This is the beginning of the trip, started from blue ridge parkway entrance in Afton. Running some familiar routes I use to ride. This time, I have a drone, my xt4, and a lot more experience.

First day camping, I went to a well known motorcycle camp ground. It was pouring rain when I left Gaithersburg, and ironically I met some people that I saw on the road at the end of the day. Second day, I got to a location that is blocked off because the road washed out. I road pass the blockade and camped out way deep in the forest. There was no one there… but I heard wolves howling all night. I guess you can say I was in good company. lol.

First day setting up camp brought back a ton of memories of the road. It was both a melancholy moment as it is also a moment of excitement. I yearn for the adventure. I need to get back on the road again.

If you ever ride the parkway, you know that the later half closer to North Carolina is where all the best scenery are… well comparatively to the beginning of the parkway. Make no mistake, the 400+ miles of Blue Ridge Parkway is and still is one of the greatest motoring road I have ever ridden, and I have ridden a lot of the Americas.

Got to another very nice camp ground with amazing shower facilities. This is another motorcycle camp ground with cabin options. They also have a restaurant on site. Unfortunately, the food is mediocre at best. People are nice and the road even nice, but they can not cook with their life.

made it to Georgia, hanging out with Daniel Bullock, whom I rode in Alaska with in 2018.

When I left Atlanta, I was schedule to stop for a few days with a motorcycle friend in New Orleans. Unfortunately, they contracted COVID, so I went to the next campsite available. I decided to head straight to Houston to see my cousin. The one cousin I was suppose to stay with also got COVID… so I met up with the one cousin that did not have covid and went on my way. The one thing consistent on this trip was that it almost rained every single day.

Arrived in Alpine Texas, just directly above Big Bend National Park. It was a quaint little town. I got a free stay at the motorcycle hotel in town that offers one free night for bunk a biker. On the way here, I blast through a town accidentally. The cops pulled me over, doing 55 in a 35, cause the speed limit changes rapidly as it comes into town. I took my helmet off, hands on the handlebar, answer the questions, apologized. He sent me on the way with a warning. Lucky break.

I got to Big Bend national park, it was cooler than I expected, elevation was pretty high, it was dry and it was not miserably hot. In fact, at night, it was rather cool. Very much desert like feeling. After setting up camp at the highest elevation campsite, these campsites are nice, I took off to do some off road riding. I got on the “old ore road”. I did not look very closely at the length of the trail, and there are 4wd warning signs all over, but I ain’t no bitch so I took it. It started okay, I figure I’ll be out in 2 hours. 12 miles in… the road was rough. Washouts, sand, ditches, rocks, the entire way. There was some very sketchy moments. I was exhausted… have not drop the bike yet. I looked down at my phone, there was no service. Thank goodness I had the maps.me. app. I look at the trail and found out I had another 15 miles. Even know I know where I came from and I can turn around, but turning around would be indictive of failure. lol. So I continue on.

Another 7 miles, by now I’ve dropped the bike 5 times and I’m exhausted. The road did not get harder, but I am just spent. It is over 3 hours and 30 mins. I get to a dead end, and I can not find the road exiting out of the canyon. The GPS keeps telling me to turn around, and ride 20 miles back the way I came, but prior to that it told me that there was an exit 8 miles ahead. I started to panic… water is running out, it looks like it might start to rain. Which means it’ll be a muddy mess and worse in the sand. I again dropped the bike twice more in the same turning around. So I took a deep breath and got the bike up and took a 5 minute break. I found a jug handle on maps.me after zooming in the map 1000%. There is no way anyone would know that is how the road went, cause it look like you are riding into the drainage ditch. But alas when I rode on it for 50 yard, sure enough I saw the path, and the GPS corrected itself. Thank god. I made it out alive.

I made it back to camp, good thing the camp has free spring water, and I was able to wash myself a little and drink plenty of fluids. I then took off to do a sunset hike, and relax for a day. Two days later I left Big Bend National Park, and decided to ride home.