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Blue Ridge & Shenandoah Tour
Day 7 Lexington to Harrisonburg
We rose to a beautiful day.  The plan was to ride to Harrisonburg, the largest city in the Shenandoah Valley.  Before departing Lexington, We called ahead to reserve some rooms at the Super8 in Harrisonburg.

We departed Lexington on Route 39 past the Virginia Horse Center following the Maury River.  This was a very pleasant road.  After passing through Rockbridge Baths, we came to Goshen Pass.  We had expected significant climb.  But, the road stayed very close to the river.  We hardly climbed at all.  The pass was beautiful as the morning sun burned off the last of the morning ground fog. 

 Goshen Pass
Goshen Pass

At the town of Goshen we turned North on Route 42.  This highway took us through a very pretty section of the George Washington National Forest between Great North Mountain and Little North Mountain.  We descended through Buffalo Gap and emerged back into open farmland.  We saw a restaurant in Buffalo Gap that looked like a good possibility for lunch.  But, we decided to keep going.  Bad move.

By the time we arrived in Churchville, we were all ravenous.  I inquired about restaurants at a local gas station.  The only place in town was a Tastee Freeze.  I searched the menu for something non-greasy.  The best we could do was some kind of chicken sandwich, fries and a coke.  Can you say, "heart attack in paper bag"?  After finishing our Tastee "treats", we continued North on Route 42.

A few miles later, near the town of Parnassus, Mike and I turned onto route 760 and headed towards Natural Chimneys.  Steve, Lorraine and George, decided to bypass the Chimneys and headed directly to Harrisonburg.   We hadn't seen Dave since Goshen Pass.  We weren't concerned.  Dave was just being Dave.

Route 760 climbed for a while past dairy farms.  The scenery in this part of the valley was very beautiful.  The cows, open fields and green forested hills reminded me a lot of Vermont.  We turned on to Route 747.  At the village of Mt. Solon, Route 731 took us to Natural Chimneys State Park.  These back roads were very pretty. The traffic was very light. 

Natural Chimneys are stone columns composed of compressed sediments and shaped by erosion.  This type of  formation is unusual on the East coast.  Note how the layering displayed in the photo at resembles the formations seen on our Utah and Colorado trip.  A sign on the fence in front of the chimneys warns of falling rocks and snakes. Natural Chimneys
Natural Chimneys

The Natural Chimneys State Park is a venue for jousting.  I asked the State Park people if this was the like the jousting in the movies.  The image in my mind was two armored knights on horseback trying to kill each other with big lances.  The answer was no.  The object of this game is for riders to pick up small rings with their lances.

Mike and I took Route 731 back to Route 747.  We got back on Route 42 at Mossy Creek.  We passed through Dayton and Bridgewater. Traffic increased as we neared Harrisonburg.  Near Harrisonburg, Mike and I approached a  red light.  Mike was about 30 feet in front of me.  I felt something hit my back and head.  I was nearly knocked off my bike by brush sticking out the side of a passing trailer.  The brush also hit Mike.  I was furious.   We both could have been very seriously hurt.  The truck stopped at the light.  I rode up to the passenger side window and yelled at the driver.  The driver was an older guy about 60 years old.  He didn't say anything to me.  He just looked at his passenger side view mirror with a stupid expression on his face.

We continued on our way.  We saw a Mennonite  woman riding an old 3 speed bicycle wearing a bonnet and a long dress.  We entered Harrosonburg and started looking for the Super8.  After stopping to ask directions several times, We found the motel on a Rte 11 on near I-81.  We rode an extra 10 miles just looking for the place.  Our total for the day was 80 miles.

Harrisonburg's is the largest city in the valley.  The major industry is poultry processing.  We passed several large poultry plants.  There were chicken feathers all over the road.  Unlike Lexington, I can't recommend Harrisonburg as a tourist destination.  It's an industrial city with very little to see.  At the motel, I opened a window to get some fresh air.  I shut it immediately because of the highway noise.  If had to plan this trip again, I would not stop in Harrisonburg. 

The others arrived and we walked to a nearby restaurant for supper.

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