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Shamrock Tour®: Lexington, Virginia
A Taste of Old Dominion
According to the road signs, we're closing in on Natural Bridge, Virginia. Normally, it's a good thing to be nearing the night's comfort zone, especially after nine hours of riding on a hot summer day. But this evening is different. Kathy and I are at one with the nimble Honda 599 howling away beneath us, traffic on Route 130 is light, the James River is shimmering through the trees, and the road is unrolling in a buffet of smooth, sinuous curves that simply insist that we stay on the gas and keep eating.
A little car that we zipped around a while back wears a bumper sticker proclaiming that "Virginia is for Lovers... A fine sentiment indeed, but the problem is someone left off the ...of Great Roads" part. We haven't even officially started our Shamrock Tour, originating from the Natural Bridge Hotel, and the back-roads ride chosen to get there from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is demonstrating some serious RoadRUNNER story potential. (Sorry folks, I'll have to keep that set of squiggly lines undisclosed and under my hat for now.)
While I'd surely like to keep riding, Kathy is more than happy to see the welcoming, white-columned porch of the brick, colonial inn that will be our home away from home for the next five nights. As we're pulling up, she taps my shoulder and points excitedly to the groups of oak rocking chairs lining the long patio. Being ever so fond of lolling away the sultry, Southern evenings in a slow, back and forth manner, I know where we'll be parking our weary rears tonight....
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