Day 8: Purple Mountain Majesties

America the Beautiful! Sunny skies greeted me as I crossed the border from Tennessee to VIrginia, a welcome sight after so many wet days. With only a few hours of daylight left I realized making it all the way to Susan was a stretch and decided to travel off the beaten path. I rode about fifty miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway, a peaceful, winding road along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains. With the sun going down and fallen leaves blanketing the ground around me I could see the Shenandoah Valley for miles in either direction, a much better vantage point for viewing the countryside than from the interstate. I'm truly glad I high-tailed it yesterday and gave myself a chance today to joyride. Even with all my luggage strapped on the back, the bike took the tight turns like a champ and provided the necessary braking power to avoid the deer that darted across the road every few miles. No pictures considering how long it takes me to remove my gloves and pull out my phone, so I'll have to keep the visual memories of Virginia to myself. In January, my brother and I will be volunteering on a farm somewhere on the East Coast for a year. Virginia is one of the options, and the thought of taking weekend trips along the Parkway this summer is very enticing. If this is where we end up, I'll take pictures then!