Got out to enjoy a stretch of nice weather up here in the 'Dacks. Lots of other bikes out, mostly cruisers with people definitely not dressed for safety. I was, so I suspect they thought I looked funny in my mesh armor jacket and pants, but hey, I ride my own ride. 161 miles and my butt knows every foot of the way and talked about it from about mile marker 125 all the way home.
Took my time and enjoyed the day. Hit every pull off to look at the views, read every historical marker, made notes to come back to various places to go hiking. One place to go back to is Great Camp Sagamore. Back in the day, the uber-rich had "camps" in the 'Dacks where they could sort of get a flavor of roughing it. Mostly, that involved hiring locals as servants or guides, but hey, everyone got well so it's all good. The camps they built were more like rustic palaces and have interesting features such as "twig furniture", where local craftsmen would steam bend saplings into shape for furniture. This is a very difficult process, sort of like hand making snowshoes, and I grew up knowing a guy who did both, so I was blessed to be able to see him ply his craft first hand.
Here's a picture of Great Camp Sagamore back in the day. Yeah, not really a "camp". The guy who built it had family money from building the Transcontinental Railroad. The guy he sold it to, Alfred Vanderbilt (yes, THOSE Vanderbilts) also made his pile in railroading but ironically, died when the Lusitania got sunk.
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i'd love to see some pics of the overlooks/views as well
