Up and on the road at 0700 hours for coffee in Maggie Valley, then back to the room to finish packing. Jim K. took off to Alabama for the BMW RA rally, so it's just me, Susanne S. and Don W. heading back to Ohio over today and tomorrow, on mostly back roads.

We started out heading towards Marion, Virginia, but made it further, to Tazewell, Virginia instead. We took some really fun, twisty back roads. We got caught in a horrendous, hard, quick downpour 2.5 miles out of Marion, Virginia and had to pull into an abandoned gas station to seek shelter. We were getting drenched just standing under the over-hang. We put our rain gear on to drive into Marion, and the roads were completely dry there! We stopped at an Econo-lodge, then decided to ride the "Back of the Dragon" (Rt 16N) into Tazewell. 32 miles of pure twists. My arms felt like they were going to fall off! A squirrel decided to take his chances against Don, but when Susanne roared by and revved her motor, the squirrel practically launched himself into the woods. I was laughing so hard, I almost missed a major hairpin curve.

Got rooms in Tazewell at the Fincastle Motor Inn, owned by a very nice Eastern Indian lady. We walked down the street to the Italian Village for dinner, which is basically a glorified take-out joint. The food sucked, but it was "food". Back to the Inn to relax on our makeshift patio outside our rooms.

Pressing hard to make it back tomorrow; but I am in no hurry. Weather is looking "iffy"; spotty showers all across th