393 miles, 12 hours

When I went to bed, I was just wrapped up in my cotton bag liner. I woke up in the night cold, so I zipped my sleeping bag up. The rest of the night was a struggle between being too cold and being too moist.

It turns out that while it didn't rain, there was a heavy fog over the part of Kentucky that I was in. So everything was covered in dew and was moist. Obviously, it was a much cooler morning than I'd been having. I put on my electric vest and a fleece liner, but didn't put on my waterproof/windproof jacket liner. I figured the electrics would keep me warm enough, since the temperature was probably in the 50s.

The goal for the day was to get to my destination, but to find as many interesting twisty roads as possible. I succeeded in that- I would look for interesting side roads on the GPS and take them, especially if they were somewhat in the direction of my final destination.

I found quite a few interesting country highways, plus back roads and unpaved roads. One of the "highways" was this absolutely insane one-lane paved road that weaved through the hills. What a blast. I wasn't looking for gravel, but I didn't have issues going on it either. By the time the day was over I probably ran 60 miles of gravel.

Some of the highlights had to be Hwy28 near Buckhorn Lake, Highways 699 and 588, as well as the insanely curvy Hwy822 in Virginia.

Many of the back roads took me past coal mines. There were very few occasions that I could actually see the coal mines, but the evidence was clear: miles of conveyor belts near the road, trucks and rail cars being filled with coal, and so on. It isn't surprising that the land contains coal- it is a beautiful shale with greenery (trees and such) covering most of it.

I stopped in Johnson, TN and got an authentic barbecue sandwich. It was at what must be the nicest place in town. I was there a few minutes before 4pm and was literally the only customer. I was underdressed, too, but they didn't complain. It was nice to have a break from the bike.

I ended the day at the High Country Motorcycle Campground, which is just barely off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Because it is set back from the highway by a half-dozen miles, they don't get much company. That's unfortunate as far as business is concerned, but nice for me- the camp is quiet and there is zero traffic that goes past on the road. There is one other group of riders here- ADV types that aren't actually on ADV! It's a group of three people, riding an F800, an 1150GS, and a Tiger.

The campground is really nice. There is plenty of space for privacy, and after it got dark things were spectacular. I can see more stars than I've seen since we were at Coco's Corner in Baja, and the insects give the whole area a loud and relaxing hum.

Today is Friday, and I don't want to hit Deals Gap on the weekend. So I've shuffled my route around so that I can hit it on Monday. That way I can avoid the majority of the traffic and law enforcement that tends to clog that area up.

Hey, it's 8/8/08 today, isn't it?