Day 49 - This is Not My First El Rodeo

From – Reston (on the outskirts of Washington DC)
To – Roanoke (Virginia)
Via – Front Royal (VA)
Miles Driven – 260 ish
Highway Miles – 50
Winding, Stomach Churning, Safety Barrier Free Mountain Roads - 210

Today's Photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/32017704@N03/sets/72157611572028756/

Today was all about getting south as we need to be in Asheville, North Carolina (500 miles from Washington) by Christmas Eve but that doesn’t have to be a hardship when the trusty Scenic Drives of America book suggests that the roads running parallel to the more obvious highway route are two of the most spectacular drives that this apple pie loving country has to offer…and you know we can’t resist a scenic drive. So after 50 regular and unspectacular westbound highway miles we got to Front Royal which signified the northern tip of Shanandoah National Park and the beginning of the 105 mile Skyline Drive. At the park’s toll gate we encountered the world’s friendliest and beardiest park ranger who informed us that the first 25 miles of the drive was shut due to icy roads and fallen trees (this is real nature people). Still, the next 80 miles were all open and completely spectacular. Check out the photos for better visual descriptions than I could ever put on paper but generally we were treated to a different vista after every conquered ascent. The rolling, forest covered hills with the occasional lake or rock face thrown in were a constant backdrop but the most incredible sights had legs. For better or worse, the white-tailed dear were fearless and totally unfazed by passing motorists. One looked like it was about to get in our car as we stopped to take a photo or twelve whilst another put on what looked like a dear rendition of the can-can for us. We also managed to spy a bobcat but it made too quick an escape for us to capture on camera. The strangest wildlife we saw were two dogs running towards us in the road with bells and radio receivers round their necks. Exactly what their purpose was (other than being imminent bumper testers) I have no idea so if anyone knows then feel free to let us know.

The Skyline Drive criss-crosses the Appellation Trail which, in case you haven’t heard of it, is a 2000+ mile hike (yes, that’s over two thousand miles) from Georgia to Maine. I have become mildly obsessed with this incredible hike – not necessarily to the point where I want to do it (although never say never) but I am totally in awe of anyone who has and I can’t quite get my head around the logistics of how you would go about doing something like that. I later read all about it on their web-site and apparently it takes 6 months to complete and the success rate is just 20% with about 2500 people attempting it each year. My favourite stat is that 10% of people drop out when they hit the first town just 20 miles into the walk! Still, I took this as an opportunity to walk a 1.2 mile stretch of the trail with Molly (Kate is still sounding like a 60-a-day smoker so she drove) which means that I have now completed 0.06% of the trail. Apparently that isn’t enough to earn a certificate, badge or t-shirt.

The link between the Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway is seamless which was a bit of a bugger as we were hoping for a food stop. Still, the views continued to be nice enough for us not to care. Having said that, when Kate offered me a bit of her cereal bar that she had been hoarding, I nearly bit her hand off and then bit her head off. So the Blue Ridge Parkway is over 450 miles of similar terrain to the Skyline Drive, the only difference being that the southern drawl is even more pronounced down here. On that note, it is amazing how quickly the accent has changed. It seems like such a short distance between ordering kwarffee (that’s supposed to be a Yankee ordering coffee) to hearing “have a nice day, y’all”. I digress. Again, you’ll have to check the pictures to get a hint of the beauty of this place but by 4pm the sun was setting and we had managed another 110 miles of bendy roads before hitting both Roanoke and our driving limit.

Having bigged up the virtues of the Days Inn, I was pleased to see that Roanoke (a pretty town with an almost Dickensian town square) had one on the outskirts of its town centre so I could introduce Kate to their bargain brand of comfort. My worry was, however, that I had built it up into something that simply wasn’t attainable. There was no need to worry though as unfortunately this particular Days Inn didn’t even try. It was nasty. I’m not sure if we were supposed to pay extra to get a room without brown water but, given my previous rant about price bands, I should have found somewhere asking more than $55 per night.

The plan was to hit the road at dawn tomorrow so dinner was to be a quick affair. After a short drive back out of town we spied El Rodeo (not surprisingly a Mexican restaurant) which Kate accurately pointed out looked perfect for a Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares episode. I have an unusually strong and negative opinion about the usual Mexican pap served in restaurants as the menu is basically the same dish served seven different ways with the only difference being whether the taco is soft or hard. I’m sure that there is fine Mexican food (it’s one of the most ancient civilizations on earth – they must have figured out some decent nosh by now) but I haven’t found it yet. So, unsurprisingly, the food at El Rodeo was pretty lousy (although I could have drunk the salsa by the pint…with vodka ideally) but what made the meal memorable was our waiter. He was super-chatty which I am usually a big fan of but this guy was basically a pain in the ass and talked total drivel throughout. On the plus side, he asked me for ID when I ordered a beer which means he thought there’s a possibility I’m not yet 21. Awesome.

260 more miles to Asheville tomorrow which will be our camp for Christmas. In fact, we’re there for six nights and there’s a kitchen so expect some self-congratulatory food reports in the coming blogs…