Rising Up

Going up NC-151 to the Parkway

We experience such beauty regularly on our Road Glide that it is easy to take for granted things. This photograph captures the beginning of our trek up HWY 151 to the Blue Ridge Parkway. The canopy of lush green trees beckon us.

Come, enter the wonder.

On this ride, we turn on curves, switchbacks. Rising up, up to the top. The vista along the way is stunning. We rise with the trees, going from trunk to tops. When we reach the top, we can see Hominy Valley in all its breath-taking beauty.

We have done this ride dozens of times. The road is 15 minutes from our house.

Blossom

"There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." ~ Anais Nin

Clouds and Flowers...

The air is clean, the world wide blue.

Couldn't resist this shot of my jeans with its appliqué that I created. I'm riding down the road heading toward Greenville South Carolina, on the back of a Harley. Free and happy. An unexpected bonus on this photograph, the blue sky is reflected on the polished saddlebag.

ABATE Poker Run 2011

We joined our friends Dana and Kathy today on a fundraising poker run.

The Bikers Association/ABATE raised over $6,000 today to support the needs of hospitalized Veterans at the Charles George VA Medical Center in Asheville, NC.

It was a gorgeous morning, blue skies and great spirit. Stellar Asheville scenery at every turn. Here is the beautiful French Broad River near Weaverville, North Carolina...

Chickamauga Battlefield Park

Chickamauga & Chattanooga Battlefield State Park
Just outside Ft. Oglethorpe, Georgia, we visited the remarkable location of the 1863 American Civil War Battle to control the gateway to the deep south. Chickamauga is a Cherokee word meaning "river of death," and over 34,000 were lost during the bloody battle. Today this peaceful park features docile deer and 1,400 monuments and historical markers...
Steven wrote: "Battlefield...is 5600 acres of woods and fields, with hundreds of markers depicting all of the units that took part in the battle..."

"...We saw hundreds of cannons and dozens of memorials scattered about. They have 'restored' the woods to what they would have looked like in 1863, basically clearing out all scrub and leaving the hardwoods, because at the time, loose cattle had done that..."

"Anyway, I’d never seen anything quite like that, on that scale. The park was built in 1887, 25 years after the war’s end."