A great weekend in Carolina, started with a driving rain most of the trip home, but a smooth drive. Did skip the Lexington Barbecue Festival; finding that plans tend to be difficult to pull off so far from home. One plan that did not was the Monday motorcycle ride to the mountains. Patty was at work, and five of us planned to ride to check out the views. A rather cool and overcast day (but a great forecast from WSOC Channel 9 that was dead on) got Steve and me to ride. Left at 10am from Concord, rode up NC115 through Wilkesboro, NC and up NC 421 to Blowing Rock. Finding the Daniel Boone Inn packed, we stopped at The Canyons for lunch. Great food and reasonable prices (always surprising in the mountains) and a view to die for from the deck. On the way in we also rode through Boone, NC and past the campus of ASU; beautiful school and a really good football team (usually anyhow). 
I was a sailor years ago, and always thought when we came to Carolina that the beach would be the main spot to visit. For sure, have made a few trips there. However, it has been the mountains that I most look forward to. Maybe its the people, or the views, or the great roads (such as this photo taken on the Blue Ridge Parkway; which is a national treasure) but there is something compelling about being in the high country. Even without the amazing fall colors, there is just a huge number of "oh wow, look at that" moments. A strangely peaceful place which you can't wait to get to, and find hard to leave. Great part of a Monday visit, is that the crowds are a whole lot less than you find on the weekends. I have found that to be true often, and that is when we head for the hills! 
The Grandview Overlook is a favorite spot to just stand, pause and reflect. Due to time, did not get to ride as much as usual on The Parkway, but it was sure good to be back there. A person could spend years exploring that road. In fact it runs into Virginia, and a dream some day would be to go to the beginning (hopefully on the bike) and ride it to the very end. As for us, our ride ended at 5pm back in Concord. We rode back via the same route. Often like to take NC-321, but its under heavy construction; often (usually Tuesday and Thursday) its closed for blasting in one of those long time on going projects. Thankfully North Carolina is full of great alternative routes.
The many alternative routes really paid off Tuesday on the way back to Richmond. Started in Concord at Exit 58, where a cattle truck had turned over. Sadly the driver was killed, and a number of cows got out having survived the crash. In fact rounding them up took all of the day, and some of the night. A detour to Copperfield Road was backed up for miles; so I rode up Old Concord/Salisbury Road to Lane Street where I easily got on I-85. So far so good; I'm rolling, and work is a few hours away. Along comes Exit 113; a gas truck had crashed and I-85 was CLOSED. Detour to NC-64 and NC-220 (220 was actually a pretty nice road) to Greensboro. Always wondered what would happen in this "long distance commute" if I came across problems on the road; found I could handle two in one day. Made it in time to have a few minutes before heading to work from 3-11pm.
So....back in the apartment waiting to see what adventures await me over the next few days in Richmond, VA.
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