Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:41:27 +0000
Reply-To: J Stewart <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: J Stewart <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: My Weekend On Skyline Drive, Virginia
This weekend I got to fulfill a long time dream of mine. I hooked up my trailer, loaded up my Yamaha Virago 1100 and took off for Skyline Drive. My daughter left for two weeks in Europe on Friday, and the wife doesn't want anything to do with either the Vanagon or the Virago. So, it was just me, the camper, the bike, a cooler with some food and lots of beer! I had made a reservation at Matthews Arm camp ground weeks ago, only $15.00/night but no hookups and no showers. There are bathrooms with flush toilets, but when you see a sink with only one faucet handle, you know it ain't gonna be HOT water. This camp ground is very nice, sites are fairly level and not too close. Another nice thing for me is I only live about 50 miles away, so it didn't cost me a lot in gas. I was warned by the rangers at check in to the camp ground to keep all my food and trash locked up. Five female bears each had 3 cubs this spring, and bear sightings were numerous. I arrived Saturday afternoon and set up
camp, then unloaded the bike and took off for a ride. I was warned that riding Skyline Drive would be tedious and boring because of the 35 mph speed limit, but that couldn't be further from the truth. There was not a lot of vehicle traffic, though there were hundreds of motorcycles, and I had no problem doing between 45-50 mph. I returned to camp and while cooking dinner a German family pulled up to the site next to me in what I'm guessing was a rental car. Instead of backing down the paved driveway to the site, the father backed across the grass, running over the post with the site number on it! I figured at that point he must be an engineer with VW, probably the guy who designed the 1.9 cooling system. They all get out, mom, dad, and two teenage daughters and start yelling at each other in German, unpacking camping gear from the trunk. Next thing I know they are shoving it all back in the car and they move to site further down-I guess at 6'4" and all my tattoos I looked too intim
idating? Ate dinner and then watched "The Quick And The Dead" on DVD. Fell asleep around 10:00pm, and with the cool mountain air slept very well. Got up around 7 on Sunday morning, had some coffee and took off on the bike heading south. I rode until around 1:30 I decided I had gone far enough and had better turn around. The skies were getting dark, thunderstorms were predicted for afternoon, and I had a long ride back to camp. I made it back with just seconds to spare. I had left the roof up, so I quickly dropped it down and covered the bike, then the skies opened up. Around 7pm the rain let up a little, but it looked like it was probably going to rain all night, so I loaded the bike back on trailer and headed for home. All in all, very nice weekend and I can't wait to do it again. Below is a link to some pics I took. Jeff
http://picasaweb.google.com/veedubguy84/Skyline
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