1/13/2014: Made it 17.6 miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway, from the Mile Post 276.4 to Mile Post 294. That put me at the door step of the Moses Cone Manor House, located in the similarly-named park just outside of the downtown area of Blowing Rock, NC. Fortunately there is a craft shop run by the Southern Highland Craft Guild located here. How fortunate, indeed!
I feel a connection with this place, both because of the celebration and preservation of Mountain arts and crafts, and also because the builder and namesake of this Manor made his fortune in Greensboro, and left a legacy of a fine hospital system (where I once worked as a Trainer with the fledgling Clinical Informatics group...early-early days of the digital record.) Way to go, Moses Cone!
1/14/2014: Today's ride was 18 miles, taking me from Mile Post 294 to Mile Post 305.2, where I left the BRP, taking 221 to Linville, home of one of the oldest and best known Highland Games venues in the USA.
Just before reaching my exit, I traveled over the Linn Cove Viaduct...an engineering marvel that wraps the Parkway around Grandfather Mountain. Here's a bit more about it from the website www.blueridgeparkway.org, where you will find lots of great information.
I know this ride is only happening in the dimension of my imagination (and on Google Maps), but this is part of this ride that we have done in real life...albeit in a car not, on a bike. Here are some photos from a real-life trip we took in November 2011, including a shot we took looking back at the Viaduct; a snap of Mr. T posing at the parking lot of (nearby) Linville Falls; and then a pic of the Falls themselves.
Did I mention Grandfather Mountain?
Oh yeah. My elevation has gone from 1006 ft in High Point to 3665 ft in Linville. Thank heavens I'm on a stationary bike! I could NEVER do this for real. As I told Missy M the other day, I'm on a pretend ride, so I can pretend that the USA is as flat as a pancake, from sea to shining sea.
1/15/2014: I left Linville behind and pedaled 15.1 miles in 1 hour, 20 minutes. That means I've added 50.7 more miles to my total, bringing it to 161.2 miles. That also means that I am now in Carter County, Tennessee, less than 13 miles from Roan Mountain. Goody, another mountain!
Ah well...that also means I've earned another Day of Rest. And what a beautiful spot for that to happen, too!
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* Footnote about my ride: To bring you up-to-date, in case you are just joining me...
My plan to get/keep in shape for gardening this year is to ride my stationary bike. Because I always need a reason to do something...or at least to continue doing something, I have decided on a program based on a distance of 2600 miles...which is the distance from our house to Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, as Google-mapped using the (beta) Bike function. I started 1/3/2014...and am continuing the saga today.
BTW, I am tagging all the posts about my ride "Where in the USA is Patricia" on my blog, and #WhereintheUSAisPatricia on Twitter. While I won't be blogging about my ride on a daily basis, you can check my Twitter Feed over there in the right column for daily updates on my ride and location. Happy pedaling! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
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