Motorcycle Road Trip, DAY 3: Salem, WV to Easely, SC

I woke up and the inside of the walls of my tent were a little wet with the dew because the fly cover wasn't fully off the inner tent.  But I slept like a rock from about 11pm-8:30am straight!  No coffee so I was pretty sluggish, but got dressed, had some breakfast at camp, and then walked over to the Caverns and signed up for a cave tour!  It wasn't the biggest or most impressive cave I had seen, but was still really interesting nonetheless.  Dixie Caverns is a "living cave" and the drops come pretty steadily.

Came back to camp and noticed that my GPS had a big spider crack in it.  Didn't notice it yesterday- how did this happen??  Eagle Riders gave me an old model- maybe there was already a small crack in it that they didn't tell me about?  I called them but got no help, so basically I have no GPS for the rest of the trip- I'll be solely using my road atlas and talking to strangers for help.
I left camp late (around noon) and hit the road.  Just highway today- I was flying.

I was hoping to hit Wicked Weed Brewery in Ashville, but somehow passed Ashville entirely (no gps), so I decided to just keep going to Rusty's lake house.
He gave me directions and I eventually found my way to his beautiful lake house (5-week AirBnb) in Easely, SC.

We bar-hopped and watched the Eagles vs. Panthers game with a bunch of dumb hicks.  Back at the lake house was had a few more beers and a smoke.  The lake is beautiful even at night- I'm looking forward to kayaking tomorrow!

Motorcycle Road Trip, DAY 2: Petersburg, WV to Salem, VA

Beautiful Riding!!
The first road of the day out of Petersburg (220)- farms in the fog, trees in color, hills, curves.  Beautiful.  During the ascent up to George Washington National Forest, one of the corners looked like it defied gravity!  The roads are tilted on corners, but with such a steep incline around this sharp bend, it looked like I was approaching an Escher drawing, or a road out of the movie Inception!  There are so few cars on the road, it's fantastic.  I was wrong to doubt Rodney- cruise control is glorious (on straightaways).  I was in full yellow rain gear through the fog and clouds in the Shenandoah Mountains.  Beautiful country.

The Rockfish Gap visitor center lady (new from Ohio) was great.  Her ears perked up when she heard me mention beer on the phone with Rusty, and immediately recommended I check out a nearby brewery!  Good lookin out, visitor center lady.  I got to the brewery, but it was closed until 3pm though! ha!  Instead, I got lunch at a Chinese buffet in Waynesboro, VA near Rockfish Gap.
BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY!!  Foggy, and a little wet, but both cleared up soon enough and it was just heaven.  (I had a feeling it would clear up, so I strip-changed out of my rain gear in a gas station parking lot).

  After a lovely ride on the BRP, I slogged down 81 to arrive at a perfect first campsite, Dixie Caverns in Salem, VA.  I set up my tent, drove to get groceries, came back to camp, cracked a beer and had dinner.  Afterwards, I had a smoke, and played the harmonica in the dark.  Beautiful day.  Thank you God.

*I noticed in myself and then in 2 other campsites: we're still on a phones a fair amount, despite being outdoors/camping.  Just because we can hear crickets doesn't mean people won't still be glued to their internet connection.  But even here- in this trailer park more or less- I find that if I simply turn off my phone or put it away and then sit still and look around at the trees and leaves and hills, I'm not missing anything.  Nature will keep you on your toes- at least for a city boy- anything could happen at any moment.  Which tells me that it's not merely good enough to say, "I'm just gonna to get out of the city and enjoy nature to decompress."  In this instance, physical location might not be enough to change problematic behavior.
I wonder if my perceived attachment to my text messages is really just loneliness kicking in on Day 2 of the solo road trip?

Motorcycle Road Trip, DAY 1: Philadelphia, PA to Petersburg, WV

The bus from Philly was delayed in traffic.  AJ picked me up at the Washington DC bus station.  She's very well-spoken, accomplished, down-to-earth, fun, and pleasant!  Tacos for lunch were dee-lish!
Eagle Riders tells me they don't have a GPS, despite my reservation?!  Finally they got me setup with one, but for about an hour I was almost in tears.  Once I was good to go, I was so surprised- even with the additional helmet, everything I packed fit on the bike!
And I got on the road!!!!....only to hit Washington DC rush hour traffic leaving the city.  It sucked, but I didn't mind so much- I was finally on my bike!  After the traffic, man, riding became FUN.  There were colors, twistys & windys, bridges, and soon there weren't any other cars!  Glorious.  I was racing against the sun though, trying to get to Van's cabin in Petersburg, WV (the middle of nowhere, West Virginia) before dark.

Averaging 85mph, I got the bike up to 105mph at one point!  Yaoowww!!  I made it to Van's road as the last remaining light disappeared.  The cabin was at the end of a long (10minutes?!) road, and it just got worse and worse the further back I went.  Finally I arrived at the gate to her property and turned off the bike so that I could walk up to the house to find the gate key under the porch.  As soon as I turned off the bike's headlight and flipped on my small headlamp, I was like, "Oh fuck this.  Nope.  I'm not getting murdered by ghosts on my first night."
I got back on the bike and found a nearby motel.  The two ladies at the front desk asked if I wanted "the haunted room" and even showed me that their list of rooms had one marked *haunted*.  I was so tired at this point and had little energy to entertain them.  I finally got a room (that wasn't haunted), but still immediately prayed for protection and slept with the bathroom light on ;)
I started reading Last of the Mohicans (my chosen book for downtime on the trip).  But the way Cooper writes, I think I only absorbed about 50% of the first chapter.
I had a dream that Matt McGuiness and all my favorite regulars and I were on a plane and Matt was sitting in the back of the pane on the top of cases of cold beer.  People could go back and ask for however many they wanted.  So we all got drunk and were partying!...but then I woke up and was sober.