Pisagh winds

Up at 7:15-much better than 6:30-and man, is it cool (53) and windy! The trees are bending over & the fog is going by at 30 mph, or so it looks. Start packing up our things before walking over for our "free" breakie at the Pisagh Inn restaurant. Once again, it is a great meal & partially offsets the high price (140)..pancakes, sausage, coffee. back to the room to finish packing, load up & head out north bound. I've got on tights, long sleeves & a jacket..Don only has a jacket & he's shivering. It's pretty nasty and really windy, but dry. George is driving today so off he goes, 70 or so miles up the Parkway. A massive downhill to start the day & lots of tunnels..turn on yinz'z lights! The Asheville Visitor center is 24 miles away and we get there with an average speed of 20.5 and not much climbing. Get some water, Parkway pins & off we go & it's warmer so off comes the stuff. Now a big climb to 5600' at a small visitor center where it's much cooler & windy. (Back on with the stuff!) Where will George meet up with us? After a short rest, it's back on the BRP & another tunnel, ups & downs before we find George at about 58 miles into our portion. (Oh, there are 26 tunnels on the Parkway in NC!) A few stops at overlooks & pics of the local flora & fona, before rolling into the spot where our auto is parked. The otehers ride down & it's very heavy traffic. No problems for the day & 80 miles for me & 10,800' of climb! Don had 88 miles & 11,050' of climb & George had 48 miles & 5900'. I get in the car and drive to our hotel for the night-The Spruce Pine Inn, in Spruce Pine, NC. It's an old school house that has been renovated & is very nice. It's kinda tough to find but we come thru & hit the showers, log into the net & prepare for supper. We finally end up, after driving 20 miles, at the Western Sizzlin'. Not a great place, but their buffet is super & plenty of it, plus cherry cobbler! Back to the hotel to blog, and it takes me a while to get caught up, while the others check e-mails, watch the weather channel and chat about tomorrow. Don will sag & meet us at some point & probly end up with as many miles as we get.