Skyline Drive/Blue Ridge Parkway to Roanoke, Virginia.
Okay… heading out of Front Royal along Skyline Drive and then the Blue Ridge Parkway to Roanoke, Virginia, where I’ll spend the night. It’s actually rather difficult figuring out just where the Blue Ridge Parkway starts and how it meanders, because Google Maps keeps wanting to put me on route 81, but I think I’ll be able to figure it out as I go. Just not sure how long it will actually take to get to Roanoke, but I guess it will take as long as it takes. Both Ken and Brad tell me the Blue Ridge Parkway is very windy and slow going, so it may take much longer than I expect, in which case I’ll have to adjust as I go (if I can). Looking forward to some great scenery, although there’s also thunderstorms in the forecast, as well as 96 degree weather.
Later that day. I had actually hoped to emulate a motorcycle journey I took back in the 70’s, which took me out of DC and through either West Virginia or Virginia, and round and down twisty mountain roads into valleys with small towns, but I really can’t remember which route I took back then (almost 50 years ago). Anyway, this wasn’t it… I’ll have to figure that out for another time, I suppose.
There isn’t too much to say about today, actually. I was pretty much driving all day, starting around 10 am and wrapping up around 5. Happily, it didn’t rain, despite the forecast this morning, and the temperature swung between high 70’s and early 90’s, depending on the elevation, getting up to about 3500 feet at times. I entered Skyline Drive going through Shenandoah National Park, and the entrance fee ($30) was waved as Bev and I had a lifetime senior pass (yay). A beautiful road, with great views of the Shenandoah Valley below and on either side, running about 106 miles from Front Royal, Virginia (where I spent last night) to Rockfish Gap, Virginia, where Skyline Drive ends and the Blue Ridge Parkway begins.
From Rockfish Gap, where it starts, the Blue Ridge Parkway runs about 469 miles, ending in North Carolina, but I only went as far as Roanoke, Virginia, about 170 miles, but I got off a little early, near Natural Bridge, Virginia and travelled the rest of the way on local roads.
As beautiful as Skyline Drive and the BR Parkway are, and they are very similar, and really just one continuous road, as where one ends the other begins (but there’s no fee for the Blue Ridge, as it doesn’t run through the National Park), it does get somewhat monotonous. Full of endless curves, twists, and turns, after a couple of hours it starts to feel less interesting, and I hoped for some different or more dramatic views, but the landscape is pretty much the same all the way through the 200 plus mile drive from Front Royal to Roanoke. Still, no complaints. I did stop a number of times and stretched my legs, and took a couple of trail hikes along the way.
I’m in Roanoke at the moment, where I’m spending the night at another prime (I’m being sarcastic) motel.
Tomorrow, south to Sevierville, Tennessee. For now, goodnight.