So the trip comes to an end. Two great weeks and 3000 miles of riding with no particular destination or schedule. This was somehow a very relaxing 2 weeks. Dave is way too easy to travel with, I hope I was the same (except my lack of navigational prowess..).

High point: The Amish hands down. Their work ethic, the increased control they have over their lives, and the simplicity of their lives (maybe seemingly) is inspirational. Their rules are a little wacky (no bikes, no inflatable tires, etc) but they seem to have a good handle on quality of life. Someone has to remember how to work the land without fossil fuels (well kinda).

Low point: Without question Floyds barber shop being closed the one day I was in Mayberry. The psychological scars will be long in healing.

Best stop: The motorcycle museum. The guy running that place is living out his passionate pursuit (and there were 350 restored motorcycles in one building).

Best road: Hands down the Blue Ridge Parkway. Skyline Drive is much the same but the 35 mph speed limit is tough on a motorcycle. This is a smooth road through undeveloped woods sprinkled with panoramic views on both sides of the road (just to balance the neck muscles).

Technology: Motels with no wi-fi, or trying to charge extra for wi-fi was annoying. McDonalds has free wi-fi in every store and $1.00 coffee (just stay away from the cherry pies). Having the netbook was great for googling what we saw that day, getting the weather, or planning the next day (actually planning today) with Google Maps.

Fun people we met: The Kiwis who were travelling around for 6 weeks on beemers added some perspective on our own country. The woman at the motel in Kentucky was a hoot. The guy with "f--k you" tatooed on his neck was enthusiastic.

Motels: The worst was a 13 way tie. The nicest was Blakeslee. Dave has an uncanny way of picking motels. He is gifted that way.

Stuff: Camp stuff didn't work out. As the Kiwi's said, you end up paying almost the same for a campground with hot water as a cheap motel, and no ants. Clothes were about right (one to wash, one to wear). The bike jackets and pants worked great. The Frog Toggs are fantastic. Dave had visibility issues with rain and my hands got soaked without waterproof gloves. The motorcycles performed flawlessly and after 2 weeks my beemer felt like an extension of my body.

Anyway, a great trip. This has been a much needed 2 weeks for me after a long year without a break. There is indeed something magical in riding a motorcycle. Being out in the elements makes it more genuine for some reason. Travelling helps you put home in perspective, how some things are different and yet some are the same. Travelling away from the tourist attractions, getting lost, gives you a snapshot of how normal people live, and when you show up in their small isolated towns, people are interested in you. My faith in people is always restored after a trip and 99.9 percent of the people you meet are good people who would help you out if you needed it.

I am sure Dave is already thinking about the next trip. So am I.

Blakeslee was the nicest motel of the whole trip. Again we were almost the only ones there. I think the discovery on this trip is that May is the perfect time to travel through the mid-central states. The weather is perfect and nobody is traveling.

We stopped for coffee and caught the local flavor in the guise of superman with a backpack, American flag and cowboy hat. He stopped in front of us, turned toward us saluted and continued walking up the road. There is an interesting story there. Lost a bet? Making a point about a local comic book store closing? Maybe he started in California and is on his last leg of a trip to the east coast raising money for something. Or maybe just felt like it.

We did the usual sorta random crawl north through the Poconos. There are a lot of professional people up here in the middle of nowhere. Lots of professional buildings with small businesses. Maybe this is where the city folks summer and mom or dad has an office up here? Or people retire early and keep working from this beautiful country.

There are also lots of Jewish resorts for kids and families. Some look newer and some of the signs look like they were put up in the 50's. Probably dad dropping the kids off at the same camp he stayed at when he was a kid “Dad do I have to. The cabins are gross and there is no TV”. There were also some Ukrainian resorts, not sure the connection there.

We crossed into New York and saw casinos and topless bars in the Mohegan Indian reservation. We clipped the lower Catskills and over the hills to New Paltz, Poughkeepsie (traffic and lots of it), and over the state line into Connecticut. From here we had to cut diagonally over to get to the center of Mass and end up in Vernon VT. CT and Mass are mostly north-south roads so it is hard to do anything diagonal. The western part of these states is very pretty and fairly rural. I always avoid Mass and CT because I always associate them with cities and traffic but these western parts make for pleasant riding.

Well Dave officially pulled my navigators license after some wrong turns. I was just trying to see if he was paying attention (guess he was). He knows these parts generally so he took us on some great back roads and landed us on just the right road to head back to Vernon. We stopped near UMass at a BBQ place he somehow knew about which was great, packed with college kids. We pulled into Vernon at Rene and Daves house (Le' Palace de Rene') about 8pm with 2997 more miles on the odometer than when we pulled out 2 weeks ago. (I actually road around the block to make it 3001).

This was the worst motel yet. No power, no TV, no hot water. A lightning storm had hit the night before and there was no power. We had a candlelit supper on the back porch and told tall tales of our adventures while Rene's new kittens entertained us. Oh yeah, no Wi-Fi again so have to post tomorrow.

Tomorrow I drive back to Starksboro..

Well Jack Nicholson didn't show up last night but sometime after we crashed, 3 or 4 other groups came in. I think this motel is where the late-night interstate travelers stay ("the next motel no matter what it is"). A young couple was pulling blearily out when we left, obviously having a long way to go again today. We skipped the "continental breakfast" of iffy looking coffee and dodgy (the Kiwis taught us that a few days ago) donut holes (which continent were they talking about). We went north and crossed the Potomac into Maryland. Maryland looked pretty normal, a bit rough around the edges, but not bad.

After a short stint in Maryland we crossed into Pennsylvania and were soon back into big valleys with lots of active farming going on. If you look at a topo map of this area, it looks like someone dragged their fingernails from the north-east toward the south-west. We had a hard time getting north. You have to go north-west over a mountain and then north-east up a valley to go north. There are no north-south roads. So the end result is we ended up going further east than we thought and found ourselves in the same town we were in a week and a half ago.

I love traveling through the rolling farmland again. They built the road so at times we felt like we were on a roller coaster gently going up and down as the road rose and sank beneath us(yipee). And guess who we found. The Amish (I love those guys). They seem to have moved into one of the valleys we rode through and we passed the tell-tale buggies with bearded men with straw hats and women with covered heads, (all the head coverings were green in this valley, humm..) Again they are very hard workers with lots of eggs, cantaloupe, apples, pies, etc for sale at the end of driveways (but not on Sunday). Dave had his eye on the cantaloups..

I noticed the temperature increased slowly throughout the day until in the early afternoon in PA it was steaming. Dave says he saw 94 degrees on his bikes instrument panel (I am having thermometer envy here).. We were also back in Coal country and one woman pointed out that the coal mines we saw in WV was soft coal and up here it is hard coal. We passed a couple pit mines we did not see on the way through before The same road we traveled down 2 Sundays ago was now busy (it's not Sunday). So between been-there-done-that, 94 degrees, and the traffic we wisely turned north-west, lost the temperature, and the temperature dropped a full 10 degrees with the altitude gain. We were headed for the boonies (no motels) so we found the first one we saw in Blakeslee, PA. This is a ski town with no snow so it's pretty quiet. This place is nice enough to bring your wife to, which is a first (maybe second) on this trip.

Found a restaurant open, where the waitress said the police were doing a major DUI inspection, getting people out of their cars to check them, yikes. We slowly rode back to the motel where the cheapskates were charging $5.00 for wi-fi, which we did not pay. We will find some tomorrow (no post tonight).

Today we finished what we started by completing the SkyLine Drive, which we had been pushed off last week by weather. It was a perfect day, cool and cloudy. A tiny bit of fog early in the morning just for effect. The views of the valley floors are wonderful. We started the 35 mph speed limit going, you know, 35 mph but a funny thing happened between mile marker 105 and mile marker 33 (or so).... Hey, it wasn't just us ok..

There was very light traffic and we made several stops (slow-down vacation mode in full effect, ahhhh). A guy from Germany was very excited about our bikes. His English was not that great but he was very excited (his wife stayed in the car..) I tell you, there is something about travelling on bikes that is magical.

The visitor center at the Big Meadows did a great job explaining the park history and as is try in a lot of the national parks, they also explain the controversies involved in booting peple off their land or doing stupid things (like Custer's last stand). It was actually very informative and balanced. Once again, the CCC "Boys" kicked butt and created an amazing thing for basically food, outhouses, and a snug tent to crash in at the end of the grueling days. The interviews with the surviving CCC Boys showed the huge impact the time they spent doing something hard and lasting had on the rest of their lives. Very inspiring stuff. Once again, the rewards of hard meaningful hard work.

The controversy of course had to do with all the people that were displaced. Some were allowed to live out the rest of their lives on the land, and they were all paid for their land, but in many cases, money had little meaning when it came to walking away from their meager but valuable lives living in this beautiful little piece of heaven. Lots of stories here.

We left the Drive where we left it before and instead of heading west to what we (or I) feared was Hummer Central, we headed back west over the next set of mountains on (again) extremely narrow crooked smooth paved roads (with no painted stripes thank you very much). These corners are so tight that on a few of those turns, I could have sworn I caught a brief glimpse of my own brakelight.

In Virginia we saw some guys with stripes doing road work. We have seen signs that corrections is a big business down here. For a poor town down here, those jobs would be good jobs.

Virginia seems to be doing just fine. Cattle graze and once again big open fields are surrounded by big freshly painted fences. We started to see small towns with diners again (no stops today), and lots of signs indicating not only Civil War events but also Revolutionary War events. A few beautifully restored log cabins were on display. Cars were getting smaller and newer and yards were getting tidier with flowers and gardens here and there, and then (cue Bambi vs Godzilla (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPFxBzlFe94). Yes you guessed it. West Virginia was back!!! (Or as someone last week told us, West By God Virginia).

I can't explain it but within 2 blocks of crossing into WV, the junk cars and trashy front lawns were back. The diners were gone replaced by chain fast food. I know I am insulting someone from WV here, but it was amazing that we both noticed the difference in such a short distance. Taxes? Education? Politics? Business incentives (West Virginia has more big businesses it seems?) Anyway, my apologies to anyone offended but I would love to figure out why the 2 states are so different. just a couple hundred feet away. Go home you snooty New Englander...

Anyway, our plan was to make a break for Maryland (and observe the next border crossing) but as fate would have it, a huge hotel (with nobody staying there, blinked it's dim neon light at us, luring us in with the promise of a good deal (again). So when we checked in my first thought was that classic movie with Jack Nicholson, you know, isolated hotel, wait for it, wait for it, axe, door, "here's Johnny", got it. We are literally the only ones in this motel with at least 50 rooms. It isn't that cheap but they do have Wi-Fi, hey and no noisy neighbors right.. We will see how well we sleep tonight..

Good night.........

It is late and we are beat. I think we found the cheapest hotel of the whole trip so far, but not the worst, so far. The fan in the bathroom is lumpy and the screens are missing in the windows, and the plumbing hasn't been tested as of yet so this may get the coveted 2 stars which puts it in the same class as most of the other places we have stayed. Last night was really deluxe, and the hot water even worked. We have a star system based on the inverse of the number of seconds of rusty water that comes out of the cold water tap. A long time gets it a 1 star, no rust and who knows, maybe the 3 star rating..

We left Charleston WV and headed down Rt 60 along the Kanahwa River and saw coal barges getting coal from truck dropoff spots along the banks and pushing the coal up stream to a coal plant. There are 4 coal plants in pretty close proximity to Charleston and there are several coal dumping stations that the trucks can drop off on, so all in all a pretty sophisticated system. Today I understand why the roads are so good. They are for all the coal trucks to bring coal down to a river siding or a rail car loading station (yesterdays picture). We spent the first part of the day toe to toe with the big boys. There are also log trucks with trailers as well to work around. This is why these roads are so well maintained.

It was a day of short sprinkles so we kept our jackets on and Togg bottoms on. It was a very pleasant cool day compared to yesterday so no complains about sprinkles. I also figured out that I had left my hot air hand heaters on, which is why my hands were so toasty yesterday in the 85 deg heat.

While West Virginia back roads are perfect for motorcycles, I think we are getting a little worn out from really tight corners all day. My neck hurts from looking up from navigating the turns to catch glimpses of the scenery or of people's back yards or of the endless catchy church signs ("U turns are OK if you are are going the wrong direction" and "Little sins grow up faster than you think").

So we decided to head due east and get out of West Virginia. It has been neat to be so unusual to the folks we run into. We have been so far out of the main tourist stream that the people we meet are surprised we are in their little towns. We stopped at a corner to decide left or right yesterday, and an old guy and a younger man walked over and started talking. The young guy had tatoos (and not very politically correct ones) seemingly everywhere but was really friendly and helpful as was the old guy, but they couldn't get over the fact we were in their town. The younger guy told us "I met some motorcycle guys once at a motel and talked a long time with them. They were from New Jersey or someplace like that."

We met 2 guys on BMWs, which is rare (mostly Harleys around here), and they were from New Zealand doing the same thing we were doing. They had giant signs on their dashboards saying "Keep Right" with arrows since they drive on the other side of the road back home. They said it was a problem in the morning before coffee. They were 2 weeks into a 6 week tour covering the east coast. They had their bikes shipped on a boat to Los Angeles and then shipped to Boston. They had been to Maine and then back down to Virginia so far. They had done the same sort of 6 week trip 6 years ago out west. They love our cheap gas, huge meals and endless back roads.

We crossed Monongahela National Forest, which was beautiful, and landed back in Virginia near where we had been last week. We tried tonight to go over the gap to Charlottesville for a hotel, but came back to Waynesboro after being accosted by the Mercedes and Hummers over there. It is quite the contrast starting your morning with trailer parks and Chevy trucks and ending with POWs (People of Obvious Wealth) and PSWs (People of Stupid Wealth). We will investigate more tomorrow but it seems like the hideously wealthy folks build estates right up against the Blue Ridge Mtns, complete with long drives, long fences and groomed grounds ("Between you, me, the nanny and the house staff, I can't keep track of who's Land Rover is who's"). There is also the faux rich a little further down the mountain ("Billy Bob drove the Hummer in the pool again, go get another one, and pick up 2 of those lions for the end of the driveway, big ones").

Anyway, we walked to the Mexican restaurant, had a pitcher of Bud Lite (Yeah I know), dinner and now it is time to go to bed. Today we battled coal trucks, tomorrow we battle the Hummers. We proudly serve..

We packed up in Barbourville and had coffee in the lobby. The high school kids had a pretty quiet prom night so no excitement there. The same woman who checked us in was entertaining the other visitors. Management should know that it's people like her that make the place fun to stay at. She is a local girl, and from listening to her talk, everybody in town is related to everybody else, nobody moves around much.

We found the first small road out of town and headed north. There is not much going on in this county but we soon started getting into the coal counties and in coal country everything is tied in with the coal mining business. We saw entire mountain tops missing from past mining operations. When they are done clearing out the coal, they bulldoze it smooth, spread grass seed on it and add stone where the water flows to prevent it from eroding. You could put a good sized airport on some of the cleared off areas. It is a little sneaky because they need rail to get coal out and instead of building a railroad to he mines, they use conveyor belts, really big, long ones, to move the coal from the mine over the mountain to the railroad. We followed a lot of railroad beds today and while we couldn't see the mines, we did see the coal coming over the top of hills to huge piles next to the railroad bed. There are hundreds of coal cars sitting on sidings ready to be moved and filled. We also saw quite a few trucks that looked like they would haul coal, but we were not sure where they would haul it to. Maybe to dealers that use coal for other purposes?. It looks like lots of people drive trucks for the coal company.

The roads in all these states are really good, much better than Vermont. It may be the milder weather or their politicians bring home more bacon. Some of the 4 lane roads have almost nobody on them and cross thinly populated parts of the state. The people in these tiny coal towns don't seem to be enjoying much prosperity. There are not a lot of tidy yards or neat little villages. The people seem content however so maybe this is a bad read. There are churches everywhere, and being Sunday, all the parking lots were overfilled. Almost every vehicle is a big Chevy or Ford truck, not many foreign cars here. And there are certainly plenty of junk cars and trucks everywhere. Cars and fuel must be a big part of their budgets down here.

Because we picked the smallest roads and smallest towns to drive through, we soon realized after trying unsuccessfully to buy a road map, that there is no tourism or tourists in these small towns. Who needs a map if you live here. Everybody is surprised when we talk to them that we are passing through.

We crossed into West Virginia and found it much like Kentucky with more coal mines and poor towns and people. Tonight we landed in Charleston, which is the capital of West Virginia. Again, we have no plans for tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Early this morning in our quaint $52 hotel in Maggie Valley I discover a critter trying to attach itself to my leg. I gently crushed it and spent the rest of the night wondering how many more there were. Once my resident zoologist awoke this morning, he identified it as a tick and not a bedbug so all the lost sleep was for naught. It must have hitched a ride yesterday on one of our nature stops.

It was an overcast but pleasant morning so we packed the bikes and as soon as we hit the starters, it started to pour. So we again rode with the zoot suits in the rain until we found a gas station with protective overhang and changed into the Frogg Toggs. It never rained the rest of the day and we shed the Toggs a couple hours later when the clouds cleared away. We rode the last bit of the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway and it dumped us in the Cherokee reservation which also is the beginning of the mountain pass over the Smoky Mountains into Tennessee. We had breakfast at the reservation which was pretty standard fare included gravy and biscuits pictured above(we would never order it of course, yogurt and fresh fruit being our preference). The breakfast special was pinto beans and eggs, which we passed on. Cherokee is set up for tourists and once again, there were lots of American Steel (Harleys) in town.

We headed over the hill through the Great Smoky Mountains which unlike the Parkway, was swarming with bikes and cars. Very scenic but very busy. Once over you are dumped into Gatlinburg TN which is home to DollywOOd. We skipped Gatlinburg and detoured to the strip mining operation going on in Pigeon Forge. That is, a huge commercial strip specializing in mining the pockets of tourists. This place must hold the record for GFDSM. (Giant Fiberglass Dinosaurs per Square Mile). After getting over being snooty about it I realized that to an 8 year old, this would be heaven. Pirates, go-carts, castles, fast food, aforementioned dinosaurs, minigolf, etc, etc, etc. We had coffee, bought a map, and got out of there.

We fell back into the usual routine of getting lost, thinking we knew where we were, realizing we were wrong and getting lost again. We went over the top of the Douglas reservoir, accidentally drove through the home town of Chet Atkins (you young ones should hang your head if you do not know who this legend is) and Kenny Chesney (I have no idea who he is but Dave says he is famous), and ended up at the tunnel that goes under the Cumberland Gap and dumps you into Kentucky. We stopped at a motorcycle shop and asked about water-proof gloves but they assured me it didn't rain around here. We had intended to head east from there but the shop guy said the chances of finding a hotel the way we were going were next to nil. So we headed north toward Pineville which was pretty desolate and on the way to Corbin which we were assured had hotels, we stopped in Barbourville. There is exactly one hotel in town and it is actually pretty nice. The woman behind the desk was fun and told us that the local high school was having it's Prom tonight so we may hear a lot of noise (remember only hotel in town). She said we could park the bikes in front of the lobby and the desk person would keep an eye on them. She told us "y'all got some real accents" which after listening to people talk for a few days, we are now realizing that we do. She wanted to know if us northerners thought Kentucky was full of rednecks or hillbillies (she assured us she would not be offended by our answer). I think we said basically that Kentucky if it had a stereotype was hillbillies, but in a respectful Daniel Boone sorta way. She told of her father (a policeman years ago) kicking out the KKK because they don't tolerate racism in Kentucky. I think Kentucky prides it self on being fair and independent which sounds more like us Vermonters.

So we are really enjoying the freedom of not having a schedule or plan. I think we have found some "slice of life" towns and communities by travelling this way. People are very nice everywhere and are curious about Vermont.

We went down the street for a quick supper, back to the hotel and off to bed. Tomorrow we go somewhere ??

We bid a teary farewell to the motel in Boone this morning (the drainwas still draining as we left I am sure), had coffee at the local McWiFi's and dumped the blog. We turned south toward Blowing Rock up over the hill. Dave disappeared after dinner last night, saying he was going to stop at Walgreens and I was just about to go find him when he pulled in. He got nabbed in the parking lot by a guy from Blowing Rock with 5 BMW motorcycles who had traveled all the country over and back and talked Dave's ear off. Blowing Rock sounded interesting so that's the direction we headed.

I think the most interesting thing about traveling like this is just looking in peoples back yards, looking at kind of business' there are, and the signs. The combo signs are the best. “Colon Cleansing Treatment and Small Engine Repair”. “Bike Rentals, Teeth Whitening, Pawn Shop and Alterations” (not sure what they were altering), “Let God Show You the Way, Financing Available” at a used car dealer. Every church has a thought for the week like “You Are closer Than You Think” and “No Jesus No Peace, Know Jesus Know Peace” (which did strike a chord with me). Dave shot some video on his handlebar mounted video camera near Grandfather's Mountain which I gotta see if I can add to the blog sometime.

So we once again got back on the Parkway south and then it started. The official “Rain Gear Test Day”. It rained constantly starting around 11 and ended around 3. We both left the Frogg Toggs in the saddlebags and decided to test the zoot suits, which were supposed to let you “ride all day in the rain and not get wet”. So Dave had some visibility issues between his windshield, visor and glasses. I could see ok, mostly because I didn't have the glasses thing going on. I look over the top of my windshield so that is not an issue. My visor beads up rain on the outside and drips on the inside, but the most interesting parts is the little waterfall coming of the top of the faceshield opening. It's like looking out from behind a waterfall. Almost all the water goes outside the helmet but tonight my helmet is pretty wet inside. My non-waterproof gloves were wrung out a few times (still gotta find a bike shop and buy waterproof gloves (or steal newspaper bags). My gloves are perched on top of the light bulbs in the Motel tonight drying out nicely (dad would be proud). It was pouring and getting foggier as well so we turned off the Parkway down a VERY crooked road (Rt 80).

Rt 80 dumped us onto Rt 70 which we took into Asheville and stopped for coffee dripping wet. I got directions to the motorcycle museum which is actually a bit beyond Asheville in a little town called Maggie Valley. Somewhere in here the rain let up. The zoot suits did ok but we still got a little damp along some of the seams. At several points I was standing up to let a small pond of water collecting between my legs to drain, so they were really put to the test. Next time we put on the Frogg Toggs (I know these work).

When we pulled into the museum the parking lot was filled with Harley's. Our two German bikes stuck out like tofu at a barbecue but everybody was very nice.

This museum is fantastic for gearheads. The owner started collecting and restoring motorcycles when he was 15 and is now maybe 50. He specializes in American vintage motorcycles. He must have 350 motorcycles here ranging in age from 1912ish to the 60's. Oh yeah, they all run! I have always loved old pictures of vintage bikes, mostly because the people in those old pictures look like they are going on a big adventure, suddenly mobile for the first time. Dale picked up on the fact that we had ridden all the way down from Vermont and immediately starting leading us around and starting some of the oldest bikes he had, after I told him my interest in real old bikes. I guess what I loved about this place and Dale was that here was a guy, passionate about something, that made it his life work, and was still really fired up about it and obviously got immense joy from this hobby / business. We closed his place down and as we walked out we overheard him talking about buying or selling some old bike on the phone. He gets his bikes from all over the country. This guy loves his work.

We headed out and the rain had stopped. We found a motel a little ways down the street from the museum and got supper in a country cooking kind of place. I think like yesterday we are pretty beat from the endless twisty roads. This morning I was thinking maybe it would be nice to head to somewhere where there are big open rolling hills with farms so I can look at the scenery again instead of the gravel in the next switchback

Laundry day. Dave being more discrete and more organized had his nice dry laundry tucked away and mine was relegated to the bungees on the back. Everything was nice and dry by mid-day. We had coffee and hit the road, climbing back up to the Parkway, a beautiful sunny day. The Parkway was the same as yesterday, long sweepers through fresh new green with Mountain Laurel (we think) and some other orange flowers breaking up the endless green. The further south we go, the more developed the Parkway gets. Now by developed, I mean that instead of nothing but pristine wilderness, there may be a run down barn, some fence and some grazing cattle. These must be folks who were grandfathered in or refused to go when the government took over the park. It was actually nice to see a fence to add some contrast to the endless beauty. We decided to hop off the Parkway for a valley loop and found a skinny really twisty paved road with no guardrails that led down through cool hollows and busy mountain streams. I swore on a couple of occasions I heard banjos playing in the dark woods..

After the usual random left and right turns finding where the real folks live here, Dave, having a secret plan, landed us in Mt Airy, NC. Now when I saw the sign for Mt Airy, I thought it sounded familiar. Turns out, this is the town that they based the TV show Mayberry RFD with Andy, Opie, Aunt B and Barney lived. This town is still living the dream. You can get a ride around town in Andy's (or Barnie's) Ford police Cruiser. The downtown is filled with memorabilia and one shop had the theme song on an endless loop, I am sure to the delight of the employees and other shops downtown. Rumor has it that the CIA used this shop to get information out of foreign spies. 48 hours of that whistling jingle would break the toughest spy.

We walked by Floyd's barber shop and a sign said you could get a haircut from Floyd, "Still only $8.00". As is the story of my life, Fate dealt another cruel hand when the old Floyd looking guy inside told us he was closed on Thursdays and was just in cleaning up. Imagine, a haircut from a Floyd impersonator, for $8 bucks. So close and yet so far away. Next time Floyd..

We headed back north into Virginia and got back on the Parkway and headed south into North Carolina (again). I counted vehicles that passed us in a 10 mile stretch, 2 cars and 5 bikes. Nobody is up here. This area feels a lot like Vermont but the roads are a bit twistier, the farms are a little more run-down, sort of historically old, and the season much further along obviously. There are lots of fields with grazing cattle but not much agriculture. We noted how much country there still is here for the number of people.

We decided Ashville was going to be late again like last night so we opted to had north and go to Boone, NC for the night. Boone is a nice little college town tucked into the mountains, but man is there a lot of new construction going on here. Roads and buildings both so not sure what is going on.

We found a "motor lodge" that even Dave (remember this is Dave), said might just be the low point of our motel experience. Check out the pool and boating opportunities here. The kind of place you have to wait for the contruction workers to finish their showers before you take yours, not because of the hot water, but because the drains back up. And forget about Wi-Fi, they are still struggling with 1950's technologies like power and water.

So another beautiful sunny day in southern Virginia and northern North Carolina. And the marbles in peoples mouths seem to get bigger as we get further south.

If motorcycle riders go somewhere when they die, it would have to be the Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway. Picture a smooth black strip of asphalt that weaves back and forth through a brilliant green tunnel with nothing to distract you but panoramic vistas every mile or so on both sides of the road for 574 miles (Skyline is 105 miles and Blue Ridge is 469) .

We left the motel and accompanying livestock and cranky bathroom fan and had breakfast at the Knotty Pine Restaurant, which was recommended by the woman at the front desk. At breakfast I discovered that they serve butter melted in small cups that look just like orange juice. After that I was lubed and ready to ride the Skyline drive.

It was a bit misty and the woman at the park entrance gave us her usual non-guarantee on the weather "up there". It never rained on the Skyline but when we got on top, there were clouds drifting in and out of the drive. The speed limit is 35 so it forces you to slow down and just enjoy the greenery, deer and beautiful views of the Shenandoah Valley. We met 4 guys from Florida on Harleys who were freezing (it was 60). I mentioned their accents and they politely pointed out that since we were now in the south, we northerners were the ones with the accents. I have noticed that since crossing into Virginia, the accents thickened quickly. We are not in Kansas anymore, y'all.

We gently rode about 1/3 of the Skyline and decide that the clouds were getting thicker and the valley looked interesting so we dropped down to the floor of the Shenandoah valley and continued south on good old route 340 we had seen before. I was expecting it to be busy but since there is a 4-laner in the valley, nobody uses 340 except local traffic.

Virginia is different from PA and Maryland in that they like large open fields surrounded by big sturdy fences. The fields are grazed by beef cattle and/or horses. We also started to see the houses with big front porches and way-too-big columns out front. They still sell lawn jockeys down here.

We drove by several Cargill hog farms (big building that operate unattended), a large Merck drug factory, and a huge Millers-Coors brewery with a yard full of trucks and freight trains moving around (a mighty big brewery). The roadsides have lots of small signs pointing out Civil War battles, encampments, marches, etc. reminding us that there was a lot of suffering going on here during that war.

We stopped in Waynesboro for lunch as a big ugly black cloud pulled in over us. We finished lunch and headed out in the rain. Since we wear these motorcycle jackets and pants all the time, we don't really think as much about weather. We can ride comfortably in rain and not get wet, except my gloves which I need to work on.

We headed back up the mountain and onto the Blue Ridge Parkway where it starts at the south end of the Skyline Drive. The rain soon stopped and we ended up with a very pleasant day. These roads to me are identical except the speed limit on the Blue Ridge is 45 and the Skyline is 35. The difference is the Skyline is like a peaceful nature walk while the Blue Ridge is a motorcycle ride. Same road, same pulloffs, same scenery, just different speeds.

So my big questions today was, where the heck is everybody. At times I felt like we had our own personal road to ride on. We surmised that of the three demographic groups, it was too early for families since school is still in, retired folks come in the fall when the leaves are changing, which just leaves the third demographic, middle-aged guys on motorcycles. Sure enough, here they are. I think we can honestly say that we saw more motorcycles on the Skyline/Blue Ridge than cars, and not too many of either.

We dropped down to Buena Vista for fuel and then back up and continued down the Parkway to Roanoke. My iWant app found no hotels while I was standing in the parking lot of a hotel (what's with that). I am renaming this app iHope. Dave suggested a couple hotels, one of which I found a review on ranking it not quite up there with hell, but close (http://travel.yahoo.com/p-hotel-16431008-skyline_motel_restaurant-i), and one that had just been raided by the Social Security Administration (not sure why??). So we just drove back to a descent looking hotel we passed and, here we are. We asked about restaurants and the nice lady pointed across the parking lot to Thelmas Chicken and Waffles (I am not kidding). As it turns out this place gets rave reviews around here and as the waitress told us, "the potatoes are banging!". Looks like we need a better Yankee/Rebel phrase book. This place was very good and the staff told us we are now family. I would highly recommend Thelma's.

So it's been a long day and my wrist hurts from throttle twisting, my neck hurts from rubber-necking but my cheeks hurt from grinning ear to ear all day long.

A day in the rain..

We bid goodbye this morning to the Amish buggies clop-clop-clopping by the hotel, packed up the bikes in a light drizzle and headed west toward Lancaster. Gotta watch those horse droppings after it rains. They can be slick! Time to get the old noggin out of the Amish world and get back to the real world, grudgingly.

It rained pretty much all day but both Dave and I had these great motorcycle suits that makes rain a no-brainer. We both used the heated grips and I diverted the hot air from my oil cooler onto my hands (thank you BMW engineers!!). I do not have waterproof gloves so my hands were a bit damp. Dave, being Dave the son of Ellwyn, suggested stealing plastic bags from a couple newspaper boxes. I maintained my dignity and rode on with wet hands. Dad would have been proud though.

The most exciting thing for me today is that Dave's bike finally looks as dirty as mine!! We rode through Lancaster and crossed the Susquehanna river. The entire ride today was through suburbs built on the edge of farmland, and mid-sized towns with row-houses and some kind of industrial plant presumably feeding the families in those houses. Most of these towns seem to be on the upswing economically with some street and building restorations going on. We rode through the usual strip malls with Lowes, Wendys, KFC and McDonalds, sometimes not exactly in that order, just to make it a little more interesting (a little cynicism here?). It is definitely getting more lush when we do encounter large open lands so we are definitely getting further south. There are far fewer active farms here as there were in PA, more fields grazed by beef cows, horses or Toro lawnmowers.

We crossed the Potomac into Virginia, then a half mile later crossed the Shenandoah river into West Virginia, then shortly after that crossed into Virginia again (I am still confused??).

We found a truck-stop and had breakfast for lunch. I learned the secret of what truckers do after oil changes. They sell the used oil to this place to use for coffee. Hands down one of the worst cups of coffee ever. Good old take the enamel off your teeth coffee.

We had the ever-present chat with one of the drivers in the parking lot, a nice guy with a thick southern accent, and things were as usual very cordial until he asked what we thought of Muslims putting a mosque at Ground Zero and Obama cutting off drugs to old people.

We continued south until we got to Front Royal where the Skyline Drive begins. We found the park entrance, bought the passes (good for 7 days) and rode up onto the drive to the visitor center. It was a bit cool up there (48) and overcast but the rain stopped. We went back down to Front Royal, found a hotel (2 star all the way) and walked next door to a bar posing as a steak house. They did a great job with the burgers and the beer was cold.

So it was sort of a travel day in the rain but tomorrow the weather is supposed to be great to ride the Parkway. Can't wait..

Today we explore the Amish at work (and play). What a great day. I have great admiration for these folks after seeing them at work today. We basically planned to criss-cross this area and see how far the Amish have expanded to, then return to the same motel as last night.

We first went south over a couple of wooded ridges and found more beautiful Amish farms over each. We then went north-west until we got into more developed areas and then south east. It was overcast all day so we lost our bearings continuously. Oh for a compass on the handlebars. In general, the farther from where we were staying, the fewer tourists we saw. The farms down south actually were more interested in seeing strangers on motorcycles than the ones near Intercourse which is the hub of the tourist area.

I observed lots of things about the Amish today and yet I still am confused.

They use animals for most "moving" work like plowing, haying, planting, and of course transportation (buggies). The buggy horse seems to be a different horse, bred for speed. I am guessing they go 20 mph or so at a steady clop-clop-clop. I did not see anyone actually riding a horse. For heavy work they use either large work horses or beefy looking mules. We saw everything from single mules to 8 mule teams and mules and horses 6 across are not uncommon. So the strange thing is that many of the farm implements have a gas engine or battery powered hydraulics. It was odd to see a person driving horses with a gas engine blaring behind. Hay tedders are gas powered as are balers.

The other interesting thing is that there are no inflatable tires. The buggies, wagons, balers, tedders, planters, harrows all have steel wheels. The only rubber wheels are on the push scooters the kids (and adults) ride around but they appear to be solid rubber (see picture). Why they do not welcome standard bicycles I can't figure out, but no one rides bikes, only the push scooters.

They do have tractors but they are only used for stationary work like running a blower, and the tractors have big ugly looking steel wheels.

The only have electricity in the barn, but never the house. I read last night that if they buy an "English" (that is what they call us outsiders) house, they have a year to remove all the wiring.

They do use lots of propane. All the farms have large tanks to run generators, heat water, and operate gas lights.

We stopped at the "Amish Walmart" today and it is very interesting what they sell. The store had no electricity but had very nice natural lighting from panels in the roof and also had gas lamps throughout the store for dark days. They sell stainless steel pots and pans, dishes, games (Monopoly, horse edition), Raid insect spray, digital clocks (battery powered), batteries, inspirational gifts and cards, etc. In general, very solidly built, practical things.

Their farms are tidy but not showy and show the results of lots of hard work. The Amish seem to enjoy the fruits of hard physical labor.

Monday is also laundry day so every Amish household had a huge clothes line tilted up away from the house like flags signalling they were Amish. Everything white or dark colored (no showing off).

We saw signs at the end of many driveways offering strawberries, root beer, vegetables, pies, quilts, and always brown eggs. There were many fields with sheep, goats and chickens mixed in keeping the property nice and trim. Their lawns are all mowed with push mowers and we saw lots of children and women mowing tidy lawns. They seem to use every square inch of land to produce something. They put the land and themselves to good use.

After seeing the peaceful existence the Amish have here, I look at the complexity of the rest of Americans lives (me included) and can't help but wonder if we have been sold a bill of goods with all the "stuff" we surround ourselves with. Might be time to reflect on what "quality of life" really is.

So it was a good day of getting lost over and over but always being surprised at how beautiful the next farm was. Tomorrow we pack up and head south.

We left our posh hotel in Stroudsburg, PA (where they thought Wi-Fi was the detective from a Hong Kong police show) and found a bistro (McBistro to be exact) with Wi-Fi and breakfast burritos. Dave cleaned up my spelling and grammar and updated the blog. We are liking being rock stars on these bikes. Just like my trip years ago, people see a couple of guys on bikes with Vermont plates and immediately they start asking questions. This morning we talked to a retired engineer and his wife from NJ whose son moved to Montpelier VT and is driving a beer truck for Farrell Distributors and loving it. He has worked at Xerox for 40 years and proudly told us Xerox blew it by selling the computer mouse and laser printer ideas way too early to cash in on them. Anyway, very nice couple. We were quizzed twice more before leaving this fine establishment. People love the idea of travelling on bikes. Vermont by the way gets kudos from everyone we meet (no surprise here).

I forgot to mention the billboards in PA. It is hard to see the countryside through all the billboards. My favorites are the lawyer ones. I saw one today with an attractive professional woman lawyer and a guy with a mohawk haircut and a clean shirt that specialized in personal injury cases. Everybody that has a shed beside their house has a "for rent" sign and a phone number unless it is already rented. I mention this because I need an excuse for all the wrong turns I made today, not that wrong turns are a bad thing.

So south of Stroudsburg there are some beautiful roads cut through the sides of valley walls (no billboards here). The plan was to turn south in Perrysville but those billboards worked their magic and we ended up overshooting it, but as usual, it was a lucky break. I didn't actually realize we had overshot the turn until later in the morning. When we pulled into Lansford I noticed the rows of identical houses in town and thought this was some kind of mill town, Later I saw a little sign saying there was a mine museum but thought it was one of those gift shops posing as a museum deals. It wasn't until we pulled into Coaldale where a gigantic piece of coal as well as rusty mining cars were lying around that I decided the museum thing was real. We backtracked and found a really nice, authentic coal mine. Go to http://no9mine.tripod.com/New2007/history.html to see the history.

Some guys bought the mine in 1992, unblocked the entrance and drained all the water out, refurbished some cars and put together a very nice heartfelt museum honoring all the people that died working in those mines all those years. Our tour guide was the grandson of one of the miners so he really had his heart in it. Nicely done. Send anyone who complains about how hard they work or how little they get paid here for a reality check.

So it was when we decided to stop in Pottsville for lunch at the Garfield (yes the cat) Diner that I realized we overshot our original planned turn south. We ate lunch (actual a pretty nice diner), and found the next road south and headed for New Holland where they make farm equipment (think big blue tractors). From here it opens into the unbelievable beautiful valley where the Amish live. Farm after farm of nicely manicured farms greeted us as we rode through towns with names like Bird-In-Hand, Intercourse, Leacock and Paradise.

I have always seen pictures of the Amish and have seen all the stereotypes (like that wood burning electric stove one), but I have a new respect for what they are doing here, although I am really confused about what I am seeing.

It is Sunday and they are not working, but they are cruising around in their horse and buggies, I assume going visiting. They are a happy and healthy looking lot and their children are beautiful with their facing sticking out the back door of the buggies waving at us with big smiles. Life seems pretty good here.

Tomorrow I hope to see them out working to see if they really keep these large farms manicured with only mules and no New Holland tractors.

So spent all afternoon riding all over this Amish valley in the afternoon sunlight, caught some dinner and crashed in our hotel room, with Wi-Fi thank you very much.

Hope it doesn't rain tomorrow.

I woke up this morning at Dave and Rene's house to the smell of bacon, A lovely young woman named Hannah filled me in on what to watch out for with Gramp (Dave). Hannah is in 4th grade and her favorite subject is science. For better or worse, she has inherited her dad', grand-dad's and great grand-dads sense of humor. It should serve her well (especially the interrupting cow joke..).

After breakfast we loaded the bikes, said our farewells and turned left from the driveway.Dave knew all the backroads to get us past Greenfield traffic and we were soon in the Bershires. It was a beautiful day, sunny with a few wandering clouds and a stiff, cool breeze out of the north. The Bershires are nice, a lot like Vermont (but not as nice of course). We crossed into New York on every tiny road we could find and ended up in Hudson on the river. We got directions from a well intentioned woman that was something like " go up here a ways and kind of turn left, then go straight and then straight again and then staraight again until you see the hospital, then 4th street until you see a chinese restaurant, no back until before the hospital and the right, then straight and the straight again, ...". We thanked her and never saw the kindof left, hospital or chinese restaurant. The nice lady in Dave's GPS got us to the the bridge to Catskill (the town) and my iWant app found the greek diner Dave and his fishing buddy had gone to 10 years earlier. I noticed the Kiwanis meets there every Wednesday on a sign so I knew it would be good, it was.

From Catskill (the town) we rode into the Catskills (the mountains) using dinky back roads. The view coming into the Catskills was fantastic.Dave noted the tops of the mountains were not green like the bottoms, maybe due to it being early and the growth not developed there. The Catskills reminded me of the Adirondak Park, in that it is a set-aside state park that people still live in. The 50's and 60's were definitelt the high times here. Many of the hotels and attractions are still there in various states of repair.Maybe the hey-day will be back when people start vacationing closer to home again.

It was cool in the Catskils but the temperature rose 15 or 20 degrees as we decended into Port Jarvis on the Penn border.The zoot suit is amazing because it handles all this weather without me even noticing.

Just below Port Jarvis the Delaware Water Gap starts. It is a set-aside with nobody living in it so it is a ride through beautiful lush greenery. The speed limit is either 45, or 35 which is really hard to manage on these bikes. Fortunately there seem to be Water Gap police all over taking pictures and handing out autographs to keep everybody within the speed limit. We presume that when budgets get tight, they lower the speed limit. It is rally a gorgeous ride, even at 35.

We pulled into Stroudsboro pleasantly tired, found a cheap hotel (with no wi-fi) and grabbed dinner at a nearby diner.

So we end the day watching Larry Cheski and the Keilbasi Posse polka on the TV and plug in all the electronic gadgets in to charge. Tomorrow I have to find some wi-fi and move this to the blog.

Found some..

Made it to Vernon!!. Cleaned things up at work and headed home to pack. Night before packing makes you work efficiently. Picked up some 20-50 oil because of the southern climes we will be headed for. Changed the oil, packed and headed south to Dave's in Vernon.

I decided I want to be a weather guy. You only have to be correct 20% of the time, and you still get paid. Never saw a drop of rain all the way down the interstate. Beautiful end of day sunlight on new green trees all the way down.

Got to Dave's around 7:30. My feet never touched the ground since I left my garage. Not too sore.

Had a nice bowl of Rene's stew (with a dumpling), cold beer and ice cream.

We looked over some maps, verified the Netbook picked up the cameras, took a picture of the bikes and here we are.

Looks like tomorrow we go across Mass and hit New York around Hudson and then into the Catskills.

Starting to feel like vacation.

Enough is enough. Yesterday it was 28 degrees when I left the house. Looks like we had our 2 weeks of summer and it's time to put the snow tires back on. I layered up with the new zoot suit, opened the warm air vents on the beemer (off the oil cooler), snapped the heated grips on high, kicked the garage door open and rolled. Not too bad. I never did get higher boots but this morning I tightened the velcro around the top of my hiking boots and it sealed all the cold air out. The face shield fogged up a bit more than usual but my Nolan helmet lets me crack it open just a smidge to let the cold air (ok really cold air) clean the moisture out. The beemer has an electric windshield so I can tweak it until I get just enough air to keep things clear. This reminds me of riding in driving rain years ago when I had glasses. The windshield, face shield and glasses were all covered with rain drops so I had to find a crack through all three to see the road. The joys of riding in rain. Someday I gotta try that Rain-X stuff and see if it really works.

Anyway, 18 miles later I drop the kickstand at work and I am actually pretty warm. The zip up pant-legs make getting in and out really quick. Worked a couple hours and then back in the suit to ride a few miles to play racquetball (suit off). Back in the suit and back to work (suit off).

Maybe instead of going south we should go north since the cold weather seems to be ok as far as equipment goes.

As usual, got to pack some last minute work stuff in, but all in all I feel like I am in pretty good shape to go. I am sick of writing about equipment and planning and ready to get going. Haven't had a vacation for a year and I think I may be getting a bit crabby at work so, guys at work, I am selflessly taking this vacation not for me, but for you.

OK so I was just finishing up my packing list and thought. "I should Google what other people take on motorcycle trips. I bet there are lots of lists out there." It is useful to look over other peoples lists but after a few "Oh, that's a good idea" cycles I decided I would need the vehicle at left to carry it all. So I called my brother and he helped talk me out of the microwave oven and yes the Snap-On tool box with full BMW electronic diagnostic system would have to go. As he points out, we only drive by motorcycle shops, sporting good stores, pharmacies, etc every 3 hours or so, so the lighter the better. and if I need something, I will find it.

He also helped talk me down from bringing enough layers for the sudden coming of the ice age we are bound to run across. This dressing warm enough Vermont thing is 9 generations deep and I have to adjust. It will be HOT down there, or not..

So here is the list so far:

Camping:

Tent-Bag-Pad-Dish-Cup-Spoon(Spork?)-Towel

Clothes:

Jeans-Shirts-Poly undies-Sox-Boxers-SwimTrunks

Mtc/Jacket/Pants-FroggToggs-Helmet

Hygiene:

Toothbrush/paste/floss-Shaver-Deodorant-TP

Electronics:

Phone/Charger-Netbook/Charger/Mouse-Camera-Earbuds

Other:

DuctTape-Zipties-Sunscreen-Advil-Ziplocks-PlasticBags

License/registration/insurance/copy of each-$$$-Credit/Debit cards

Duffel-backpack-bungees-headlamp-sunglasses-bike lock

-BMW toolkit-Crescent(for thumping porcupines)-Tire guage

Other-Other:

Yankee/Rebel phrase book

Do-it-yourself stomach pump kit (Daves cooking)

OK. Off to town to pick up a few last items...

So Dave showed me his Frogg Toggs and I had to order a pair. Today I gave them the acid (rain) test. I rode my Yamaha TW200 to work as I usually do on crappy weather days or muddy road days. The Beemer RT is not exactly the bike of choice on mud season dirt roads (heavy and really hard to pick up out of mudholes). So this morning it was pouring and I was actually excited to see how the rain toggs worked (or not). These is a Road Toad Action Rain Suit and the material looks like thick but soft Tyvek. The pants are long enough to go over my hiking boots and not ride up when I sit on the bike which is usually a problem. They leave small flaps so you can fish your keys out of your jean pockets and here I decided was going to be the problem (hint: it was not). The jacket has a hood that is designed to go under your helmet (clever) but I didn't figure that out until I got home tonight and read the instructions (typical males). Even without this hood, I did not get the usual rain down my neck I did with my earlier jacket. The jacket zips up the front and then snaps over a sealing strip to keep the wind blown rain from pushing through the zipper.

So I noted that my shirt and pants were bone dry when I left and decided I would check what was wet on the other end of the 18 mile ride to work. OK, enough drama. They are amazing. When I stripped off the Toggs at work my shirt was bone dry and I had a small wet patch a couple inches wide at the cuffs of both pantlegs. My socks were a little damp because my hiking boots are short so I gotta work on that. The color was less exiting that I thought but the orange is kinda classy looking. I think they will see Dave in his green Toggs before they see me.

Next thing I need to look into is waterproof gloves. Mine were soaked when I got to work and when I got home.

So being from Vermont, I am used to the norm being adding layers to stay warm, but yesterday it struck me (I am a little slow that way) that it is going to be warm down south. So the first hot rainy day I am going to have to try both the FirstGear jacket and/or the Frogg Toggs. The Toggs may be just the ticket for hot and wet weather. We will see.

Oh the picture. I need to talk to my brother. This is his idea of rain protection. May cut down on his gas mileage..

Ok, so the blog thing works. We have a little less than 2 weeks to go so I guess it's time to finish the checklist up. Oh yea, guess I gotta put a checklist together.

Dave called and said he slept in his tent and it has plenty of room for the both of us. I have a small single tent so will only take it if I have plenty of room.

I did another run today and it was pretty hot out. Those jacket vents are great. Did 100+ miles and the rearend feels fine. I think I gotta find a tank bag, not so much for the room but convenience.

A billion years ago I did a cross country trip with a friend of mine and we hose-clamped backpacks on sissy bars and it actually worked really well. We camped all but 1 or 2 nights in the 6 or 7 weeks we were gone so we had lots of camping stuff. A couple changes of clothes (wear one, wash one). Of course the ground has gotten much harder since I was young so I think we may be doing more "Serta camping" this trip, but if it's a nice night, good weather, good spot then camping it is.

I figured out a cool trick with google maps. If I get directions and get the little blue line, then search for "museums", I get my route and any museums along the way. Should work for anything. I am going to bring a small netbook so we can tweak the route as we go along. If the weather goes south, we may be able to ride around it.

The nice thing about this trip is my brother and I like to kind of figure it out as we go along. Last summer we did a couple runs in Vermont and just sorta flipped a coin at each intersection and found some great roads we never had been on before (no small feat when you have lived in Vermont for 50+ years).

Dave is bringing a GPS with him and I have an iPhone with a cool app called iWant. I don't think we will get lost (most of the time) and I am sure Daves GPS has coffee cup icons programmed into it.

I tried on Dave's Frogg Toggs and ordered a pair the same size. His rain suit is "eye-rupture" green so I ordered "surface of the sun" orange. We will be seen in bad weather.

My new zoot suit is amazing. I rode to work the other morning and it was 34F when I left. Other than a little leaking around my helmet, I was cozy with the liners in. I don't think we will have to worry too much about cold weather, but we will see.

OK for now. Guess I better start packing!!