Blue Ridge Parkway - Day 7 - July 8, 2022

Today is our last day traveling together. We will have dinner tonight, and go our separate ways in the morning.

I've noticed a change in Magellan over the last year - he is kinder and gentler. He waves at people on the street, and often honks at them to say hello. And they turn around with quizzical looks on their faces asking themselves who is that guy on the motorcycle, and why is he honking at me. 

There is an older woman staying in our hotel who reported that she has ridden the BRP and Skyline Drive on a bicycle over the last 13 days. That is approximately 600 miles, or 46 miles a day - up and down mountains. She was leaving this morning to ride her bike to DC. All I can say is that we rode our bikes the same distance, in three days. And our bikes weigh 1,000 pounds! I don't think I'll receive much sympathy or recognition however. 

Our first obstacle after leaving Front Royal was a one lane road/construction. I bet we waited on the roadway 15 minutes.  Oh, the humanity. 

Buttercup took a terrific pic of a highway lookout. 

One of the treasures of these trips are the new experiences. Way out in the middle of nowhere, far from civilization, we stopped for gas in what can be best described as a rustic/down home convenience store.

The manager came out to the pumps - for what we thought was to keep an eye on us and ensure we did not skip-out after taking on fuel. It turns out that she had to come out and turn on the pumps for each new customer. 

They had every sort of homemade food you can imagine - pickled eggs and everything else you can pickle. They even had a grill, a counter and three-foot long jerky treats for your dog. The only thing they didn't have was Internet. 

The entertainment was buttercup trying to figure out how to use his new headphones - they were on sale after all. And no, he never got them to work. I think they require electricity. 

And without Internet, we could not figure out where to go. At one point, we saw that we were entering Maryland, and we all checked our GPS to ensure that we were going in the right direction. 

This place was so backward, all I could think of was the book/movie, Deliverance. I was not sorry to leave. 

We ran into an old Vet with a jeep. He offered to trade it to Buttercup for his Harley. 

And that is when the rain began - fortunately, as we pulled into the hotel parking lot. We did 240 miles of rural West Virginia today. And tomorrow, we go our separate ways.