Smoky Mountain Rider

I’m doing the best I can hopped up on the generic version of “hillbilly heroin”. The new map is ready to go. I’ve got the brand new Blue Ridge Parkway Series of maps which give full coverage to the entire length of the Blue Ridge Parkway ready to launch. I just can’t focus well enough [...]

711.5 miles. New one day record for a mapping expedition. A good chunk of that was on the Interstate though, so it doesn’t really count. Still, that’s a pretty good haul for the shorter days of the fall season when I typically average less than 500 miles per day evaluating two lane mountain back roads [...]

As if to emphasize the clock is ticking on my efforts to complete the last Blue Ridge Parkway series motorcycle map, the first snow of the season has blanketed the Blue Ridge. It’s not all that unusual, we were due for a good cold snap. Here today, gone tomorrow. Temperatures will soon be back in [...]

I’ve just finished the latest map, The Roads of Roanoke and Beyond. It’s the second of the three map Blue Ridge Parkway – Virginia Series and catalogs 90 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway as well as more than 2 dozen great roads in the surrounding area. There are also more than 20 good “connector [...]

Rain. Sun. Rain. Rain. Sun. Rain.The weather has been wetter than usual lately so you grab your fun rides when you can. After playing hooky on Thursday, I’ve had to make up for the lost time in the office and the rainy days make that much more tolerable. When the weather broke on Sunday and [...]

It was a good day to play hooky and who wouldn’t have done the same given the opportunity. When a college buddy called to let me know he was in the area and had brought his motorcycle along with him, I needed little more to tempt me into getting out of the office for a [...]

Thanks to Joe from Mountaintop Printer Repairs, the laser map printer is back on line. Quality had been deteriorating and I finally reached a point where professional attention was needed. The usual maintenance fixes were not doing the trick. We’re back on line and 90% fixed, quality is back to great and I can resume [...]

I‘m back from my most recent trip mapping Virginia. It was one heck of an expedition averaging more than 500 miles per day on my motorcycle, mostly on two lane back roads. Areas I thought would be really good turned out to have little appeal. The area I thought would largely be a waste of [...]