Wake up early on Saturday and the first thing that I do is check the weather... hmmm, not so good. Chance of rain - 70%, with chances of severe thunderstorms, with possible 1 inch hail, high winds, and lightning, along with torrential rain. I look out, and yep, it's pouring. So, I decide to spend some time working on some pages, check out the Vee forum, catch up on some email - and then, a shaft of sunlight spills into the house. 'Nuff of this $%^*! Let's go riding!
Heading out from home, I see that the sunlight is a temporary flicker, soon to be hidden behind fast moving, very dark clouds. I start down towards Tryon (want some of that excellent Side Street Pizza...) but get headed off by a bad storm as I ride down the mountain near Melrose Park. I get close enough to see hail pelting the road just ahead of me, then pull a Ueee and tear back up the mountain. It looks good to the west, so I cut off in Saluda, crossing the tracks and riding over to South Carolina through the Greenville Watershed. I hit some light patches of rain, but it feels good - no traffic, wild wind whipping the trees by the roadside, and lighter skies ahead. By the time I climb back up the mountain on Hwy. 25 to the upper Green River watershed, there are some deep blue patches of sky overhead. I head up Bobs Creek, then cross over Mt. Olive and Pinnacle Mtn. (now there's a great place to be on a day full of thunderboomers) and hit Crab Creek Road towards Brevard. I'm still hungry, but haven't decided where to go - I really wanted that pizza. Hey, I haven't been to Hawg Wild yet - it's the new BBQ joint next to the entrance of the Pisgah National Forest on Hwy. 276.

That's a photo of some of the local talent inside Hawg Wild - it's not a bad place. Big booths, clean, quick service. Really good pulled pork BBQ, but the sides are tiny - about a tablespoon each of baked beans and slaw. Lots of pork on the plate though. No beer - aaaaaaghhhhhh!!! I get a good booth by the window, open up a copy of Motorcycle Consumer Magazine, and settle back to wait out the passing squall that is dumping rain outside. I'd give Hawg Wild a 7 out of 10 - I don't hold the lack of brewskis against 'em, the BBQ was excellent, the waitresses friendly and efficient, they kept my tea glass full - but dang, that was barely a taste of the sides.

By the way, this might be a pretty large report - I'll combine both days of this weekend's riding into one report.

Right after leaving Hawg Wild - Now here's a study in contrasts. This is a pretty bucolic country scene, right? Beautiful green meadows, very little development, and what seems to be clear skies. This was shot by the River Road, just off of Crab Creek Road. The French Broad River winds through the valley just to the right of the meadow, and Brevard is about 5 miles away, beyond the farmhouse.

OK, same position, only a moment or two later, but this time, I'm exposing the shot to capture the sky - it's my Steven Spielburg moment. The one drawback of using the little Panasonic Lumix camera is that it doesn't handle the contrast between landscape and sky very well. On these pages though, I want to show the conflict between earth and sky - it's what makes 'riding the storms out' so much fun.
Don't stay home just because of the threat of a little rain. If you do, you'll miss scenes like this. I'm a storm freak, and love the rush that I get as a big front roars by. This was a wild day, with much of my time being spent chasing blue holes in the sky.

Bear in mind that for most of the early part of this ride, the sky looks like it did in the previous photo, but most of these pix are exposed for the landscapes. I may start carrying the SLR on trips like this - it handles the contrast much better, and for me, is much more intuitive. This was also shot along River Road, and that's Mt. Pisgah - the pyramid shaped peak on the far horizon. I spend a lot more time on this road on my bicycle than I do on my motorcycle. It's one of the most popular training roads for cyclists and runners in the county.

Dodging rain squalls successfully, I weaved and wandered, first north and then east, riding through Etowah, Horse Shoe and then to here, in Mills River. Mills River Valley is part of the sprawling French Broad River flood plain. Again, I want to show the contrast between earth and sky...

A little zoom action, but from the same spot and only a few seconds after the former shot. That's Mt. Pisgah on the horizon - look closely, and you will spot the tower atop the mountain's peak. Still dry, and still having a blast running from the storms.

Still traveling east, I cut across the ridges east of Fletcher and move down into the Fruitland community. The gap in the hills in the distance is Terrys Gap, separating the Fruitland valley from the Hoopers Creek watershed.

One of the hundreds of orchards in the eastern part of Henderson County. Apple production is a major crop in this area, but development is starting to replace many of the mountainside orchards. It's a beautiful place to ride at all times of the year, but early spring when the trees are blooming and late fall, when color splashes down the mountainsides are my favorite. While riding bicycles with a friend only a few feet from where I took this photo, I turned to say something to him and a hornet flew into my mouth, stinging me right on the tonsils. I bit the little bastard in half, but it had the last laugh - my throat swelled up so much that I could barely breathe. I've never been allergic to bees, but that one must have nailed me in a sensitive spot. Luckily, I had some antihistamine handy, and it saved the day.

A family of ducks parade across a small farm pond along the way to the Bearwallow community.

One of the longhorns at the Puncheon Creek Cattle Ranch in Fruitland, silhouetted against a stormy sky. Jon and I met the owner of the operation today as we sheltered from a passing rain squall up in his little village - more of that later in this report. For now, I'm still heading east, towards the higher slopes of apple country around Sugarloaf Mtn.

The fellow that runs this operation has the largest herd of longhorn that I've run across. They are a healthy, well cared for herd - having met him, I can see why. He takes his hobby seriously.