The Tail of the Dragon and the Blue Ridge Parkway

The first days ride up to Greenwood was busy as we left Charleston on the Sunday morning. Labor Day weekend is one of the busiest holiday weekends in the USA so everyone in the city was going somewhere. As we made our way into the countryside it quietened down until we were passing through small villages where Sunday afternoon was a quiet time after morning church, and believe me church is BIG down here in the south!! They even hire the local police department to direct the traffic when everyone is leaving.

After an overnight stop in Greenwood we headed for the hills again with the forecast of rain. We almost made it until the last 30 Km when the heavens just opened with the vengeance of the almighty! We entered the lobby of the Hampton Inn in Franklin looking like two drowned rats! The woman on the desk was wonderful and got us to our room with all haste, and then took our soaking wet jeans to get then dried. All the way into the mountains there was a que of traffic heading the other way. The end of the long weekend, and hopefully a quieter time on the roads for us.

Unfortunately the weather had not improved the next day so we stayed put and did some shopping and planning for the next few days to come.

Deals Gap is one of the must do destinations for any biker on the east coast of the United States. 318 curves in 11 miles (17km). There is a motel at the start of the run where all the bikers congregate or pull in to fill up with gas before enjoying a superb piece of road. The local constabulary is also usually present to make sure that people behave themselves!!


Nearly at Deals Gap


Claire getting used to the bike again


Biker friendly or what?


Just about to start or returning with a smile

An added bonus for us was a film crew which was filming an episode of the USA version of the Hairy Bikers cooking program. Having seen the original English version we were keen to see what was happening here. It’s more the kind of food that Americans will find in there own back yard and after having a quick chat with the guys who were actually cooking a whole Hog and three large pork shoulders on the most industrial looking BBQ you have ever seen in you life we were asked to join everyone for lunch and answer some questions by the boys if we were asked. The pork was unbelievable, melt in the mouth heaven that I can only dream of achieving when I get back home. But I’m going to try.


Now that's a BBQ!!


A whole Hog! 14 hours later, mmmm!


The three dry rub pork shoulders


Oh yes, the roads pretty good too.


There is a tree of shame for those who don't quite make it!

Wednesday morning saw us set of for the long run along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The road is fantastic and I think the scenery would have been equally so if not for the clouds that we ran into once we had climbed up over 2000ft! We did get an inkling of the grandeur later in the afternoon but were content with enjoying the ride through to Roanoke that night and some good (Tex Mex) Mexican food that evening.


A cloudy start to the day


It did improve though. The Blue Ridge Parkway, stunning.


Day two started better. This is Otter Lake.


And finally along the Skyline Drive.

Thursday saw us complete the run along the parkway and into the Skyline Drive which runs into the Shenandoah National Park and down towards Washington DC.

Georgia and the Appellation Mountains

The ride up into Georgia went smoothly. I was surprised by the amount of forestation I was riding through. Like Alaska it’s n ice at first but as scenery goes it gets boring quite quickly. I had picked a town called Dublin as my first stop through this state, but it's nothing like it’s namesake in Ireland. Someone must have been very homesick when they named this town. The next day I also rode through one of the larger towns called Athens. This town might have been worth closer inspection as it’s one of the major universities in the south, along with that the sorority houses. Huge old Greco Georgian southern homes that have large Greek letters on the porticos like Alpha Beta Kappa.


The Blue Ridge Scenic Railway about to depart


The main street of Blue Ridge


Up in the mountains

That Thursday night saw me in the Appellation Mountains in the small town of Blue Ridge. The main street of the oldest part of town has some beautiful tourist shops and see’s the departure of the Blue Ridge railway each day. The roads around this part of the state were full of motorcyclists making the most of the winding mountain roads. After a couple of nights there I rode 250km to end up 50km away from where I had started in a pseudo German Alpine town of Helen. Very cheesy but with a lot of people enjoying the river by floating down in inflatable rings and putting on the pounds eating the ice creams and local chocolates. My one complaint was at 5 o’clock on the Sunday I decided that it was beer o’clock and when I put the can of Budweiser on the counter the clerk said sorry no beer sold on Sunday!!


The "Alpine" village of Helen


Another covered bridge near Helen


Tubing down the river. A good way to deal with the heat.

On the Monday I started a slow ride down towards South Carolina stopping in Augusta on the way down to a small town on the coast called Beaufort where there is one of the main US Marine training facilities. So I’m now just outside Charleston with John and Gabby, friends of another good friend who I haven’t seen in 33 years. Claire is joining me for this little part of the journey through South and North Carolina and up to Washington before she flies back home to Paris. John and Gabby’s place in Awendaw is beautiful set among the trees with access to the intercostal waterways that run along the Carolina coast.


The grand old houses of the south


The shrimp boats. There is actually a Bubba Gump shrimp restaurant!


The view from Johns house to the jetty


And looking back to the house


Gabby's Mother still lives on the plantation with this fantastic driveway


Down to the main house

Palm Harbor

Firstly I have to extend my thanks once again to Nigel, Lynne and their family for putting up with me for the last three weeks. I’ve had a nice rest although I’ve been working hard (some of the time) helping Nigel do some repairs and deliveries for his Patio furniture business, and also building some work benches for the garage below the new house. We’ve drunk our fair share of Rum and Red Wine and I hope I’ve past on some Aussie BBQ skills!! Best of luck for the future guys and I hope to see you in Australia sooner than later.



The new cassa Tuckey


Nigel, Lynne and Philippa


Job Started


Job finished!!

We also went down to the Wednesday bike night at Quaker Steak and lube, loads of bikes, big burgers and some good live music.


Quaker Steak and lube bike night


Some huge burgers


And some radical bikes


The blue chrome was cool

To everyone else I apologize for neglecting the blog.

I'm now back on the road. I made the first stop back in St Augustine, 300 km north of where I was and I thought a nice place to have a second look at. It’s no cooler here although I do think the humidity is slightly less. Next stop is Georgia.


Inside the fort at St Augustine

After the British burned down the original fort they replaced it!!


The oldest house in town


Moss hanging from the trees, down to old houses, nice!


Downtown St Augustine

Ground Control to Major Tom

I left the Everglades behind me and rode up the coast road through Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach. Rode might not be the right word more like fought. It becomes more and more evident the more time you spend in American traffic that the use of the phone on driving has a very adverse affect. The lack of concentration and awareness of things that are going on around them is severely impaired. Using the phone while driving has not yet been banned in this country and it needs to be!! Texting has, although it’s still very commonly practiced. So after that little rant I didn’t see anything along that stretch of coastline that particularly inspired me to want to stay.

The Kennedy Space Centre


The rocket Garden


Starting to get a little larger

Titusville is on the Space Coast just alongside the spit that contains the Kennedy Space Centre and Cape Canaveral, one being the civil space centre and the other being the military one. For anyone my age and older the excitement of watching Apollo 11 going to the moon and (in my case in the UK) getting up in the early hours of the morning to watch Neil Armstrong take those first steps on the moon, all comes flooding back as you enter the visitors centre at the Kennedy Space Centre. The rockets arranged in a kind of garden seemed almost too small to have carried someone into space. The shuttle and the rockets that carry that particular vehicle up to the international space station, also smaller than I had imagined. It’s not until you get on the bus that takes you out towards the launch pads, observation platforms and ultimately the hanger that houses the Saturn V rockets that you get to see the giant that you remember slowly rising from the launch pad, smoke and flames billowing from the massive engines carrying the three men locked in a tiny capsule on top of this thing into space. It truly is huge and very, very, impressive. There is also a 3D Imax film showing a film about the space station and a launch simulator that was a lot more violent than I had expected. All in all a fantastic day, that allows boys of all ages to dream about being an astronaut.


The assembly building


The Lunar Module


The original launch control for the Lunar missions


One of the space suits used on Apollo 11

The next day I took a ride further up the coast to see Daytona Beach. If you were coming to this part of the world for a beach holiday I think this could be a very nice, easy going place to spend a week. I would also imagine that during the Daytona Bike Week things could be good fun around here. A little further up the coast I was told to go to a place called St Augustine. This little city is the oldest continuously occupied (European established) place on the North American continent, having been founded by the Spanish explorers in 1565. It is the headquarters of the US Coast Guard and again a very nice little place to visit. It’s quite a change to see buildings of this age in the USA when everything else is relatively modern.






The old Spanish Fort at St Augustine



Some of the original gates into the city


Small cobbled streets


And Spanish colonial buildings

The last day was spent looking at the Warbirds museum and the National Police museum. Loads of interesting planes and historic artifacts to wander around and absorb for a few hours. Including one of the police cars from Blade Runner and an electric chair!!


A B25 Bomber


A Huey helicopter from Vietnam


An F14 Tomcat


One of the police cars from Bladerunner


A Melbourne Police car. The third Melbourne I've seen now


The electric chair. Still scary!

I have now returned to Palm Harbor where I helped my mate Nigel and Lynne to move house and settle in. The rear tyre on the Wombat finally gave in the centre tread down to the canvas, not to bad as it’s now done 20,000km. The new tyre I had ordered on the internet was waiting when I got back and I took the rear wheel out and over to the BMW agent in Tampa to get it fitted and balanced. The odometer has also clocked over to 100,000km! So some fresh oil is going to be purchased this week and put in the engine along with a new filter.


Getting all the value I can out of this one!!