After a quick breakfast and packing up, we hit the interstate for the final leg of the trip to the beginning of the Parkway. We were not on the road long before we saw this up ahead. We were not sure if it was a fire or not.
As we got closer we realized it was just fog.
While on the road, we came across this piece of machinery that was parked on a bridge over the interstate. They had 3 flags up but we could only make out the American flag.
It was late morning when we pulled off of the interstate to gas up. I saw this interesting sign from a pretty disgruntled fellow.
Up ahead, we noticed a deep cut in the mountains. I realized that it was a cut through the mountains so the interstate could be at the proper grade. Most of the interstates cannot have a grade any higher that 15% when climbing a mountain or hill. To make this one, they really had to cut deep.
Here it is up close.
After several miles, I noticed that Judy was very quiet back behind me. I couldn’t turn around to see what she was doing so I just snapped this so I could see. I guess that she was very tired.
I decided to let her sleep.
We finally made it to our beginning point, Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. This drive is 105 miles long and the top speed limit is 35 miles per hour. I figured that it would take us forever to finish this part but we moved along at a pretty good clip.
Here we are at the visitors center just after entering the park. We look like a couple of bananas but people sure see us on our cycle. People keep coming up to us and saying “I sure can see you guys.” Judy just says, “That’s the point.” This is a shot of our first tunnel that we encountered.
This was a fitting end to a nice day. Our campsite was another story though. We tell about that tomorrow. Good night John Boy!