The long way ride home!!            Photo Album at bottom!

From Plattsburgh, NY down south to Skyline Drive and onto the Blue Ridge Parkway.  From there we headed west and down the Natchez Trace back to Houston.

SEPTEMBER 15, SUNDAY
Left Plattsburgh about 7:30 am.  Today is a hard ride day. We have to cover a lot of territory. We met Lee about 4:30 pm at the hotel in Wilkes-Barre.  His new bike is beautiful!!  It rained the whole way to Carlisle, PA – about 480 miles.  We stopped at 7:30 pm, totally exhausted.  We were also caught in traffic for two miles because of a 18-wheeler whose load was thrown through trees, breaking branches off.  The truck was upright, but the cab was crushed in, so we knew it had flipped. 

SEPTEMBER 16, MONDAY
Left Carlisle about 9:15 am.  Absolutely gorgeous day. Cool, sunny, no rain.  Made it to Front Royal, where we had lunch at Taco Bell about noon.  Got on Skyline Drive and stopped everywhere for photos.  It was beautiful.  Got photos of the huge orange sun as it was setting.  Tried hard to get photos of it as it went below the mountains, but could never get passed the trees until it was already down.  Dawn counted 31 deer.  We saw a small bear and several ground hogs on the side of the road. Went through the only tunnel on Skyline Drive.  Stopped at the Buena Vista marker on the Parkway for evening photos.  Stayed at the Buena Vista motel. Fantastic homemade cooking by feisty Felicia at her restaurant next door.  Johnny and Sue miss each other so much that she has decided to fly in on Tuesday to join us for the rest of the ride.  Johnny is ecstatic.  And so are we!  We will no longer have to listen to him constantly saying, "I miss my Sue Pooh."

SEPTEMBER 17, TUESDAY
Up at 6:30 am.  It's foggy, but looks like it's clearing up. Breakfast by Felicia was incredible. HUGE pancakes.  As witnessed in the photo, Lance had a "small" stack of two, which we ALL ate part of and still didn't finish.  Felicia chastised us for not being able to eat her small stack. The fog cleared when we got out of the valley and onto the Parkway.  We took morning photos at the Buena Vista marker, where we took the photos last night. We stopped at Otter Lake, where we saw the black and blue butterflies two years ago.  Low water, so wasn't flowing over the bridge this time. Johnny and Lee left us at 10:15 am to get Sue at Tri-Cities airport.  She gets in at 3:40 pm.  At noon, we stopped at Otter Peak Lodge at the 85-mile marker, which has rooms for $89/night.  We might come back here to stay some day.  The lake is very nice.  Lance took photos of a deer that walked right by him.  About 2:30 pm, we stopped for lunch at Mabry Mills, where their specialty is BBQ pork between corncakes, which Lance had.  Looked like more of Felicia's pancakes!  Very good interesting flavor.  Not many animals to see today.  The Parkway is closed at Elk Mountain Overlook, where it detoured. We got into Blowing Rock about 7:00 pm. Johnny, Sue, and Lee met us there. Lance tried again to photograph the beautiful sunset, but it was just too foggy.  Had dinner at a local restaurant and went to bed about 10:00 pm. The most popular saying of the day comes from Sue and Johnny.  "I love you, baby."  Over and over and over…….

SEPTEMBER 18, WEDNESDAY
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO LANCE AND SANDRA!!!  Clouds are low.  We headed out about 9:00 am. Lee left us about 10:15 am to pick up Michaela from the Knoxville airport.  Went to Grandfather Mountain, where we had breakfast.  Beautiful view.  There are habitats with bear, deer, eagles, etc.  Went to Linville Falls.  Hiked one LONG mile uphill to see the falls.  Stopped at Crabtree Meadows for lunch.  We put on rain gear and hit rain off and on.  The clouds coming into the mountains were spectacular. Made it to Bryson City, where George (Bob's GPS) found us a pharmacy.  We also picked up refreshments since we will be staying in a dry city.  Rode 25 miles to Fontana Village in the dark, arriving at 8:30 pm.  The restaurant stayed open for us, thank goodness, because it's not close to anything else.  Cool place with cottages and all kinds of recreational activities.  We stayed in a fabulous large room at the inn.  It has a heart-shaped hot tub, fireplace and the pool is right outside our door.  What a great room for $100/night.  Couldn't be more perfect for our 3^rd anniversary.  Lee and Michaela finally joined us.  We all sat around the pool, having drinks.  Then Lance and Sandra left the group for their heart-shaped hot jacuzzi.

SEPTEMBER 19, THURSDAY
Slept until 8:30 am!! Washed clothes.  Left about noon for Deal's Gap.  Bought lots of Dragon memorabilia.  Lance bought a prism dragon to place on his bike.  His bike now has a name.  THE DRAGON.  Before going down the Tail, we went across Cherohala Skyway.  Warm and dry day for a change!  We worked our way over and came down the Dragon.  We rode down 318 curves in 11 miles, with straight drop-offs. We finished in time to watch the sun set on Fontana Dam, taking photos on our bikes with the lake in the background. It reminded us of our wedding photo in front of Lake Mead at Hoover Dam.  Back at the hotel, Lance picked up sandwiches from the restaurant and we ate on the patio while visiting with Dawn, Sue, Johnny, Lee and Michaela. Dawn went to bed.  About 10:30 pm, the rest of us got on our bikes and rode to Fontana Dam, which was beautifully lit.  Johnny and Sue walked out across the dam.  Lee and Michaela followed.  Lance took awesome photos of the full moon.  Lee and Michaela returned and left to go back to the hotel. Johnny and Sue FINALLY came back and announced they are getting married.  After jumping up and down, and taking more photos, we finally came back to our heart-shaped jacuzzi.  September is a very good month for love!!

SEPTEMBER 20, FRIDAY
Looks like we'll hit rain today.  Lee took Michaela to the Knoxville airport, so she could get home to her daughter.  Sandra didn't feel well, but did feel a little better after getting sick.  Late in the day, it rained very hard.  We finally stopped in Pulaski, TN at 7:30 pm.  It was dark and raining too hard.  Thank goodness for cell phones.  Lee was able to call and catch up with us.  Sandra went to bed.  Everyone else went to dinner.  We seem to be taking rain gear off and on the whole trip.  It sure is difficult when you're putting it on over leathers. And some of us are still using our Can-Am sweatshirts.

SEPTEMBER 21, SATURDAY
Up at 5:30 am  Sandra is feeling much better.  Looks like no rain today!  YIPPEEE!!  We left at 8:35 am.  We said goodbye to Bob and Dawn at the 370-mile marker, where we got on the Natchez Trace.  We saw the Indian Mounds, had lunch in Tupelo at Chick Fil A.  It rained a bit, but we were so tired of rain gear, we just dealt with it. We stopped at the Sunken Trace at mile marker 43, about 5:30 pm.  Amazing to know that it was so deep because of our ancestors who blazed trails across our country.  We rode to Natchez, MS and checked into the Ramada at the bridge.  Across the bridge is Louisiana.  Lee knows Natchez, so he took us to eat dinner at a restaurant at Under The Bridge.  We stopped at a gazebo monument to take photos.  Under The Bridge is a cool area of town, with restaurants and pubs.  Had a great dinner!

SEPTEMBER 22, SUNDAY
4:00 am, Lance woke up with violent diarrhea and vomiting.  With the closest car rental 120 miles away, we decided it was best to leave The Dragon with us.  Everyone else left at 10:00 am for the 7-hour ride back to Houston, and we went to the hospital in a cab.  Lance has tourista.  An IV is started.  Finally, the symptoms subside and the medication puts him to sleep.  We got back to the room about 1:00 pm.  Lance went to bed and Sandra got prescriptions filled.  Back at the hotel, Sandra walked to the pool and was surprised at how beautiful the scenery was.  We were up on a hill, overlooking the Mississippi River and the bridge to Louisiana.  Lance finally woke up about 7:00 pm.  Annette left us some chicken bouillon cubes, so Sandra made chicken soup in the coffee maker, and got crackers from the restaurant.  Annette and Carlton were our pharmacy during the whole trip.  Just about anything we needed, they had.  The hotel restaurant closed at 2:00 pm on Sundays, so Sandra ordered a pizza.  Lance ate a few pieces of the crust, took one lomotil and went back to sleep for the rest of the night. 

SEPTEMBER 23, MONDAY
We got up at 7:00 am. Lance is a little weak, but fine, so we prepared to leave and headed out about 8:45 am.  We stopped at the Cajun restaurant inside the Texaco station in Leesville for lunch.  No rain. It was warm, but not nearly as hot as it was two years ago.  We arrived home about 4:00 pm.  What a SUPER anniversary ride!  It was made even more special because we were with some GREAT friends.  Bob and Dawn Sedlack from St. Louis.  From Houston, we had Annette and Carlton Browning, Lee Burson, Michaela Garrett, Johnny Smith and his soon to be wife, Sue Haley. THANK YOU to you all!! 

CAN-AM, BlueRidge Pkwy Photo Album

www.dealsgap.com/

www.tailofthedragon.com

www.fontanavillage.com

NOTE: If you would like a copy of a photo in the album in high resolution just send me an e-mail and I will forward the original to you.
The photos in the album have been shrunk and compressed

Updated By
Lance and Sandra
Aug 16, 2009

E-Mail Lance and Sandra at web@lancesandra.com