I woke up with the light but heard that the rain was still coming down. So I snoozed, and then laid in my sleeping bag and futzed on the laptop for a couple hours.

I finally got out of the tent at 10am when the rain subsided. It's pretty miserable to pack up a wet tent, but it's even more miserable to put on clothes that were still wet from the day before.

I was finally on the road by 11am. I found some enjoyable twisties, especially once the pavement dried out. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of nowhere and in need of gas. So I adjusted my route to take me east across I-81. That would let me get gas, and also put me back onto the Blue Ridge Parkway. Sort of a win-win deal!

I ran on the BRP north until it ended. Luckily, it ends at the beginning of Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park. While BRP is free, Shenandoah has an entrance fee. That didn't bother me, since it was free using my National Parks Pass. It also meant traffic was MUCH lighter than on the BRP- always a plus when legal passing areas are over 30 miles apart at 35mph.

On the advice of the park ranger, I stayed at the Loft Mountain campground ($15/night). It's a large park- probably 120 pull-through spaces- but there were only about 20 people in the whole place. I got my tent set up, then rode to the end of the campground to shower and wash my clothes. I was in desperate need of clean clothes and a clean body! I put everything in the wash- when I came out of the shower, I just wore my moto overpants, commando, until the clothes were clean.

My "camp neighbor" came over. He was a grandfather, out camping with his grandson. His wife had gone home the day before, and he was headed home the following day. They offered me food, and we ended up spending the next few hours chatting around the campfire. It's always nice to meet someone like that- he was definitely an interesting fellow.

It was raining slightly when I set up the tent, but didn't rain for the rest of the evening. It's so much easier to do things when it isn't raining.