Skyline Drive

The Skyline Drive is one of the most popular rides in the eastern states. It travels through the Shenandoah National Park and provides a get-away from the hustle and bustle of nearby areas and states.r />
The forecast for today was cloudy with some showers so we planned for an alternative if the weather situation on the Skyline Drive was not good.

From Frederick, MD, the shortest route to the Skyline is down US 340. It's mostly 4-lane with some limited access portions. For a holiday week-end, traffic was not bad.

When we arrived at the entrance to Skyline Drive around noon, it looked like the weather was clearing so we decided to continue on. The Skyline is a toll road ($10 for motorcycles) with a 35mph speed limit. Be sure to watch your speed as Federal traffic fines can be pretty hefty. With this in mind, plan on spending several hours to traverse it's 105 miles.

As we started our trek on the Skyline Drive we had relatively clear weather and traffic was light (probably because of the weather forecast). We had an opportunity to stop at a couple of scenic overlooks and enjoy the vistas. But as day wore on the weather situation detiorated. We continued on as we encountered poor visibility conditions along with some fog. Intermittant clear weather gave us some better riding conditions along the way.

For lunch, we stopped at Skyland. The dining area has huge windows which, in good weather, I'm sure provides a spectacular view. Our meal was delicious and most of the menu was prepared with produce and other groceries from local sources.

By the time we left Skyland, it was 2pm and we had only covered about 30 miles on the Skyline. The weather did not improve so we had no opportunity to enjoy the overlooks. As we continued down the road I felt diappointment that the weather dampened our riding experience but was thankful that we decided to traverse the entire route. We finally got to the final exit at around 5pm. In any case, I would do it all over again even with the obstacles encountered.


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Heading South

We are off on a multi-day motorcycle ride to Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Western Maryland with the plan to ride the Skyline Drive, Blue Ridge Parkway, 'The Dragon' at Deal's Gap, and the Cherohala Skyway.

Today was a short ride from home with some stops along the way. The first stop was Battlefield Harley-Davidson outside of Gettysburg, PA. Even though it was a Sunday during Labor Day weekend the store was crowded with bikers. Picked up a T-shirt and pair of suspenders.

Our second stop was the Hofbrauhaus Pub and Eatery in Abbottstown, PA for lunch. We've been there on one other occasion and love their Bavarian style German cuisine. Their hot or cold potato salad and red cabbage is delicious.

From Abbottstown we left on our last leg to our destination, Frederick, MD. The primary route we took to get there was PA/MD 194. You can't go wrong with this road. It's scenic, the road is well maintained and traffic is light to moderate. 194 parallels US 15 from Dillsburg, PA to Frederick, MD and is a nice alternative to 15, particularly if you have some time to spare and enjoy 2-lane blacktop as opposed to a 4-lane highway.


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