Rain, Rain went away... then came back

*disclaimer: we are on camera number 3 so there are not a lot of pictures*

We started off riding in some of the thickest fog you can imagine- but no rain!
Our first stop was at CVS to buy a replacement camera, here are the pictures from it:









Yes those are three of the same too closeup of Dave's chin. For some reason every time you took a picture it copied this shot of Dave- (I think it had a thing for him)

Camera number 3 pictures:











Pictures of Mabry's Mill along the Blue Ridge Parkway







This is my kind of shop!








The actual mill and working water wheel






The water wheel powers a saw mill, double jig saw, flour/grits mill, metal grinder, lathe








Some shots of the views along the way
















For some reason Dave thought this was the best shot to test the new camera (number 3)





We stopped earlier than planed in a town that's got to be great- after all, its named for Dave's good buddy Dan!

Apparently we stopped just in time, not 5 minutes after getting the bikes unloaded the rains hit- HARD!!!



Not really sure why I need to take pictures of food, but Kate always does it- must be a blog thing.

You wanna do what?!?!

So for 7 years Chris has had this idea of riding from NJ to TN via the Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway. Needless to say his moving to NJ has created an ideal scenario to fulfill this dream. So, that being said I flew to NJ last Thursday, visited with my family in PA for 3 days, then returned to NJ to be a part of seeing this dream fulfilled. This blog is intended to be an account of our time together.



No trip to Jersey is complete without a slice of pie (aka pizza)




And no trip to Chris's is complete without some serious garage time!










And now the Journey begins-


Our faithful steeds




And the studs.
(I think this was about the last time we saw the sun)



"... got mud on your face... ain't life great..."



Monday, we spent the better part (like 8 hours) on the interstate so no good pictures.

Tuesday- packed up, put on rain gear, ate breakfast at a little dinner- Dave had something called Scrapple- no clue what it was but he was happy with it.
Then we hit the Skyline drive- the motard and the Michelin-man

















So Dave has been teaching genetics to his sophmore biology class, so we figured we'd give it a try- what do you get when you cross a purple Shadow 1100 (Joe) and a VLX 600 (LaDonna)?



The rest of the the trip down the Blue Ridge parkway we traveled through a monsoon- here is the view looking out of our helmet!



Finally we found a church to pull off at and get out of the rain.





Finally we are settled into our room- cloths spread out everywhere drying, the air smells sweat with the aroma of leather, beer, and feet!

And tomorrow, we get to do it all over again!!

PS we are now accepting applications for next year's trip, hurry I'm sure they will fill up quickly!