The following day (4-2) turned out to be one of the
ugliest of the entire journey.
I left Asheville in light rain, and it went downhill from
there, as I went uphill from there.
As for the downhill part, it rained (lightly) most of the
day, but it was the fog that was really bad.
Visibility for most of the day was about 300 feet, but it
was worse at the higher elevations around Mt. Mitchell and much
worse (down to about 50 feet) when I got off the Parkway at Spruce
Pine to find a motel. By
the time I got inside for the night, I was wet, cold, hungry and
tired – the miserability index was quite high.
The cost of the motel was $54, but if the clerk had said
$154, I still would have said “okay”.
As for the uphill part, I started a 24-mile climb
right out of Asheville that took me up 4265’ by the time I got
to Mt. Mitchell. Despite
the climb, I didn’t get anywhere near the top of Mt. Mitchell
(6684’), which is not only the highest point in North Carolina,
but also the highest point east of the Mississippi River.
After Mt. Mitchell, I had some ups and downs and finished
(according to the Parkway guide) with climbs totaling 5850’ over
55 miles.
I met Andreas Ritter from Switzerland today.
I first talked to him as I was climbing toward Mt. Mitchell
and he was coming back down from there.
Later in the day, he stopped his car ahead of me and was
waiting with candy bar and water bottle for me as I arrived.
He works for a power company in Switzerland and is in
America for a few months working and training at a power plant in
Georgia. He’s had a
long desire to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway, so was doing part of
it this weekend despite the weather.
I “lost” my rear brakes in the middle of the
mountains today. They
were beginning to thump, and when I looked I saw that the pads
were worn clear down to the metal.
I guess I should have looked sooner.
Anyway, I was able to make it through the day using just my
front brakes. Part of
the evening was devoted to installing new rear brake pads.
Despite all of the problems of the day, there was a
light, well maybe just a glow, at the end of the tunnel.
Click
on thumbnail to see full photograph. 
(Great
Adventures to Scenic Places)
