Daggone...there's some hills down thar!

2 weeks to go.  Here's the skinny on the actual trip.  I'll warn you up front, some of this may bore you.  I'm the kind of guy who likes getting all of the details right.

The total mileage should be in the ballpark of 520 miles, best guess.  There will be some detours and side trips that will add to that.  The starting point will be Ashville, NC and I'll end in Front Royal, VA.  I thought I'd put a nice Google Map here to show you the route.  Google REFUSES to acknowledge that the BRP and Skyline Drive are acceptable roads for any vehicle.  Makes me kinda wonder what I'm getting into.  Here's the best I can do, maps from the park service of the two roads:

That's only half of the story.  Now for the real fun part.  Below are elevation profiles of the same trip. You'll have to read them from right to left if you want to see the terrain as I will see it:

Looks pretty icky.  I've broken it up into 9 days, around 55-60 miles per day.  I'll camp every other night and stay in hotels the other half.  I didn't plan it that way by design, exactly.  It was more like, how far can I go in a day, and where can I sleep?  It just worked out that on alternating nights I could find a campground.  One advantage is that I don't need to carry as much food.  On the nights I stay in a hotel, I should be able to find food nearby.

I spent a great deal of time looking through journals of others who made this ride and reading an excellent book on the subject by Elizabeth and Charlie Skinner; Bicycling the Blue Ridge Parkway. Using this information, I planned out not only where to stay the nights, but where I can plan on finding food and water along the way.  The more of this I can find, the less I'll have to schlep up those mountains.  here's the itinerary, as it stands now:

Mile	Location	Notes
Day 1	07/29/12	50 mi
390	Ashville NC, Ramada At River Ridge	800 Fairview Rd., Asheville, NC 28803 (828) 298-9141
367	Bee Tree Gap PA	RR
365	Craggy Flats Tunnel
364.4	Craggy Gardens	RR, VC
364.4	Craggy Pinacle Tunnel
355	Mt. Mitchell park	snack bar
349	Tunnel
344.7	Tunnel
344.5	Tunnel
340.2	Crabtree Meadows PA	RR
339.5	Crabtree Falls CG	CG, Store, Rest. (828)675-5444
Day 2	07/30/12	50 mi
336.8	Tunnel
334	Little Switzerland (NC 226A)	cafe, Store
333.4	Tunnel
331	Skyline Motel, Mountain View Motel	Restaurant
328	Orchard at Alta Pass	Snacks
317	Skyline Mini Mart (rt. 211 south .3 mi)	Store
312	Pineola (rt. 181) 1.6 mi	Groc.
304	Linn Cove Info. Ctr.	RR
298.6	Grandfather Mtn. Country Store (rt. 221/Holloway Mtn. Rd)	Groc.
291	Blowing Rock, NC (US 321) Holiday Inn Exp.	8412 Valley Blvd, Blowing Rock, NC, 28605 828-264-2451
Day 3	07/31/12	50 mi
271.9	Jeffress park	RR
268	Benge Gap	Store
259	Glendale Springs ( Trad. Post Rd.)	Store
257.6	Racoon Holler CG	Camp Store
248	Laurel Springs (NC 18)Stations Inn	Groc., Rest.
247.2	Miller's Camping	Camp store
241	Bluffs Lodge Coffee Shop
238.6	Doughton park
239.2	Doughton Park CG	CG, Lodge (336) 372-8568
Day 4	08/01/12	63 mi
231.5	Inn of the Red Thread (Vestal Rd)	Rest., Bakery
229.7	Sparta (rt. 21) (7 mi off BRP)	Bank, laundry, hardware
217.5	Cumberland Knob	RR
216.9	NC/VA Line
215.8	Bits & Pieces Groc (VA rt. 89)
206.5	Felts Bros. Groc (left US rt 608, VA 97 north)	½ mi off BRP
199.4	Fancy Gap (US 52)	Rest. Motels
193.7	Orchard Gap Market
189	Doe Run Lodge & Rest.
180	Mayberry Trading Post	Groc.
177.7	Meadows of Dan (US rt. 58 west)	CG 276-952-2292
Day 5	08/02/12	57 mi
176.2	Mabry Mill Restaurant
171	Chateau Morrisette Viny (VA 726)	Lunch
169	Rocky Knob VC	RR
165.3	Tuggle Gap Restr. (VA rt. 8 turn left)
154.1	Smart View Picnic	RR
121.4	Roanoke (US 220 north) Quality Inn	3816 Franklin Rd Sw, Roanoke, VA, 24014 (540) 989-4000
Day 6	08/03/12	60 mi
112.2	Vinton (US rt. 24 west) .8 MI	Groc., Bike Shop
105.8	US rt. 460 (1 mi west)	Groc.
85.9	Peaks of Otter	VC, Camp Store
63.9	H&H Food Market (US 501) 1 mi east
63.6	James River VC
60.8	Otter Creek CG & Rest.	(540) 377-2377
Day 7	08/04/12	61 mi
53.1	Tunnel
29	Whetstone Ridge PA	RR
16	Royal Oak Store (VA 814)	Groc.
0	End of BRP, Star Skyline Drive
105.4	Rockfish Gap/Waynesboro (US 250) Quality Inn	640 W Broad St, Waynesboro, VA, 22980 (540) 942-1171
Day 8	08/05/12	48 mi
79.5	Loft Mtn Wayside	Snack Bar
62.6	South River Picnic Area	Water
57.5	Lewis Mtn.	CG, Store
Day 9	08/06/12	58 mi
51	Big Meadows VC	RR, Water
41.7	Skyland Lodge & Rest.	rest. Water, RR
36.7	Pinnacles PA	RR
32.2	Tunnel
31.5	Thornton Gap/Panorama	RR
24.1	Elkwallow Wayside	Snack Bar
4.6	Dickey Ridge VC	RR
0	Front Royal Super 8 Motel	111 South St, Front Royal, VA, 22630 (540) 636-4888