed with telescopic lenses, for a picture perfect moment. I settled in at the camp store to have dinner and a one-on-one, to figure out where to spent the night. Almost done with both, and not having come to any conclusion, Ed walked up with his, as he calls him, Regal Beagle Charlie. He sat down at the picnic table next door, and soon we were involved in "serious" conversation. As it was getting darker, Ed inquired where I was spending the night and trying to be humorous, I retorted: "Don't know, the campground is full, probably right here under the pick-nick table!" I gladly accepted his invitation to park my tent on his campsite, and before long was enjoying a front row seat around the fire that Ed had stoked up for the night. Charlie and I became best of friends and another perfect day came to an end.
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