We were up first thing in the morning. Riding at sunrise is amazing.
The morning light streaming through the trees.
Around the next curve, mountains as far as the eye can see.
Riding above the clouds was surreal.
Then it started to drizzle.
And rain...and rain.
This probably goes without saying, but curvy, steep mountain roads aren't really fun to ride in the rain.
At times like this, it's best just to find somewhere, anywhere, to pull over and wait it out.
But eventually you have to get back on the road. We left the Parkway to make our way to the North Carolina and South Carolina borders. The rain and lack of road signs made us work very, very hard for this state pictures, but eventually we got them.
North Carolina
...for our last state picture of the trip, before heading back to North Carolina.
Late in the afternoon the rain stopped and we were able to enjoy roads we'd been anticipating all year.
We made our way up Highway 28, the Moonshiner 28, to Fontana Dam. It was easy to imagine moonshiners in their 1920's hot rods out maneuvering the more stately police cars on these roads, with plenty of side roads for the moonshiners to pull off and hide in the woods until the police passed.
Toward evening, we reached our home for the next couple days and settled into our mountain cabin.
Everything we owned was wet, but we used our ingenuity, the laundromat and a 170-degree oven to dry out our maps and clothes.
One of the great things about our mountain cabin was that it was located in a resort that attracted a lot of bikers, so we spent the rest of the night swapping stories at the lodge as we built up our courage for the next days' ride down the Tail of the Dragon.
Fun facts
High gas price so far: $3.69 in VirginiaLow gas price so far: $3.15 in West Virginia
Today was: Sunny, rainy, wet, sunny.
Miles day .5: 303
Miles day 1: 566
Miles day 2: 518
Miles day 3: 164
Miles day 4: 128
Miles day 5: 354
Miles day 6: 363
Miles day 7: 330
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