Chapter Ride - Overnight - Natural Bridge, VA

Our travel plans this weekend will take us to the gorgeous Natural Bridge in Virginia, by way of the beautiful Skyline Drive and The Blue Ridge Parkway.

 

Friday Sept 3: We will depart from the Petro Truck stop in Bordentown at 8:00am (come early if you want breakfast). We will take the PATP to rt23w to rt30w to rt15s to rt340s to the Skyline Drive in Front Royal Va. ( Note: There is a $10.00 fee per bike to travel Skyline Dr.**If you are 62+, you can apply for a National Park Pass for $10 and it's good for life with no admission fees to National Parks, plus three guests).

 

We will proceed down Skyline Dr. to Rt 211W to the town of Luray VA for dinner and our Hotel for the evening.   http://www.daysinn-luray.com/  540-743-4521. We have King and Queen rooms blocked here. Tell them you are with GWRRA NJD and your rate will be $82.50, you must book prior to August 3,2010 to receive this rate. They do have a complimentary Day Break breakfast.

This will be about 310 miles of combined highway and semi back road riding.

 

Saturday Sept 4: We will leave Luray VA after breakfast at approximately 8:30 am and proceed down the Skyline Dr. and the connecting Blue Ridge Parkway http://www.nps.gov/blri/index.htm  to our destination of The Natural Bridge http://www.naturalbridgeva.com/default.php   800-533-1410 we have king rooms blocked here in three different configurations: Balcony @ $115.20, Mountain view @ $97.20, Standard @ $89.10. Tell them you are with GWRRA NJD. You must book prior to August 4, 2010 to receive these rates. If all goes right we will be having dinner in the Natural Bridge restaurant (Sat is prime rib buffet night $26.95). There is a spectacular light/music show at dusk that hopefully we will arrive in time to see.

  **In checking on their website, there is a package available-Summer Escape. The rates are $129 for a standard room, $139 for mountain room, and $149 for balcony room-hoiwever only two double bed rooms are available at this price. This rate also included admission to Natural Bridge, Caverns, Drama of Creation, Cedar Creek Trail, Monacan Indian Village, the Wax/Toy musems, as well as breakfast for two. By buying the package, there is at least a $30 savings if you're going to do any of the sites (unless you are going solo and not sharing a room).

 

Note: The fee for the natural bridge is $26.00 ( we can get a group rate of $21.50pp if we have 10 people and pay in one check ) and that covers almost all of the attractions. We can purchase the tickets Saturday in order to see the light show and continue to use them on Sunday.

This will be about 160 miles of twists, turns and some awesome scenery.  I’m sure there will be plenty of stops for photo op’s.

 

Sunday Sept 5: We can have breakfast at the buffet for $9.95, then we will spend the day exploring the Natural Bridge and all its fun filled activities and depart at approximately 4:00pm and head north on Rt 81, enroute to our dinner and hotel for the evening in Strasburg VA.

 http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/iadst-fairfield-inn-and-suites-strasburg/  540-465-1600 . We have King rooms blocked here, tell them you are with GWRRA NJD and your rate will be $79.00 plus tax . You must book prior to August 4, 2010 in order to receive this rate. They do have a continental breakfast.

This will be approximately 120 miles of highway riding.

 

Monday Sept.6: We will leave Strasburg VA after breakfast at approximately 8:30am, headed to good old New Jersey by way of Rt 66E to Rt 95N to Rt 295N.

This will be approximately 245 miles of highway riding.