The Blue Ridge Diary (Part 1). Day 5.

Tuesday, May 5^th, 7.50AM

@ the Fox Hunter’s Paradise Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway, just west of Mt Airy, NC

~60’s, warm and hazy, with clear skies

368mi yesterday/ 1146mi since start

I had hung my hammock in the woods near the overlook last night. It was not my intended destination, and there had been some debacle, but the mountains were inspiring and called me to them.

I awoke to an older fellow enjoying a morning walk with his aged hound Zoey. He observed that given my cavalier style, western destinations, and horns mounted on the bike, that if I had had a proper hat, I’d be doing the Shane of Western Fiction proud. I’ll take the compliment.

What a relief it had been to leave the flat coastal lands behind and reenter the rolling green hills of Appalachia. Every rise, dip, and turn reminded me of home.

Home.

I miss my lady, daughter, dog and home. I’m lost and reminiscent in thoughts of that first summer after the house at Vista Villa had been “finished,” when we were all still under one roof, in the house we had built together, and every sunset memory of our family is framed in perfect Kodachrome.