TRAVEL FEATURE - U nited S tates
PARIS WOLFE
Blue Ridge Parkway
OVER THE HILLS
G
ary and I put the
real world on hold
for one week in
June and rode the
entire Blue Ridge
Parkway. The Park-
way, for the uninitiated, is 469 miles
of two-lane road that meanders
through Virginia and North Carolina
along crests of the Blue Ridge Moun-
tains. The roadway passes through
verdant forests and fertile fields. It
has no stop lights and no stop signs.
Just speed limits of 35 and 45 miles
per hour. Motorcyclists and sports
car owners have a special affection
for its wrinkles and curves.
Begun in 1935, this stretch of pave-
ment was a public works project dur-
ing the administration of U.S. Presi-
dent Franklin Delano Roosevelt. As
it evolved restrictions were put into
place to limit nearby construction to
mostly agricultural properties. Rules
prohibit commercial traffic, a boon
for motorcycle riders who only fight
rare drafts from sizable RVs.
Whatever the politics of origin, the
Blue Ridge Parkway is almost heaven.
We rode a rented 2016 Harley-Da-
vidson Electra Glide – helmets are re-
quired and rain suits provided – spon-
sored by Harley-Davidson. The first
day we logged almost 500 miles from
Northeast Ohio to Amherst, Virginia.
The last two days we tracked another
500-plus miles from Cherokee, North
Carolina, to Lake County, Ohio.
While nine campgrounds are avail-
able along the way, roughing it wasn’t
part of our plan. I reserved bed and
breakfasts and small inns for all but
one stop before we left home. Plan-
ning is essential for comfort in busy
summer months. The night before
the quest, we slept in the Virgin-
ia home of friends. After a hearty
breakfast, we backtracked to Mile
Post 1 in Rockfish Gap.
Just six miles into the journey at
Humpback Rocks, which includes a
pioneer life exhibit, spectacular views
beckoned. The moderate-to-steep
climb plus our eagerness to carry on,
nudged us back to the bike prema-
turely. With more than 200 pullouts
and many more attractions we
couldn’t stop to see everything.
TRAVERSE
54
At one of the restroom stops – these
are frequently available — I learned
the mountain dulcimer. A park volun-
teer shared her personal collection of
the wooden instruments and allowed
me to rest the shapely four-stringed
box in my lap to learn the most basic
strumming and picking techniques.
The parkway is rich in interactive ex-
periences like that, from mountain
life demonstrations to hiking and ob-
servation.
Covering 165-plus miles, the first
day was our longest on-Parkway. We
passed Roanoke and didn’t stop un-
til around 5pm in Floyd, Virginia.
Floyd is about 25 minutes from Mile
Post 165. Serendipity would have it