Blue Ridge Parkway

Well the last couple of days have been quite busy. Sunday was spent out at Hampton, visiting Erin. We enjoyed some great Mexican food for lunch before going on a tour of the Hampton Roads area. Joe, Erin's husband, is an Electrical Engineer who is works for a ship building company with Navy contracts, so he was able to show me a couple of ships being built or overhauled. This included both an air craft carrier being built, and one being overhauled. They are massive beasts. We also checked out a number of the surrounding suburbs, with a guided tour and all. This was all in the comfort of a Shelby Mustang, a treat for the rev head in me.

I got back to Emporia around 7 and enjoyed a turkey and cheese pita bread. Yesterday, Monday, was a day I had to get from Emporia to Raleigh airport, where I had a hotel booked for my early (6:40am who booked that???) flight. I decided to go to North Carolina via Charlottesville. Once in Charlottesville, I was hoping to find a short bush walk or similar to get a scenic photo or two. I found the visitor information center, who provided me with a map. Upon looking on the map, a curious blue line stood out. The Blue Ridge Park way. This road runs north to south along a ridge line. I believe it was built by WW2 vets to provide employment. It was also supposed to be a great road to drive (even briefly featured on Top Gear this year). Well that was the rest of my day covered. I got into my car and headed strait west. As soon as I turned onto this road, I wished I hadn't of spent so much time in Charlottesville or stopped at all. The road was amazing, sweeping turns, sharp turns with camber for maximum grip. If highway 101 and 1 are half as enjoyable from a driving perspective I will be a very happy Michael. Then there was the scenery; it's autumn here, which means the leaves are starting to turn. I was driving through a tunnel of reds, yellows, oranges, green and even purple. I am sure the photos I took will not do it justice. Then, there were the vistas. The ridge over looks the Shanandoa valley, and the park way has many lookouts. I wish I had more time so I could have taken in more of them. It was incredible.

Reluctantly I left the park way just north of Lynchburg, and began my sprint to the Airport. I went down the 29 to Danville, then the 86 to Harrisburg, arriving at the airport around 7pm. I certainly covered some miles, around 500 I would estimate. This morning was an early start. I missed my 5am airport shuttle but luckily a very kind lady from New York and her son offeded me a lift. My flight from Raleigh to Cincinatti went without issue. I am now sitting on a flight from Cincinatti to Seattle. I have another 3.5 hours to go. I am sure the time will just fly.