Didn't get up too early - the combination St. Pauli Girl Dark, Chardonnay and good company, made for a throbbing head in the morning. Pic #1 is the front porch, #2 is Harley the resident Bulldog, #3 is Julie and #4 is the view from the back porch... thats about all I'm gonna put in here as I want to respect their privacy and not have you goofballs bugging them for a place to crash! LOL

 
Goodbyes said, and dessert, which we never got to last night, packed in the tour pack - I pull out of the cabin's driveway at 9am not sure what I'm gonna do or where I am going. I thought at first I would head home straight down Hwy 29, south of Lynchburg, VA, but I find myself reversing course, going back up some of the same backroads I came in on last night, and found myself on the Blue Ridge Parkway... I run across Milepost #85 at the Peaks of Otter and the idea for Pic # 5 came to mind... that Interstate 85 sign is not really on the side of the road on the Parkway, I morphed it in, but the idea works... Half way down the parkway I snap this pic of the GPS III+ mounted on the handlebar - I didn't do much on the way home so this may be a good time to mention it a little. Although I didn't find myself using the GPS at every turn, it was a great confirmation of where I was going and where I was supposed to be - and more than once I had to make a quick turnaround because the road signs were confusing, but the GPS said I was on the wrong road - VERY handy little tool on tour rides. This close up (pic #6) is of one of the several different views you can have, this one a summary of speeds, times, altitudes and odometers... many views to choose from and you can display a lot of differing things in these views - customizable.

Pics #7 and 8 are of the mounting location on the bike (it was home in my garage by the time these pics were taken - funny thing about Pic #7 is it is showing a strong signal from 2 satellites even from inside the garage!) Pic #08 is from above showing the special handlebar clamp that has a quick release so you can bring it inside overnight or at bars...but it is waterproof so you can leave it out there if ya want.

 
In order to get the most out of your GPS, you need to pre-program waypoints into it before the trip - although I was able to modify my trips on the road with the laptop and a special data cable. Pic #09 is a screen shot of the MapSource program they sell ya along with the CD of all the roads and county maps and mapping software ($99) you will need - you can see several counties highlighted, indicating which county detailed maps are set to be uploaded to the GPS and the routes I programmed. Pic #10 is a screen shot of a specific route - ya gotta break up your routes to no more than 30 waypoints - the GPS will not accept more than that - but you can have many routes. So once I reach the end of one route, I set the GPS to go to a different route, and I am still in business - something I got good at doing at 60 mph. Pic #11 is a close up screen shot of the routing software, showing one waypoint in the town of Marlinton... notice I don't put waypoints at every bend in the road but only at major intersections. While the GPS will tell me I am 4 miles from the next waypoint it may actually be 7 road miles as the GPS calculates distance as the crow fies between waypoints. But as you approach a waypoint, it gets very accurate, down to the hundreths of mile so you can anticipate the turn without having to pull out a map. I know many of you might say that a GPS is NOT pure biking - I beg to differ - I found I can route many small roads into the trip without worrying about finding the roads in real life because the GPS told me when the next turn was coming up - if you ride your $30,000 scooter from bar to bar - sure - ya don't want one of these things - but if you ride your bike for the enjoyment of following back roads through America - I would highly recommend it. Unfortunately it doesn't tell ya when the gravel roads are washed out!

 
Half way through the day, I checked in at home and mentioned I was heading that way... Kim said if I made it home in time, she wanted to go to the outdoor movie theater at the NC Museum of Art in Raleigh - they have this huge screen set up on the west lawn showing movies - tonight was Crouching Tiger - Hidden Dragon, with a pre-show demonstration by the Chinese National Martial Arts team on stage showing the varying moves and fighting techniques. I came off the mountain and headed home, knowing perhaps this was not a good time to say I was gonna stay out one more night! Pic #12 shows the setup - notice most people have blankets and pillows - what ya can't see is the coolers and picnic baskets full of wine, crackers and cheese, grapes, and bug spray. Some folks actually bring real wine glasses and candles and tableclothes... but I couldn't bring myself to do that kinda weird shit. ... The pre-movie demonstration didn't explain just how they got those people to fly through the air and up the sides of the buildings though! ..Laying on the blanket and pillows is a great way to watch a movie under the stars - try it sometime if you're near Raleigh, NC.

So ends one of the better trips I've had on Huckleberry - even through the worst of it - the rocky road adventure and my dumping it on day 1, the bike worked like a charm, never missing a beat. I highly recommend a trip across Hwy 39 and tie into Hwy 60...those two are the prettiest drives I've ever been on - and one day next year I am gonna do it again with a couple people this time (skipping the lil' mini-adventure on the Rocky Road I think) - so for now - I am gonna put this one in the archives and look forward to the next ride... see ya then

- Muthuh