Day 10 / Mile 340 to 382

I cannot imagine a better way to experience the Blue Ridge Parkway than by a touring bicycle. An unloaded bicycle would be the next best thing but you tend to go faster without the heavy loads. Today's average speed for the 40 miles was 7.5 miles an hour. That's a little deceiving because most of the day was spent at just over 3 miles an hour. At that speed you notice a lot of things around you. You notice the smells and all the sounds around you. You get to see the fog rolling over the gaps and feel the coolness when you ride through. I saw a couple of turkey today a deer and a shrew sitting at the edge of the road scratching his ear just like a dog. I bet no one else going down the parkway today can say that! It was neat to think about the elevation we were riding at today. Everything east of the Mississippi was lower than where we were riding. Toward the end of our ride today was where we got to let the bikes just roll. Coming into Asheville was about 10 mi of thrilling downhill. Pretty constant 25 to 35 mph range going down.   Charlie's friend David Lee met us today at milepost 382. He brought us some Mexican food that was fantastic. After we ate lunch, we decided Asheville would be a good place to stay tonight. So we loaded our bikes in the back of David's truck and he took us to the nearest hotel. We will ride back to where we left the parkway tomorrow and continue our ride. 

Pics for today:

Coming up to Mount Mitchell

one of the many tunnels today