Day 5 - Roanoke, VA to Cruso, NC

July 7, 2006

(Click on photos to see them full size)


Woke up fairly early, broke camp (slowly) and left the park. Two miles away was a gas station and a source of hot coffee. Not great but enough to get a start on the day and find a place down the road for a good breakfast.


Rakes Mill Pond

About an hour down the road I ran into Mabry's Mill and pulled in just as my 2 new Harley buddies were pulling out. A week ago when I mentioned to friends that I was planning a ride down the Blueridge Parkway, several told me that I'd probably get stuck behind lots of RVs going 25 or slower. I spent over 2 days on the Parkway and I don't think I saw more than a half a dozen RVs, and none of them were in front of me. In fact there were many more motorcycles on the Parkway than cars, by a factor of 2 or 3 to 1. This was a pleasant surprise, and made navigation of the road at one's own pace very easy. Here at Mabry's Mill this imbalance was apparent, so I took a photo of the parking lot. The picture doesn't really tell the story.


Mabry's Mill

The smell of bacon and pancakes was too great to pass up, so I had breakfast before moving on down the road.

It was hard not to stop and gawk at the scenery at every turn, but I resisted. I took a few pictures, but it was hard to pick the best spots.




Parkway Scenes

At one of the lookouts I was chatting with a biker and his wife going the other direction on two bikes. They had just come up from Deal's Gap and the Dragon's Tail, which boasts something like 383 turns in 11 miles. Hubby had taken a video of his wife riding "the Tail." He also had a lot of photos he'd taken at the entrance, where parts of crashed bikes were nailed up to trees as a sort of memorial. I would be passing Deal's Gap tomorrow, a weekend day. I decided I'd probably pass up that ride to avoid the weekend sport-bikers. This couple also recommended the motorcycle campground, but said it was at Cruso, not Waynesville.

As it became obvious I wouldn't be making it to Tennessee this day, I stopped to call the people who'd invited me to stay to tell them that I'd probably not be stopping. If all went well, I'd be passing Knoxville around noon and wouldn't be staying the night.

Fortunately, I had my GPS on and it showed me where the turnoff to Cruso was. My plan was to go to Waynesville, and it would have taken at least another hour to find the campground. As I pulled in, there was a guy unloading his Harley off the trailer behind his truck. He then hopped on and rode into the motorcycles-only campground right behind me. I held my tongue.

The campground was terrific. No designated campsites, just park anywhere and set up camp. There was a lounge with TV, an outdoor restaurant that served steak dinners for 7.95, and of course showers. After dark there was a campfire where everybody sat around and lied to each other. The instant camaraderie was amazing.

I found a great spot by the river, and as soon as I got set up, my two Harley pals from the night before pulled in and set up beside me.


Parked at my campsite


The river in my "back yard"

Next time I'm in this area, I'll plan to spend several days here while I explore the Parkway and the Asheville area.

Today I rode 311 twisty, curvy miles. 1331 since the start.