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.