I’ve been spending this week in partnership with the Gold Wing, winding South primarily along Skyline Drive (Shenandoah National Park) and the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Across the past several days I’ve heard from family and friends who are checking to ensure I am well (I am). For that I am deeply grateful. They have also asked about the website updates that traditionally coincide with one of my walkabouts.
The thing that hasn’t gone right with this walkabout is the technology (non-bike-related). For this trip, I decided to work from one of my backup computers. That required managing and editing my photographs with Adobe Lightroom, not Adobe Lightroom Classic, the version I’ve used for about 19 years. The relatively new, non-Classic version is cloud-based which allows me to offload photos from my cameras, edit them, and have them automatically sync back to my primary editing computer. That’s a great workflow solution!
The obstacle to publishing photos from the road, however, is that the geniuses at Adobe decided to make the cloud-based version of Lightroom radically different from Lightroom Classic.
I first noticed it when I reached for my keyboard shortcuts. As I review photos for publication, I quickly flag the keepers with a single keystroke so I can easily find them during the next stage of editing. In the new Lightroom, however, the keyboard shortcuts for flagging, deleting, and removing flags are all different. After 19 years of muscle memory, I keep pressing the wrong keys, slowing what should be a fast and effortless process into a frustrating exercise in retraining my fingers.
Next, editing photos vexed me with the same keyboard shortcut issues. I’d use the normal set of key combinations to trigger an assortment of tools and functions only to have something completely different happen on the screen—and not always something obvious. This forced repeated Command+z activity (a shortcut for Undo that Apple dictates and which Adobe couldn’t screw up).
I’ve had to resort to hand-to-hand combat—using the trackpad for everything as I try to locate items in menus I never use and features that, in many cases, don’t even exist. It’s frustrating and I’m tired (as 8+ hours on a motorcycle in 90º sunlight can cause). Sleep in preparation for the next day has ended up winning and time spent with Adobe’s Franken-lightroom has lost.
Photos and stories will arrive on the site after I arrive back at home and I can work with tools that are up to the task.
The riding has been spectacular. The Gold Wing is a dream. The cameras are all operational. My spirits are high. My body is exhausted. That all makes for a great vacation!
Thank you, all, for checking in!
Friday Morning
It is a very hazy, Canadian smoke-filled morning. My intended path is through this reportedly unhealthy cloud. Considering my options as tomorrow’s map of the drift areas appears to be worse…
Trip Summary
It feels strange to have documented such a small part of my trip and now writing a summary about it. Regardless, this trip had quite a few disparities from most of my previous bike trips which altered my normal Walkabout documentation. The disparities are lessons learned for the next trip.
Where I Went
Day One
Day one of the trip took me through Watkins Glen on further South to Wellsboro, PA, home of the famous Wellsboro Diner. I crossed the Constitution Bridge in Lock Haven, PA which is adjacent to the Piper Air Museum. The museum goes on the list of places to plan to visit when time permits. I passed through Rockhill, PA, which might be of interest to my lifelong friends, the Rockhill family. About an hour later I crossed the border into Maryland and then almost immediately crossed the border into West Virginia. Beyond that was the entrance to the Cacapon Resort State Park where an extended family vacation was held many years ago (“I lost my ladle…”). The end on the day was in Stephens City, Virginia. 419 miles.
Day Two
The Low Water Bridge was crossed along my way to the Skyline Drive Entrance (Front Royal) at the Shenandoah National Park. A $25 entrance fee for motorcycles gives you access to the 105 mile road for a week. The speed limit is 35 mph which they do enforce (ask me how I know). The road climbs to 3,680 feet and provides absolutely beautiful views along both sides of the road to the valleys far below. Overlook pull-off areas are frequent and when combined with the reduces speed limit, it makes the 100 miles feel considerably longer. The Honda does perfectly fine at 35 mph, but after a few hours, both the bike and I were ready to carve corners a bit more aggressively.
Skyline Drive ends where the Blue Ridge Parkway begins, but it was there that I headed downhill to Waynesboro to find a hotel.
The day, however, still had plenty of remaining daylight so after checking into my room and unloading the bike, I took off for something called the Nelson Scenic Loop (the official website seems to be offline). That was quite an experience! At least one lengthy section of the ride was absolutely everything except straight–At no point was I not carving through a corner while climbing or descending a hill! This loop trail also took me to Crabtree Creek Falls along the Crabtree Falls Highway, then on the Blue Ridge Parkway for about a dozen miles—it felt so good to be riding the BRP again.
I stopped at The River Burger Bar for dinner before heading to the hotel. The restaurant/bar staff were exceptional as was the food.
Day Three
Coming soon…
Day Four
Coming soon…
Day Five
Coming soon…
Comments, Thoughts, Perspectives…