Hope to miss the crowds

The photo shows a motorcycle too close to the driver's side of my Troutmobile Sunday afternoon as I took a leisurely ride home on the Blue Ridge Parkway, which by the way was way less crowded than I expected.

Perhaps the lull in touristy hordes will continue through this weekend when I plan to hit the tiny streams at Graveyard Fields. I caught some brook trout there several years ago. They were all tiny and pretty, like the little char are supposed to be.

The leaf peepers will be upon us soon. There's something weird about the folks in Asheville and surrounding areas and their insane fascination with death.

Dead leaves on the ground drive these people crazy. Dead leaves hanging on with their last ounce of life in a tree entrance them. They photograph it, videotape it, pose with their families in it, let the children roll in it.....

They're DEAD, people. Leave em alone. Stay home. Quit taking all the parking places on the Parkway.

And watch the motorcycles, not the dead leaves.