Adam, Matt and I ready to start the day

Day 3 was a long one. In order to accomplish our goal of getting all the way down to Georgia and back in nine days we did a minimum of 220 miles every day and often quite a bit more. Day 3 had 323 miles to do, so there was no time for dawdling. We woke quite relaxed from our stay in the stellar Cabin at Sugar Hollow Farm and set off into a light rain. The first 16 miles was spent on Virginia 42, a straight country road through the aptly named Cow Pasture River valley of the George Washington National Forest. We were truly in the country, and New York City and L.A. seemed a long forgotten way away. A deer jumped out and darted across the road no more than three feet in front of Zac, giving everybody a quick scare. After about half an hour we stopped for breakfast at a gas station with a cafe (of a sort) attached. While we waited for our egg sandwiches to arrive, the proprietor struck up a conversation with me. Seems she and her son were refugees from Long Island themselves. We discussed the relative merits of the Northeast for a while. It seemed hard to imagine making the jump full time as she has done, and I reflected that by insisting on doing over 300 miles in a day, I had simply brought a little bit of the chaos of the city with us. I might have tried to work out why I had done such a thing, and if it really was the best approach, but we still had another 300 miles to go, so I had no time to be wasting on deep thoughts. We all saddled up and hit it.

time for a little down home cooking at

The trip had been designed to spend the absolute minimum time on Interstates, but Day 3 had a quick 20 mile Jaunt on US64 to get us to our next jumping off point. Adam, Zac and I headed towards West Virginia while Matt headed East following a route he worked out the night before in order to keep the more aggressive roads to a minimum. We agreed to meet at the Blue Ridge Restaurant in Floyd, Virginia for lunch. The interstate took us almost to the border of West Virginia before we took Route 159 and then 311 heading South into Floyd. Lunch consisted of various fried and bar-b-qued items as well as Matt's new favorite, hushpuppies. I know a couple of places in the city for this kind of food, but it just doesn't taste the same as it does in a one stop light town like Floyd. In addition, I for one will never get tired of the endless refills of soda, tea and lemonade provided in the south. I'm a particularly large guy with a healthy appetite, but even with my tendency to over order, I'm at a loss to understand how anyone can make any money off me once I've finally slaked my thirst.

endless perfect curves

and miles and miles of views

One of Floyd's greatest assets is it's proximity to the Blue Ridge Parkway. A mere five mile hop away is one of the US's premier motorcycling roads. Premier roads period. In an earlier trip across country, I had done Skyline Drive, the upper section which starts in Front Royal, Virginia and winds it's way down through the Shanandoa National Forest. I never forgot the stunning beauty mixed with what seemed to be an endless set of perfect curves on a pristine road surface. I had been dreaming about coming back for years. The remainder of the day (excluding one short side trip) and the first half of the next day would be spent doing 300 curvy miles through scenic bliss. We did about 70 miles before our next stop at the Mount Jefferson scenic view pull out. It was already a long day, and I for one was pretty tired. It appeared Matt may have been a little tired too.