Fancy Gap, VA
One of our favorite places to travel to, explore and ride motorcycles on is the Blue Ridge Parkway. The entire 469 miles of this famous road, built back during the great depression as a Public Works Program harbors some of the most scenic views you will find in The South East part of the USA. Over the last several years I have traveled the majority of the Parkway but still have approximately 150 miles left to see. Our plan someday is to ride the entire BRP on our motorcycles, staying at lodges, cabins and hotels along the way.
During This trip we did rides in segments concentrating on the middle and lower sections of Virginia along with the Northern most part of North Carolina. We stayed in the coach at campgrounds and based ourselves in two places, Fancy Gap, VA and Big Island ( Natural Bridge ) VA. Because I do not have the endurance and stamina to do long rides we split our trips into morning and late afternoon jaunts, spending the noon time snoozing back at the coach.
At Fancy Gap we headed out early in the morning and rode directly South into North Carolina. Our destination was Doughton Park for lunch but we stopped at nearly all the overlooks, visited the Brinegar cabin and also stopped for coffee. We always pack a lunch and a couple thermos of coffee to enjoy along the way. Our first overlook gave us a great view of the morning fog that was just starting to lift out of the valleys. It was a gorgeous site to see and its those moments of peace and tranquility that make these rides so enjoyable. We found a real nice park / picnic area where we were the only souls there. We sat, enjoyed a morning coffee and snack and rested for the next ride further up the mountain.
We no longer pulled onto the parkway again and got two miles down the road when I radioed Ally and told her to slow down and back off we had a turkey crossing the road. A large Tom came out of one ditch and scooted across the road. A couple miles further I came out of a turn and there was the largest parade of turkeys I have seen since my high school band days. 8 or so turkeys crossed the road in front of us diddy bopping along and into the ditch. It was a site to see and Ally got a huge kick out of it since they do not have wild turkeys in Australia. A few more miles and as I came out of a turn I looked up to see a Deer bounce out of the ditch and onto the shoulder. As I radioed Ally to stop the deer turned and looked at me and turned on its hind legs and darted back into the brush. We finally arrived at Doughton park where we enjoyed a nice lunch in a picnic area that was surrounded by woods. Our ride back was uneventful. All in all we did just over 80- miles that morning.
That evening, because it was late we did a section of the parkway heading North out of Fancy Gap. That ride took us up to Groundhog Mountain where we enjoyed wandering around the property surrounding the Puckett cabin. You can read about this remarkable woman in one of the pictures below. All in all we had a great time and our morning ride was one of the best I have ever had on a bike.
Here are the pictures from this trip. Enjoy !!
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| The Morning fog begins to lift off the valley below | A very secluded and private picnic area where we had our morning coffee |
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| Another view of the picnic area | Gentle sloping turns make the BRP fun and relaxing to ride a motorcycle on |
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| A Lone biker heads through an S turn, enjoying a morning ride | Views such as these are everywhere on the Parkway |
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| Stone masons employed back in the depression built these walls. You see these all over on the BRP | The Brinegar Cabin where the husband and wife lived from the late 1800's till 1935 when the cabin was purchased by the government |
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| A shot of the Brinegar cabin from their back yard | Imagine living your adult life here. No running water, no electricity and a garden and the land to live off of |
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| The Brinegars water source and refridgerator | The sign explains just how rough living was back then |
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| The Appalachian Mountains is rich with history and customs. This sign explains one of the customs enjoyed back then | I stood on a rock cliff over looking the BRP and shot a picture of the road below. |
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| Another wooded and secluded site where we ate our lunch | Mojo & Maggie waiting patiently for the next ride as we wandered around looking and taking pictures. |
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| This is the Puckett cabin located just South of Groundhog Mountain which is where they farmed | This sign explains what a remarkable woman Orelena Puckett was |
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| The Puckett Cabin. I was surprised to see the difference between the stone work on the chimney of this cabin versus the one on the Brinegar cabin | The cabin shows the simple life that people lived back then not to mention how hard life could be without modern conveniences |
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| Amazing stone work for its time | The Puckett tool shed |
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| Fencing was very important to these people back then. Used to keep critters out of the gardens and to keep their livestock in | There were several examples of fence used back then at this location. Each fence had a sign that explained its type and its pro's and con's. |
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| Hand Hewn beams line the exterior of this building | The walls of the Puckett cabin |
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| Mojo and Maggie take a break while we explore Ground Hog Mountain | One of the many overlooks and vistas located throughout the Parkway |
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| Our Morning Route | Our Afternoon Route |