Fletcher, NC to Roanoke, Virginia

Another great day to ride with temperatures mostly in the 70's and no rain.  Today was rather bland compared to yesterday.  It was not quite as pretty as further south but there was a few highlights.  The motel stay was excellent and the had a great breakfast this morning.  It was my most expensive room so far at $70 but not bad compared to last year.

Traffic was light and many were motorcycles.  I talked with several riders again today, some from Massachusetts and a group of BMW riders from San Antonio, TX.  There were several areas of road construction today and I took this picture while stopped at one.

There are a number of tunnels along the route but most are to hard to get a picture.  This was a short tunnel.
 There was a waterfalls I thought I should see so I walked up a trail to view it.  I had tennis shoes in the bike but didn't think to put them on until half way up the trail.  I also left my two jackets on so I had on my heavy boots and jackets. I ended up carrying the jackets.  It turned out to be nearly two mile round trip and some of it a pretty steep climb.
So in my opinion it was not worth the effort I put forth.  Have seen much prettier ones with less effort.  I did get some needed exercise though.  After expending all that energy climbing I was thirsty and hungry so I exited off the Parkway to a small diner.  I had chicken and dumplings and ice tea but not sweetened.  Later down the road I thought I should fuel up so I exited off and had to go about three miles for gas.  There was and old guy running the station (3 years older than Me) and we visited a bit.  It was cash only and one of the old pumps where I had to tell him how much it was.  He said he couldn't see that far and didn't get out of his chair.   He told me of a shortcut back to the Parkway so I took the paved, narrow, winding road. It was a good ride. A few more pictures of the mountains.
I liked this double arch bridge.
I found this to be interesting.  The poor old dear delivered 1,000 babies and all 24 of her own died.
I liked the way this tree sat on the hillside with the fence in the foreground.
Shortly after this picture I was coming around a fairly sharp, long curve, and had the bike leaned over pretty good as I was going about 45.  All of a sudden I heard this screeching noise and thought maybe I was getting a flat, then thought I might be a car about to hit me.  What it turned out to be was two fighter jets at tree top  level going right over me.  I about crapped my pants then thought I might have a heart attack.  Those darn whipper snappers just about scared me to death.  Later I heard them again but not as close.

Before today I had only seen one deer but since arriving in Virginia I saw 4 more, one  of which went across the road in front of me.  I have seen several turkey's and a few dead armadillo's in southern Mississippi.  There are quite a few bicyclists along the Parkway so you have to be aware of them.

I have now traveled just over 2,000 miles.  That is a disgrace for me.  That should be a three day ride instead of the 6 days I have been gone.  I have really enjoyed the leisurely pace and shorter days.  This has been one trip where I wasn't in any big hurry or have a place where I needed to be.  I have about 120 miles to finish the Parkway then I will start home.  According to Google Maps it is about 1,100 miles home and it is bringing me back south to I-64 through West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas.