March Break – Mechanical Sympathy

The dream March Break trip? Load the Tiger into the back of the trusty Ford Transit Van and head south to a place where the weather won’t suck all week; it will here. While snow is flying during the most pointless school break in Ontario, I’d be driving one thousand kilometres south to Virginia to chase the waterfalls my cousin suggested in January.

The drive down has us doing an eleven hour slog to Roanoke, Virginia on some back roads through the Allegheny Forest and down through the Adirondacks into the Appalachian Mountains before finally landing at the Hampton Inn off Interstate 81 just outside of Roanoke.

Once in Roanoke we’d put our feet up for the night and then take one of three routes over the next three days.

The weather is lovely: mid-high teens all week, rather than the zero degree snow we’ve got going on here all week.

Yeah, it’d be cool, but it wouldn’t be painful, and the roads would be salt free and winding through the mountains. To top it all off those waterfalls would be plump from all the run off. It’d be a photography and media making dream. The mountains would be blooming in early spring and I’d have the cameras on hand to catch that moment on two wheels.

Each day we’d loop back to Roanoke before heading out in a different direction the next day. Thanks to all the mountain roads there would be virtually no overlap between loops with each offering unique sites. Having the same base camp also means the bike will be light on gear and ready to explore the mountains.

Leaving on a Monday morning, we’d be in Roanoke Monday night and ready for a Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday of motorcycle riding from waterfall to waterfall before making the ride back north into the snow and darkness on Friday.

It’s not a crazy expensive week. Under five hundred bucks for hotel then gas and food money. Two long distance highway days would be all about gas and quick food stops. $200 would feed the van, another $60 would cover the bike. Five days of food on the road could probably be done for $250. All in that’s a thousand dollar holiday. The three days in Virginia would be all about slow lunches and dinners and riding between photogenic waterfalls.

Of course, the ongoing issue is not having the bike delivery system. Mid-winter isn’t the worst time to be a motorcyclist in Canada. The worst time is the end of the off season when the snow is fading but the winter weather hangs on week after week, prolonging the caged life.

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