D-Day in Bedford, VA

 The National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, VA. Fitting place to spend June 6th. Mr. Smith was absolutely right, this place is done right. All sorts of history is placed in bronze placards around the area, and the design is so beautiful in its tribute to such a hellish place on that day. Pictured above is a garden shaped like the sword of victory.

 You can barely tell here, but in the water are jets that simulate bullets hitting the water.

 Picture from above the cliff. Below is a picture describing the monument, if nothing else, please read it.

 Above you can barely tell in the picture, but just below the white and black granite, the word OVERLORD is inscribed in golden letters. Inscribed in the ring around the base are the names of the beaches.

 Click on the above picture and read it. On such a day, being in this place, reading that honestly brought tears to my eyes. Thank you again, Jeff Smith, for not just your service and the life you've led after it, but for telling me about this place.

Time to get back on the Blue Ridge, and continue the ride. I made my way to Roanoke in order to link back up with the BRP. After a bit of time on it, I realised that I am running out of time. I still need to make it to New Orleans, then get back to SE Missouri on the 13th of this month. I have one week. It is with much regret, dissapointment, and anger that I had to leave the BRP and get on a highway to make better time.

Pictured above is where I exited the BRP. Believe you me, I will return and complete the BRP ride. YOU HEAR THAT BRP!? I WILL BE BACK!

Now onward to Atlanta, GA, and then New Orleans.

Enter Skyline Drive, and Blue Ridge Parkway

 Where to begin... The road eventually brought me to a giant house on a horse ranch in Lovettsville, VA, full of new cousins. I say new cousins because up until about 2 years ago (ish) I had no idea we were related, and I'm not sure if they did either. Life works in weird ways sometimes, and even weirder things happen with family. If you're lucky, eventually you find more family and are reunited with them. If you're extremely lucky, the new family members you get to meet turn out to be some of the best people you could have imagined.

Sheree Hughes (sorry if I mispelled the first name!) is on the left, and she's my new first cousin. Jessica, her daughter and my new 2nd cousin (I think thats how it works) is in the middle, and the wildman on the right is yours truly. My other new 2nd cousins arent pictured because all photos were taken with another camera and I havent been able to download them yet (if they've even been sent!). Its remarkable how similar Sheree and my mother look, whats even creepier is they even laugh the same. I got to spend the night getting to know them with what little time I had, and then of course had to fire up the ps3 and blast some zombies. Like I said, great people!

Too soon it was time to leave, and approach the Skyline Drive of Shenandoah National Forest. The Skyline Drives southern entrance connects with the Blue Ridge Parkway, so for the most part its all one giant amazingly beautiful ride. Easily in the top 3 for greatest rides I've done, and I knew that about 5 minutes in to the Skyline Drive.

Night was approaching, and as much as I like to camp, I cant pass up a good deal on a sweet lodge in a beautiful place.

 Dinner time
Interesting note about the dinner, a person I met while dining learned that I was in the Navy and then paid for my tab. He also tried to keep that a secret from me, but the waitresses ratted him out. I always feel a little weird when people pay my tab because of my service. I really do appreciate it, and in fact I've done the same thing for others, but I cant shake the weird feeling it gives me... I dont know what exactly it is, but... anyway.. Turns out another guy sitting next to me asked which submarine I was on, to which I replied the world famous USS Connecticut. Wanna know how small this world can be? He helped design the S6W system! I know only a few will know what I'm talking about, but thats kind of a big deal.

 EVERYBODY checks out Freya

 The next morning, and more awesome views. I couldnt ask for better weather on this ride either. When looking at these, imagine seeing this in autumn when all those leaves start to change color!!

Night was approaching, and as luck would have it a nice lodge and restaurant popped up on the road. While waiting to be seated, an older gentleman asked me about my bike. The conversation led to us all having dinner together (him, his lovely wife and daughter, and myself).

 Jeff Smith (I hope i remembered that correctly!) is one of the few remaining veterans of World War II. Every year there are fewer of those brave people left. If you happen to know one, are lucky enough to meet one, spend all the time you can and try to learn just a little bit of what they know. If youre glad English is your native language instead of German or Japanese, it's in your best interest to thank them. I hope to never truly know the hell they went through, and you should too.

During the course of the evening I was informed that tomorow in Bedford there is a fantastic WWII memorial having an event to remember D-Day. What was described to me by Jeff and his family is something that I'll have to see with my own eyes, and I fully intend to. Bedford lost more people per capita on D-Day than anyone else, and this memorial is built entirely by the townspeople and funded by charity. This won't be some federally funded memorial, this ones built by the town who lost so many and wish to honor them.
Had I not met him, I would not have known about this and would have just driven on by.

The greatest thing about this trip, by far, is the people you inadvertantly meet. Freya helps a lot too!

Speaking of Freya, I might be starting to have a slight problem. Check the picture, and note that its wet but not dripping.. I think I might have a seal starting to give out. I heard of a Ural shop in Atlanta, GA, and thats on my route. Hopefully nothing catastrophically fails between here and there, and if it does, we'll deal with it.