Quest for LOVE, Thwarted

It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend, weather-wise, in Central Virginia. Saturday, it was in the mid-70s with low humidity. Sunday, it was in the upper 70s/low 80s. The humidity was a teeny bit higher than the previous day, but still very low for this area. Monday was actually a bit warm for me — mid-80s with more humidity — but there was a nice breeze.

I made myself quite a long to-do list of things to accomplish while Hubby is away. That, and a mysterious, nagging feeling that I shouldn’t ride, kept me off the bike Saturday and Sunday. And I actually got a bit of chores done.

By Sunday night, that weird feeling had gone, so I figured I’d ride on Monday. Rather than swelter mid-day, I left the house about 8:30 and headed NW toward Front Royal and the northernmost entrance to Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park (SNP).

There’s one of the VA LOVEworks at Morais Vineyards, not far from my house, so I tacked that onto the end of the ride.

When I left the house, temps were approaching the 70s. It was still mild, and quite lovely.

I didn’t map the exact route before I left. I can get to SNP any number of ways. So I just rode where I felt like riding. It was grand. Here’s a pic from one of my favorite spots.

You may even recognize that place. I know I’ve shared it here several times. I can’t help it, I just LOVE that road. It’s about 20 minutes from the house. I was looking west, across the Marriott Ranch (yes, that Marriott) to the mountains.

I’m so glad I went early. Temps were perfect. And there was even less traffic than usual on the roads.

It was the inaugural ride for my new mascot. He seemed to be enjoying himself.

Acoustics were a bit louder than usual. Sunday was the annual Rolling Thunder ride in Washington, DC. Lots of the rider, many from all around the US, decided to make Skyline Drive part of their ride home yesterday.

I saw, and heard, several large groups. And lots of other small groups. Since I was early, traffic was pretty light, so the noise was only sporadic. And I made sure I didn’t end up traveling behind any noisy-ass bikes.

It was really a beautiful ride. Temps stayed in the low-to-mid 60s the entire way. It’s always cooler atop the mountains, especially under the trees.

 

The haze is due to the climbing humidity. I left the park, descending onto the piedmont, shortly after taking that pic. It was definitely warmer down there, but fine as long as I kept moving.

I was supposed to cap-off the ride with a capture of the LOVEwork at Morais Vineyard. But, when I got there, I discovered it’s only open on Saturday and Sunday. And the property is gated.

In my opinion, it’s pretty lame to have a LOVEwork that people can only see during very limited business hours. Good thing I hadn’t ridden far out of my way to see it, eh?

I did manage to capture this selfie at the corn silo. 🙂

I got home right around 1:00. The girls, who were very happy to see me, and I spent the rest of the day relaxing. A blender of margaritas may have played a role.

As for Hubby… he continues to make his way west. He encountered quite a bit of rain near Houston on Sunday. Luckily, he made it through that part of Texas before it got really bad. Have you seen the news? It’s crazy. Some places reported 10 inches (25.4 cm) of rain.

There were thunderstorms yesterday morning in Del Rio as he was preparing to leave, so he didn’t depart until a couple of hours later than planned. Lots of lightning (he sent me a video), hail, and even a tornado warning. Luckily, his bike was parked under cover.

I captured a screen shot of the weather radar at 6:30 Texas time as he and I chatted via text.

See the purple hue? That means really, REALLY heavy rain. That’s part of the system from West Texas that converged and wreaked such havoc on Austin and Houston.

And did you know this? A tornado actually hit Ciudad Acuna during that very storm. Ciudad Acuna is six miles (a 20-minute drive) from Del Rio, where Hubby was hunkered down.

After the storm passed, he left. He says the roads were quite wet for awhile, but dried out quickly as he motored along. He said temps were in the low-to-mid 70s all day. In fact, he kept his jacket liner in for most of the day.

So the Four Corners Tour continues. His destination for today is San Diego. He’ll actually be there for two nights visiting with Shannon and her boyfriend, Chris. I’m sure he’ll enjoy the break.

 

One more thing before I go… I really have been doing lots of chores. And, although I did get some relaxation in yesterday, I stayed away from my office, and my computers. The phone really sucks for commenting. So, while I’ve been reading your comments, I wasn’t able to reply from the phone. I’ll try to be more timely in the future, okay? I really do appreciate each and every one of you. Thanks so much for following.