Our old buddy Doc Riley, who made a guest appearance in Roanoke yesterday, returned this morning to see the Tour off.

He looked quite at ease with the megaphone.

Some of us chose to give our rides one last quick clean up before hitting the streets.

We preferred to spend our time checking out Jay Leno’s cool new roadster

with the autographed engine cover.

The Tour really does have a home for rides of all sizes — tall or small.

When it was time to go, Pamela strapped herself in the Mazda3 and we headed for the Blue Ridge Parkway again, and one of the seven wonders of the world.

Even though the route was crowded,

everyone behaved themselves and showed patience.

Some liked the old way of doing the drive,

while others preferred a newer ride.

But, we all got along just fine.

As many found, if you take life slow and easy, you learn more.

An optional stop on the Tour was Natural Bridge, a stone archway considered one of the seven wonders of the world.

It proved a popular stop for those of us wanting to stretch our legs and give the cars time to spread out.

We paid our money and took our walk. An official ticket puncher punched our tickets and we headed down for a look.

It took millions of years of water running to make the bridge.

The water’s still running, just not as fast.

On the way down was the oldest Arbor Vitae tree in the world.

It was 1,600 years old when it died in 1990.

In the water running under the arch was a pool where trout, both golden and rainbow, collected.

No one could tell us why they swam in circles.

After climbing the 137 steps back up to the parking lot (and taking a few minutes to catch our breath), we took off on the Blue Ridge again. Our next stop was America’s darkest hour — Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

This early ’60s Ford, known as Rotunda, kept pace for the drive.

I know I can take him in the corners, though.

From July 1 to July 3, 1863, the last major battle of the Civil War occurred in Gettysburg. Over 258,000 troops died, 94,000 from the battle itself, and 164,000 from disease.

In the early 1900s, many states represented in the battle placed monuments to honor their fallen soldiers where they camped. If you ever get the chance, it’s worth the trip.

Afer paying our respects, it was back on the road, next stop Harrisburg.

In the lot, we saw some rides we hadn’t seen before, including an early ’50s pickup,

a really clean Typhoon,

and an early ’60s Impala.

Then we met Chuey.

Come to find out, Chuey (his actual name is Jesus) is a gnome from Puerto Rico. We understand he tells folks he’s Norwegian.

But, I know for a fact he has family in New Jersey he’s going to visit, and there’s a pretty decent chance his parents are polar bears.

If you see Chuey, say hi.

While Joe grilled me on the weather, I lusted over the day’s Gibson Les Paul guitar being given away.

I can’t play a guitar to save my life, but if I could win, I’d learn.

While walking back to our trailer, I ran across a Dodge Rampage. Anyone remember them? They were a 4-cylinder front-drive pickup based of the Omni, I think.

This one, though, was possessed of a hemi and lots of polished aluminum. Looks like a great reason to own a PowerBall.

With storms rolling in,

we elected to pack it up and rest for tomorrow’s final drive to Englishtown Raceway, New Jersey.