Columbus Day Weekend 2016

[Nemo_imp]

On Wednesday we left the lodge after breakfast but not before asking the front desk directions to the closest gas station; 4 miles away. We were both running low, the CB said I had about 35 miles to go and Fran's Street Twin told him he had 15 miles. The Triumph lied. Turned off of the BRP to go for gas, went up a hill, down a hill, left, right, left, up again, start downhill and Fran comes up in the comms and says "there's something wrong with the bike, no throttle". I told him there was nothing wrong, you just ran out of gas. He started the bike, gave it a rev and it died again, but now he coasted for about 100 yards all the way to the gas station. Lucky strike 2.

After gas we got back on the BRP and continued south to go meet 4Paws and Sam Mac. On our way we caught this view
[url=http://s1178.photobucket.com/user/nrcolon/media/BRP%20Ride%20Oct%202016/IMG_2352_zpspzbem53m.jpg.html]

And the BRP intersected The Trail
[url=http://s1178.photobucket.com/user/nrcolon/media/BRP%20Ride%20Oct%202016/IMG_2353_zps3oazibxr.jpg.html]

And here we met with Dan and Sam
[url=http://s1178.photobucket.com/user/nrcolon/media/BRP%20Ride%20Oct%202016/IMG_2355_zpskalwapmu.jpg.html]

Went to lunch at the Fancy Gap Deli
[url=http://s1178.photobucket.com/user/nrcolon/media/BRP%20Ride%20Oct%202016/IMG_2357_zpsk88z5ton.jpg.html]

At the Fox Hunters Paradise overlook we said bye to Dan and Sam
[url=http://s1178.photobucket.com/user/nrcolon/media/BRP%20Ride%20Oct%202016/IMG_2360_zpsqwujwxqy.jpg.html]

And Francisco climbed on something else
[url=http://s1178.photobucket.com/user/nrcolon/media/BRP%20Ride%20Oct%202016/IMG_2366_zpswb3o1ily.jpg.html]

South we went. We still had about 130 miles to go to our next stop at Little Switzerland and it was already part 4pm. I knew we would be riding at dark. With the amount of deer that we had seen, I wasn't crazy about the idea. So we were "moving". We stopped only once by a bridge that was on the side of the mountain. I think that was the highest elevation of the trip.

[url=http://s1178.photobucket.com/user/nrcolon/media/BRP%20Ride%20Oct%202016/IMG_2369_zpsueqvxskm.jpg.html]

After that the documentation stopped. We got to the Skyline Village Inn (SVI) at 7pm. The restaurant with the pissed-off shrimp (moderators note this is actually the name of the dish so I will allow lol) had already closed and Mike (owner of the SVI) cooked for us. Good steak!

At that point the weather forecast for Jacksonville had turned for the worst. Hurricane Matthew was headed there, maybe even make landfall. My wife was alone at home and very worried. I had to cut our adventure short. We had a good night sleep at the SVI and next morning headed home.

We got off the BRP and hit the highways. I-26 was closed in Columbia, SC. We had to take some secondary roads but eventually got to I-95. All traffic was going the opposite direction. We were riding into the storm... Sounds pretty bada**, but in reality we didn't even have rain until we made the FL-GA line. From the motel to my driveway it was 469 miles. It was a long day.

Because of the weather that threatened home I wasn't able to complete my goal to ride the whole BRP. I didn't get to ride the Diamondback and I didn't make it to Maggie Valley. Great excuse to go back next year. I will.

Ending mileage
[url=http://s1178.photobucket.com/user/nrcolon/media/BRP%20Ride%20Oct%202016/IMG_2373_zpsizkgcbt9.jpg.html]

EOR