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In order to practice for my cross country adventure, I decided to have a trial run. A 2-day trip to the Shenandoah National Park. Mohit, a friend from Bloomberg, was excited to join. This opened the option of taking Shweta and Rishabh along. The preparations were pretty big. Barbecue grill, cooler, burgers and beer. Since this trip was supposed to be a trial run, I packed my tent, sleeping bag, air mattress, clothes, first-aid kit, tool set etc. on my red beast and off we went on July 3rd at about 9 am.
It was interesting to see riders without helmets in Pennsylvania. It's weird how different states have different laws. As a rider you have to be aware when you cross state boundaries (only if you are stupid not to wear a helmet though). I reached skyline drive at around 4 pm. Some desis were excited to see a lone Indian with all his stuff on a motorcycle. They took some pics with my bike. I had this one taken from them.
Skyline drive was a lot of fun as expected. I saw a little bear and a lot of scenic overlooks. We reached Matthews campground around 5 pm.
Thanks to Ganesh, the Barbecue was excellent. Sausages + beer, corn, patties. We had a nice camp fire set up after dinner, chatted for some time and slept as we had planned a Luray Cavern visit next morning. I woke up around 6:30 am surprisingly due to bird chirping and not the regular garbage collecting van in Hackensack, NJ :)
We had breakfast at the scenic skyline lodge and headed out to Luray Caverns, VA.
Luray Caverns is surprisingly huge. Stalactites and stalagmite formations were pretty impressive. Honestly, I hadn't expected it to be this big. The stunning elements to get your money's worth are the reflection and curtain-like formations. They are simply amazing. You gotta witness this in person.
We left the caverns at around 2:30 pm. I took the same route in the opposite direction although Mohit went via Baltimore-DC and the turnpike. I hit some crazy speeds on my way back. I have to make frequent stops when I am riding. First, I need to fuel every 100 - 125 miles just to be safe. Second, my ass starts burning after about 125 miles; hence a break is always a good idea. I had about 3 stops on my way back. Surprisingly, we reached at 8:30 pm in Hackensack, although Mohit took a different route. A wonderful and successful trip came to an end. The big one is due. Can't wait for it.
Some more PICS.
