EDITOR’S NOTE: This guest blog series is being provided courtesy of members of the Wally Byam Caravan Club International (wbcci.org) who are currently participating in the 2019 Taste of the Blue Ridge Caravan between late May and mid June. Their 500-mile journey began in Cherokee, N.C. and will end outside the historic towns of Charlottesville and Staunton, VA. We hope you’ll enjoy following along!
The 2019 WBCCI Taste of the Blue Ridge Caravan left Bryson City after being there four days. Our goal was to travel about 90 miles to Asheville, North Carolina.
It is easy to create a mental picture of 21 Airstream trailers traveling as a group along the Parkway. You need to erase that image, because we do not travel in a single pack for safety and courtesy reasons.
We entered the Blue Ridge Parkway traveling in groups no larger than two. Still, a bicycler at one overlook said that he noticed a large number of Airstream trailers traveling north that day. He seemed disappointed when I told him that a dozen more were behind us.
If you do a little math, you would calculate that our Airstream caravaners should be able to do the 90 mile trip in about two hours following the 45 MPH speed limit. As Blue Ridge Parkway veterans know, it is impossible to ignore the overlooks. The Parkway is an example of a place where the ride is often more important than the destination. Most of our caravan members made our first leg in four or five hours. A few managed to enjoy the Parkway for six hours that day.
The views along the Parkway were incredible and we are just getting started with our Taste of the Blue Ridge Caravan!
Our next blog update will cover our adventures in Asheville.
