* * Riding to a North Carolina B&B

Every year since Jane and I met, we have gone on a Bed-and-Breakfast romantic weekend retreat in October.  We typically travel 2-3 hours, which feels like far enough away to be “gone” but not so far as to be spending the entire weekend in the car (or in some cases, on the motorcycle).  Last weekend, we went to Roaring Gap, North Carolina.  We rode the Honda Pacific Coast.

Friday afternoon was clear and cool – perfect motorcycling weather.  We made a bee-line on the Interstates to the Blue Ridge Parkway at Fancy Gap.  From there it was a short 40-or-so miles south.  Visibility was difficult with the distinct shadows hiding the roadway imperfections, but otherwise it was a great day to be motorcycling.  The leaves were only beginning to change color and most of the world was still deep green.

We made an intermediate stop at the Blue Ridge Music Center near the VA/NC state line and listened to some folks jamming on banjo, fiddle, guitar, and mandolin. 

Our B&B is a 5000 sq-ft log home near a community called Cherry Lane.

On Saturday, we took a hike at Stone Mountain State Park on the loop trail that goes up and over Stone Mountain.  As the name implies, the mountain is a huge monolithic rock, what the Carolina Environmental Diversity website calls a granite intrusion monadnock, which is an isolated mountain of resistant rock rising above lowlands.  From Google Earth, it looks like a series of tan splotches on a sea of green, with the splotches streaked as if raked by a giant comb.

It is a considerable chore stowing motorcycling gear and donning hiking gear.  The large parking lot was filling rapidly as we prepared.

Jane wears bifocals and doesn’t see the trail well.  Poor dear stumbled and fell, only 200 yards from the parking lot, scraping both her palms and knees.  Did this portend greater mishaps to come?

The ascent of the Mountain is quite steep, but because it gets so many visitors, the park has provided countless wooden stairways on the steeper sections.  The day was cool and crystal clear, but we were still sweating by the time we reached the summit, all the while trying to stay ahead of a noisy troop of Boy Scouts.  The top had multiple places to rest and take in the expansive view.  We sat in the sunshine for an hour, resting and tanning.  It turned out that the streaks were little water-courses where rivulets drained from the top following heavy rain or snow.

The descent was seemingly longer and steeper than the ascent. We eventually found ourselves in a visitors’ attraction, a restored homestead, with a log cabin and various outbuildings.  The backdrop was the steep slope of the monadnock, as dramatic as many of the Rocky Mountain scenes of cowboy westerns. 

The final attraction was the “falls” of the creek that drains the area.  It was not a true falls because there was no free-falling water, but instead a long sluice over exposed rock.  There were scores of people scampering up and down the long wooden stairways, all huffing and puffing. 

We reached the motorcycle and drove into nearby Sparta for a Mexican lunch where the wait-staff helped us learn more Spanish.

Home again on Sunday was overcast and cooler.  We took the Parkway to Tuggles Gap and drove through Floyd back home.  A lovely weekend.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that on Sunday afternoon, we attended a reception for the New River Land Trust at Mountain Lake hotel where I set up a table to sell my books.  I had my best sales day ever, selling 14 books!  Thanks to all my new customers and I hope you enjoy reading my books.