No rain this year.
Motorcycles rolled into town.
My wife and I got on our motorcycles and rolled out.
Destination: Smith Mountain Lake
Day 1: We got a mid-morning start owing to picking up a friend at National Airport who was taking the red-eye back from the west coast. It was just as well. The sun was out long enough to raise the cool temperatures to a bit less cool. |
| Layered for the temps, we head out. |
We layered up, got on our bikes, and headed south towards Lynchburg.
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Historically, the traffic in the Washington metro area is famously bad during Memorial Day weekend. This year's traffic was no different. However, giving up speed and distance, it is possible to find routes out of the area that are not choked with cars. Study the map above and you'll see my secret route south.
I don't have a proper GPS unit for my motorcycle--my 1st generation Zumo having given up the ghost at the beginning of last year's riding season--and wasn't able to precisely layout a route south. My current automobile Garmin unit doesn't allow me to upload routes using my normal scheme and so I generally enter a destination and then meander my way to it allowing the GPS to re-route along the way. Unfortunately, a common result is that I end up on roads I'd rather not be on and on this trip, we found ourselves on I-64 heading west for a short distance. Immediately getting on 64, the traffic was stopped. It gave us an opportunity to shed some layers.
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| Time to get out of the layers. |
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| Cars...for as far as the eye could see. |
We learned from a passing tow truck driver that a car up ahead was on fire. So, we took a nearby service road across to the east bound lane and got off the interstate continuing through Charlottesville on to Rte 29 to Lynchburg. We arrived at the hotel a little before dinner time.
Day 2: After church, we spent the day riding around Smith Mountain Lake. The day was uneventful, but my wife did pick up a hitchhiker. Initially thinking she had flicked it off, it apparently made its way down her shirt and stayed there for several miles until we stopped for a break. When she stopped and got off her bike, it "buzzed" causing her to jump about like she was on springs. If this had happened while she was riding, she would have launched herself off her bike as if she were on an ejection seat.
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| The Hitchhiker |
We finally made our way to the Lake.
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| Panoramas of Smith Mountain Lake |
The stats:
- total distance = 559.2 miles
- overall avg speed = 33mph
- moving avg speed = 44.7 mph
- max speed = 71.5 mph
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