I knew Vann was going to be on his way to Marietta on Thursday and he was even coming through Bluefield (where I live), but I wouldn't be there. On the way Home Thursday we decided to stop by the New River Gorge Bridge (Fayetteville, WV) and use the facilities at the Visitor's Center. Sitting in the parking lot about to get out of the car I see a bike and my boss jokingly says, "There's one of your buddies!" I immediately said, "That's Vann!!" and threw my arm out the door to wave. He pulled in to drive down the row we were parked in and I walked to the end of the vehicle completely surpising Vann (wncbmw). We chatted a bit and he took off because he still had several miles to cover.
Thursday evening was mess of unpacking for work travel and packing for bike travel.
Friday I got a pretty good start and was on the road by 8:30. Blue skies and sunshine had me singing in my helmet. I had checked the radar and knew I was riding into a big green blob. Half an hour later it was clear I was going to get wet. I took 219 and made it to Lewisburg, WV at about 10:00. Got some gas and called MikeCam to confirm I was on schedule. Shortly after hitting the road again it started to rain. Light at first but getting steadily worse. By the time I hit Marlinton I was cold and for the first time ever my jacket soaked through on the arms. The insulated liner got soaked and my shirt got soaked. I was as miserable as I've ever been on the bike and there was no where to stop and take cover. So I pressed on.
I hit Elkins, WV about 12:30 and it was still raining. After hanging out under a gas station shelter for about 30 minutes I decided to pull across the street to McDonalds to get some food and warm up. By about 1:45 I was reconsidering the whole trip and happened to be leaving Mike another voice mail message when I saw them pull up. What a huge relief!!
We spent another hour or so warming up and trying to dry out before leaving and it still hadn't stopped raining, but it was easing up. The further west we went the warmer and dryer it got. The warmer and dryer it got the better I felt.
I had planned on camping about 20 miles away from Marietta. But . . . .
We got there about 7pm and I was beat. Yong had to cancel at the last minute (somebody has a company to run) so Vann needed a roommate. I didn't wish to run back and forth from the campground to the Lafayette trying to hook up with the group (don't know what I was thinking to start with) so it wasn't hard to convince me to split the room with Vann. Thanks again, Vann. I'm very glad I did.
Saturday had us splitting into two groups while MikeCam practiced being antisocial. Don't know where we went but the pace was good, the roads were fun (if a bit rough at times) and I spent the day enjoying my ride with the group.
I got to put a face with some more usernames: MartyWadd, Kevin50r, Mitchell, another Mike who says he's a lurker, Zoomart and his buddy Tom. Hi guys! Hope I didn't leave anyone out. There were 16 of us at dinner that night.
On Sunday I got a late start (about 8am) and slabbed it south on 77 before stopping in Ripley, WV about 9am for a biscuit, some gas, and route planning.
Here was my route from Ripley to Bluefield: 21 to 34 to 3 to 10 to 80 to 52. I passed through Hurricane, Logan, Gilbert and various other unincorporated burgs and villes.
34 was just an absolutely amazing road, maybe my favorite of the whole weekend. I had one deer encounter while on it. As I came around a blind left handed hilltopper I spooked a deer standing on the right shoulder, luckily he bolted away from the road. I didn't even have time to react and if he'd jumped into my path I have no doubt I would have smashed right into him.
Somewhere just South of Eleanor, WV I misread a sign telling me whether to go left or right. I took the left because my road was listed beside the road with arrow pointing left but above the road with arrow pointing right. Anyway while circling around I ended up behind a car that had held me up in the twisty section coming into town. I got caught a light where route 10 cut south out of town and the slow car got through the light ahead of me. So when the light changed I zipped on down the straight stretch hoping to be able to pass him before the road got curvy again. Just as I'm hitting 6th gear I pass a group of cars going the other direction. Right in the middle of this group of about 5 cars I notice one of them has a light bar...POLICE! An instant later those blue lights start flashing and I start cussing. I kept checking my mirror but he cut his lights off and never turned around. Thank you Mr. Police man for the warning!! I eventually passed the car and only "abused the speed limit a little" (as machew01 says) in the most rural areas.
The rest of the trip home was just a hardcore run through the beautiful sunlit mountains. The temp kept climing and I kept riding. I stopped briefly for gas, didn't even get off the bike for fear of being molested by a gang of kids on atv's (no helmets riding on the road). Stopped again to take the liner out of my coat and don the mesh gloves. Got home to my sorely missed family about 2:30 and spent the rest of the evening cleaning the garage. I even mopped the garage floor. Camilletti says he'd eat off it, I wouldn't. 800 more miles on the bike and the front tire is shot. Time for a new tire and a 24K mile service.
My Post Bash Depression (PBD) has fully set in. Little things at work (sucks) annoy me to no end, and I'm just generally irritable. Smugmug or more likely my Internect connection with Verizion (sucks) has given me fits. It's taken no less than 5 attempts to get all 22 photos uploaded. Then this evening, I tried to cut my grass (first time in 8 days) and my mower threw a rod, blowing out one whole side of the mower! Holy Cow, man!!!
Click the pictures for larger versions, the whole (still uncommented) gallery is here:
http://R1150R.smugmug.com/gallery/1480550/2/71018572
DSKYZD
