On Wednesday we drove the Skyline Drive followed by the Blue Ridge Parkway from Washington DC to Roanoke. Our first real day of driving happened to be one of the longest of the entire trip – nothing like being thrown in at the deep end! In reality this drive isn’t actually very many miles, it’s just that these roads are quite twisty, not exactly direct and have crazily low speed limits (35mph for the skyline drive). Now, for those not in my family, there is a road in France between the coast and my Aunt’s house in the hills that Becky and I are rather too familiar with. This road is about 1 and a half lanes wide, and if you look at it on the map it’s just a bunch of squiggles. There are hairpin bends and sheer drops everywhere, cars and cyclists come flying round the corners at crazy speeds and on an average journey your life flashes before your eyes around 3-5 times. Dad loves it, but he’s driving (I think it’s better for the driver), the rest of us spend our time concentrating very hard on not being violently ill.
Happily however, the Skyline Drive is nothing like this road. Don’t get me wrong, as American roads go this is some serious rally-grade stuff, but for the average European you probably would experience more sharp corners on your way to the supermarket. It’s also deserted. Because this road is so much slower than the highway no-one with any sense of urgency is going to bother going on it. What you’re left with is a wide open road with some great corners and beautiful views… A road you can’t enjoy from a driving perspective because you’re going soooo slowly.
It was a long, long day. It was made longer by the fact that I kept stopping to look at all the views and take pictures – by the end Becky was saying we had to stop stopping otherwise we’d never get there. We left the Blue Ridge Parkway a bit early because there was a film we really wanted to watch and it was showing in Roanoke that evening. We had to take the highway in order to make it in time though so we did. I’m glad we did as the drive had become really boring and neither of us were having fun any more. It was also a hilarious film.
The film was called Lets Be Cops. I don’t know if it’s out in the UK yet but let me tell you it’s possibly the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s about two men who are fed up with their lives, so decide to pretend to be cops. They get themselves into all sorts of situations, it’s brilliant. If you fancy some light hearted slightly stupid in places comedy I’d highly recommend it.
The next day we headed off to Nashville, another long days driving. A post about Nashville will be on it’s way, keep your eyes peeled.
Chris
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Becky and Chris take America 