We visited with Arnie a long while at Crossroads. Come to find out he was at the Outerbanks all last week. We shared our wind stories!
Rolled at a little after 12 noon, sunny and 77 degrees. Came up highway 16 through the Christmas tree farms and pumpkin patches to West Jefferson. Stopped now at one of our favorite restaurants the “Winners Circle” for a late lunch.
We came over 3000 feet and are currently around 2900. It’s overcast and 71 degrees here.
My wife is really enjoying the ride and that’s all that counts!
We stopped at the Church of the Fresco just north of the BRP on 16 to get some pictures. But when we opened the door there were a lot of folks inside for something. We did not want to disturb. That is a really cool place to see if you are in the area. It’s usually open to the public.
Lunch was very good. We both ended 1/4 pound dogs all the way with fries and onion rings. Next time we’ll just share the onion rings and skip the fries!
Time to roll on. Planning to hit Hwy 88 back over to Laural Springs on Hwy 18 and see if anyone is at Freebornes / Stations Inn.
We rolled out of the Winners Circle and it was 67 degrees. The shies were dark north and west. I saw a little blue and some light east south East. As we neared Hwy 16 and 88 is started to sprinkle on us so we rolled back down 16 to the BRP. We ran south toward Boone, Blowing rock. Did not get far and the sprinkles came back. We stopped at an overlook and the guy there said we are going the wrong direction.
We flirted with the rain but were simply boxed in in the higher elevations.
Rolled back down 16 to 421 and find ourselves back at Crossroads. Found Micah doing what he does best, hold down a rocking chair!
He says he sold three bikes today and needed a rest!
We came off the mountain and stopped for fuel and dropped our jackets. It is 81 degrees here in Wilkesboro!
Checking the radar there is a little rain behind us but much less than originally forecasted. Looks like we are dry in our area till 8pm. We’ll be home before then.
There are a lot of folks up on the BRP enjoying the day. Actually colors are better than I expected. Probably last week was the best. But still very pretty.
As we were leaving Crossroads for the second time today I looked at the wife and asked how some ice cream sounded. She was all in.
We are only 110 mile in but it feels like a bigger day and the temps are at 82 degrees!
So we rode over to our favorite place in Wilkesboro the Brushy Mt. Smoke House and got some.
Well I made a HUGE mistake.
I walked in and said give me the “Bentryder Special”! Holy cow it is a banana split! I have not eaten one of those in 30 years. I got through about 80% of it and it was very good. No dinner for me tonight.
Out front of the Smoke House is a large arrow head monument. It has a map of the original Daniel Boone Trail. This is special for my wife as her father was huge into horses back in the day. They used to do the Daniel Boone Wagon Train every year. She would ride her horse and her father drove their wagon with the mule team. He was the first and only to ever drive a six hitch team.
As we roll onto Hwy 421 South bound toward the Twin Cities that tobacco built we got up with two couples on touring bikes and ran with them a while. I had the cruise on 70 just soaking in the beautiful weather and the bright skies ahead of us. They throttle off and left us in the dust. Then a guy on a blue Triumph rolled by making a whole lot of noise with about a 18 inch long exhaust. Lots of bikes heading back up North also. It was a good day on two wheels.
Returned home at 5:11pm 79 Degrees Ending mileage for today is 32,429 Today’s total mileage was 158.2
Well as I conclude today’s ride I want to thank those that followed along. This is the first time I have tried to post along the way.
Praise be to God for such a beautiful day, safe travels, a great motorcycle and a wife that just loves to ride and had smiles all day long.
I’ll leave you with some picture of a moonshine still.
10-24-2020 | 12:35 PM
