I inquired of our waitress if she knew the name of the vibrant orange flowered trees that are prevalent in the area. She identified them as Orange Flame Azaleas. She said that they are a wild variety.
We learned that this is thought to be the most photographed location on the Parkway. The building is so iconic that it is used in post cards in other states that would have also had mills like this back in the day.
My father taught me a long, long time ago that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. What's up with this fence? Maybe it is about "art" and not utility.
Yesterday I missed catching several turkeys and a couple or three different groundhogs in a picture. I got lots of roadsides and such but the animals eluded me. Today I was happy to snap two farm creatures in this shot. Of course I took it of the one in the foreground and Allan asked if I got one of the other animal as well. I didn't realize that I did until I looked over the photo tonight. You will probably have to make this bigger to find them.
Yesterday Allan saw two different deer. One crossed in front of us and the other was partway across when he saw them. I didn't see either of them. Today I just happened to see this deer. No time to focus the camera at 45 mph so I snapped and am delighted that I have evidence of my deer sighting.
These mountains leave little doubt why they are the Great Smokeys and Blue Ridge. The blue haze in the distance is omnipresent. We started today at about 3,000 feet of elevation and traveled for quite some time at 2,500.
I took this photo from a display map at the James River Visitor Center. Since I had a photo of the sign at the highest point I thought I should honor the lowest point with a photo too. We didn't stay this low for long. We quickly made it back up above 2,000 ft.
This enormous bumble bee was around the bike. My helmet was clipped to the handlebars and he liked the gold clip. We made a point to say that we should carefully check our helmets and jackets for bees before we put them back on. 30 minutes later when we returned we forgot but thankfully he had moved on by then.
This raspberry/blackberry (?) plant in full blossom was by the parking lot. We drove by oodles of them along the roadside.
We took the walking tour to the restored lock and canal. There was a walking bridge suspended below the auto bridge to the other side of the river where the lock was located.
These "wild" phlox were in the field as we approached the lock.
We found this quite interesting and I have taken and posted here pictures of the information plaques and the lock itself.
What, more mountains...?
And another kind of split rail fence. Now this has to be just for art. What possible function could it have?
Yes, into every motorcycle trip some road construction finds its way. We were at the head of the line of stopped vehicles. The flagger told us we could turn off the bike it would be a while. There was only about 1 mile that was torn up but there are bicyclists and it takes them a while to peddle through the zone and they can't switch the traffic flow until all the vehicles and bikes make it through.
He was quite chatty. He told us that although there was only 16 miles left for us to travel on the Parkway we might see bears and deer. He also inquired if we had seen any snakes. He said that frequently they try to cross the road and don't make it.
This red truck kindly lead us through the construction zone.
These beautiful flowers appeared frequently on today's ride.
I have seen these on the roadside as well and I think I saw them in FL this winter but don't know their name. There must be someone out there that can help me out with all these flower names.
I know two folks who will be homeless when they get back to Maine. Maybe we should look for something along the lines of this fine cabin.
As we continued about the farm I took pictures of the plaques that explain most of the structures.
We had never seen a contraption like this before. The interpreter guy explained that the pigs had their ears notched with one or more notches before they were let loose so that when they were gathered up the farmers would know which pigs belonged to them. Pig branding of sorts it seems.
We were serenaded by a great variety of songbirds as we strolled about. I guess they like the area and these plaques in particular for perching and whatever...
Missed taking a pic of the plaque for this cow shed.
Many a time I thought that our garden was the only one that animals got into. Probably not the case or they wouldn't have such an intricate and tall fence around this garden plot. Yet, another example of split rail fencing.
As we traveled on this magnificent highway I was astounded at the number of place names that were Gap, Creek, or Hollow. Today I attempted to document these names. I got pictures for 2 out of the 3. Not too bad.
The funny part is that when Allan shopped for new boots in FL I looked at some but they didn't have any that fit. Just the other day in Knoxville when we were at the Harley dealership I glanced at them and Allan encouraged me to see if they had a pair that I liked and he said that we could have them mailed north or south since we didn't have room in the bike for them. Oh, if we had only taken a look into my "sole" while we were down there in the bible belt. I am not much of a shopper but odds are pretty good that I will have new boots before I get too much further north.
Yes, here we are in a $50 motel tonight. I encouraged him to stop here because in our guide book it said that they have laundry facilities and it is near the entrance to the Skyline Drive. Well he called and check with them to make sure that it wasn't going to be too difficult to get in with the bike since the address was Three Mountain Notch Highway. They assured him he would be fine. Well not so much. It was a steep decent into the parking lot and the spot by the office was so steep that it was a challenge for me to get off without the bike coming with me. UGH!
I must admit though that the internet is working well as is the air conditioner (stuffy old room). As for the laundry well the washing machine is broken. Not to worry we have clean clothes for one more day and I keep thinking that I won't see anyone I know even if I do end up in dirty clothes for a day or two.
Allan thinks that this bathroom towel bird is the most redeeming quality of this room. It is important to note that the bathroom towel bird is not exactly plump. After taking his shower he shared that if I thought that the towels in the $60 hotel last night were thin there was an even thinner one waiting for me tonight. Ah, the joys of cross country travel.
We arrived here at about 3:30 and traveled a total of almost 200 miles. Thus far we have traveled 1,370 miles in 6 days.
The weather has been outstanding. I can think of no better travel companion than Allan. The bike is everything a long distance motorcycle traveler could ask for and maybe more. I am in love with my little camera and in the future look forward to exploring the many features that it has. All of my photos thus far have been taken on an automatic setting.
I have been working on today's blog; culling photos, uploading photos to the computer, resizing and making sure to keep them in the order I took them, uploading them to the blog and commenting on them and the trip for over 3 hours. Time to call it quits for today.
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