2016 ElMoto 4Corners - Asheville, NC to Blacksburg, VA
Riding on the Blue Ridge Parkway is always a highlight of my cross country journeys. The fog and rain on this leg didn't detract from the mysterious beauty of the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina and Virginia.
Starting out in Asheville, I headed to the house of someone who listed their charger on Plugshare and made my way to their lovely home in the woods. After winding my way down a dirt road that had some seriously deep washouts, I made it to the house for one more challenge. The housing for the outlet was not designed for my plug, which has the cord going straight down. Fortunately, I'm strong and shoved it in far enough to work.
With the cooler weather than the past few days (riding through Florida and Georgia) I was able to charging using my supercharger, which meant 8kW instead of 6kW, shortening the time I needed to stay and charge.
I had so much time left over that I decided to take a field trip up Mt. Mitchell, the highest point East of the Mississippi to check out the fog. Yup, no view, just fog.
Fog and light rain was a theme throughout the day.
My next stop was at Makoto's Japanese Steakhouse in Boone, NC where I have stopped for the past 3 years on my annual motorcycle rides. I saw my buddy Ronald Dhing who installed the charging stations behind the restaurant for his Tesla and for visiting Teslas.
After that I went to a new charging spot, at the Fancy Gap Cabins where I met Dave and Denise, also motorcycle riders, who are excited about electric vehicles and welcome anyone who wants to charge. They have very new RV hookups, so everything worked perfectly!
Then I changed my plans from going to Floyd, NC (a cute little town where there is a hotel that has charging), and instead I decided to head straight for Blacksburg. I was getting a little saddle sore since I had been riding for 3 days straight and could use a little break.
Made it up to my friend's house and we met up with professor Richard Goff who won the Vetter Fuel Economy Challenge a couple of times on a Zero with aerodynamic fairings. We had a lovely dinner, then my hose, Jerome, and I went to the downtown area of Blacksburg where there was a festival and I ate a piece of pizza that was the size of my head (no joke!) at Benny Marzano's.
Tomorrow I'll ride to Fairfax, VA via the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive! Another great day of riding!
