Someone once said, "Necessity is the Mother of Invention." Well, for a motorcycle rider that should be, "Weather is the mother of all Route Planning. Today we awoke to rain and fog. We had to wait for a short while till the rain let up so we could pack the trailer and wipe off the seats on the bike. Our plan was to continue down the Blue Ridge Parkway but after thinking about the weather and our schedule, I decided to take Interstate 81 south, because the mountains had been covered in fog yesterday. If we were going to be stuck with the same type of weather, what was the use? I would take I-81 to I-77, which crosses the BRP, and if the weather got better, I would get back on the Parkway.

On I-81 we made good time, even in the rain. The trucks were a minor nuisance but not unbearable. With a speed limit of 65 mph on a straight road, I was traveling about 50% faster than yesterday in a more direct line. Still, I had come a long way to ride the BRP and if I could do it I would. About two hours into the ride, which was through lush green forests down in a valley, I-77 turned towards the Parkway. Before we got there, an electronic sign over the freeway warned us that there was "Thick Fog Ahead, Drive with Caution." Another sign saying the same thing appeared just before the exit to the Parkway. That made the decision for me. We continued on and now it was just commute and make up time.

On the one hand, I feel bad about not being able to ride the entire Parkway. On the other hand, I've been able to ride over 6000 miles with relatively good weather. I guess you need to keep it all in perspective. I did get to ride some of the Parkway and that just wetted my appetite. Besides, now I have a reason to come back.

The rain and fog continued off and on most of the rest of the day. Because of this I have no pictures, not one. It's hard to take pictures when you're being rained on and there are trucks fore and aft. So imagine a rich, lush, green forested landscape going past at very high speed.

We left Virginia and North Carolina behind and were now on I-85 south heading for Greenville. At Spartanburg, I gave it up. My back hurt, my hips hurt, and I was tired of looking through a rain covered face shield. When you get tired and start to hurt, you start to make mistakes. That's not good in good weather; in rain and fog it's stupid. We pulled over and got a room at a Holiday Inn for the night.

Now the really enjoyable end of this day was after an hour's nap (old people take naps) we went over to a local restaurant called Southern Barbeque. They had sweet tea, hush puppies, and banana pudding that took me back to my childhood. This was the perfect ending to a less than perfect day.