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Touring Center Alps, Here We Come!

I haven’t said a whole lot about our summer vacation plans yet. I’m not sure why. I mean, I did mention it a while back. But I haven’t been talking about it much on the blog or even in general.

Maybe it just hasn’t seemed real enough to get all excited about. We’ve been talking about and planning it for a couple of years now, so it’s always sort of been that thing we’re going to do. Even after booking the trip and buying the plane tickets, it still just didn’t seem real.

Now, however, it seems real. Look what we each received in the mail yesterday…

The Trip Packet

We got a map! I LOVE maps. And a list of all the other folks that are on the tour (13 including us). That Touring Center Alps booklet is our itinerary. We also got some stickers, and some luggage tags. Some anti-fog stuff for our visors. Oh yeah, and a booklet explaining what the road signs mean.

It’s getting real now. 🙂

And check this out…

The BMW F 650 GS

This will be my ride. It’s just so, so sporty.

Okay, that’s not the actual bike. But it is the model we’ll be riding (we’ll each have our own). I’m not sure what color I’ll get. I don’t really care about the color anyway.

Check out this map…

The Alps

This side of the map is sort of an artist’s rendition of where we’re going to be riding. The green at the top is Germany. The green area at the bottom is Italy. The red check mark (which you’ll see better if you click on the image) shows the valley where we’ll be staying (Seefeld in Tirol, Austria). Switzerland is at the far left.

Oh yeah, I got the name of the hotel, too: Hotel Central Seefeld.

The wonderful trip coordinator, Doris, who said to me way back in November, “I am there for you!” has totally been there for me. She’s been extremely helpful. So much so that she even arranged train tickets for us, which she did not have to do (as in, that’s not her job). But I’m so glad she did, ’cause let me tell you, that train stuff is confusing for this ignorant American used to dealing with ONE train company… AMTRAK. There are lots of train companies in Europe with different routes, different connections, different purchase plans. Most of which are described in a language other than English.

We just happened to get our train tickets by e-mail yesterday, too. (Of course, they’re in German, so I just have to trust that they are the right thing!).

An entire week in the Alps. Awesome, eh? And while that’s good, that’s not the best part. The best part will be the second week of the trip when we get to visit with our friends in Switzerland and Belgium.

We’re getting excited now. Now, it’s starting to feel real. So real, in fact, that I need to start shopping for my own pair of  ass-less leather chaps. Not like THOSE though (I couldn’t resist).

Like these… it’s a safety thing.

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Thinking Spring

Spring is definitely here. Wanna know how I know?

It’s Easter, for one.

Not being a particularly religious person, and having adult children, Easter doesn’t mean much to me.

There’s the grandkids, of course. But their father (my son-in-law) has a pretty big family and they tend to celebrate with large family gatherings. So most of our Easters are spent in West Virginia.

We could do the typical grandparent thing and get them Easter baskets full of candy and cheapo toys. But their parents don’t let them have much candy (which is really a very good thing) and they have lots of toys that more often than not end up being discretely disposed of because they totally clutter up their house.

So Easter is pretty much just another day to us. It would be more exciting if we got Good Friday and/or Easter Monday off of work. But we don’t.

Anyway… after Hubby sent me the bunny pic shown above, I decided to see what other kind of Easter humor was out there.

You did see me say I’m not particularly religious, right? I mention that again because some of these are slightly off-color.

They’re not REALLY bad. But they’re not all sunshine, rainbows and cute little bunnies either.

That’s totally something one of my dogs would do.

That last one is my favorite. Nothing like a slightly humorous joke with a picture of crabby-looking old folks.

Okay, okay, I’ll stop. Those images really aren’t all THAT funny. Besides I’d rather share some pictures I took yesterday that really are signs of Spring.

The Redbud Trees are Starting to Bloom
New Growth
More New Growth and Blue Skies
New Growth on Another Bush
The Lizards Have Awakened From Their Long Winter Slumber
The Forest Floor is Coming Alive
Nothing Says Spring Like a Motorcycle All Gassed-up and Ready-to-Ride

That’s it for pictures shot yesterday. But it’s not the end.

When I was at my friend Tracey’s house a few weeks ago, I did more than photograph her poultry. I took some pics around her house. One of my favorites is the one I got of her basket full of chicks. She made them. She’s very crafty. In fact, she’s the one who taught me to make hand-tied quilts.

Tracey's Home-made Chicks

She’s got a great eye for decorating, too. This one picture I took in her kitchen makes the perfect Easter banner with which to end this long and sort of boring post. Sorry.

From Tracey's Springy Kitchen

I hope you have a fabulous Easter!

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Why We Became Residential Tourists

Care to venture a guess as to what Hubby and I will be doing this weekend?

Forecast for the Weekend (Romney version)

Those of you who know us really well should have no problem figuring this one out. I mean, look at that weather forecast!

Adding “Romney” to the graphic caption is probably a bit of a giveaway.

Curious about the post title? You know how hard it is to think of interesting and relevant titles for every post? Especially in the morning when one is still half asleep?

If I ever title a post “Untitled” you will know I am having a really bad day…

Anyway, I was reading a book a while back about the history of Appalachia. It talked a bit about the economy, lack of jobs, etc., which explains why a lot of young people move away from the area as soon as they can. Then it talked about folks like us. People who live in our near cities and buy property in the mountains on which they situate a house they only live in on a part-time basis. Mostly weekends, of course.

I thought it a pretty apt and cool descriptor.

So, did you figure it out yet? Maybe this photographic hint will help…

Hubby and I on "The Dragon"

Lucky for us we visited The Dragon when we did, ’cause now it is CLOSED. For serious. It’s temporary, thank goodness. I feel bad for motorcyclists in that area or those who were planning to visit that area this summer. Although there’s always the Hellbender.

Here’s something interesting… the road known as the Hellbender, is now being referred to as the Moonshiner28 by the folks who have capitalized on The Dragon. Here’s a map link that should show Route 129 on the left and Route 28 (Hellbender) on the right. Where The Dragon’s curves are technically challenging, the sweeping curves and twisties on the Hellbender are just plain fun.

If only it were closer…

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Our Summer Vacation

The other day, I mentioned pricing that makes no sense for some airplane tickets.

A day or so later, Amy said something like, “So, I guess your talking about the price of airplane tickets to Switzerland and Belgium means you’re going to Switzerland and Belgium?” She was right.

The Motorcycle Tour Map

Hubby and I had been contemplating this trip for a while. He’s known about a company called Edelweiss Bike Travel for quite a few years. They have organized motorcycle tours at various locations around the world.

I’m not a huge fan of marathon motorcycle rides. When he first mentioned a bike tour of Europe to me about a year ago, I said, “Okay, I’ll go. If I can ride with you for a couple of days then scoot over to Belgium to visit Annelies while you complete the trip.”

That was before he met Annelies and her boyfriend Yves.

You see Hubby is quite shy. If I’d said to him a year ago, “Okay, if WE can scoot over to Belgium to visit with Annelies,” he would’ve said, “But I don’t even know those people.”

Hubby is not very adventurous when it comes to social engagements. He’d much rather eat snails raw than interact with strangers.

But now that he’s met the two of them, and he really likes them, he’s all like, “Hey, now we can go on the tour and visit with Annelies and Yves.”

I was quite hesitant to book the trip because the tour isn’t exactly cheap. And in these economic times, there’s no guarantee I’ll still have a job tomorrow. But, like Shannon said, if we don’t do it now when we have the money put aside, we’ll always regret it. Never mind that the money we have put aside is our layoff cushion.

Plus, Annelies was anxious to submit a vacation request before the slave drivers we work for have a chance to say, “Nope, sorry. Someone else is already off that week.” (We don’t really work for slave drivers. We have wonderful bosses.)

So I finally booked the tour. Hubby didn’t even balk when I said, “By the way, when we’re in Belgium, we’re going to spend an entire evening with my other coworkers in Belgium, too.” Yep, other people he has never met.

Being a regional employee has its plusses and minuses. There are many, many people I work with on a regular basis who I have never met face-to-face. But even over the phone, I can tell whether I’d like a person socially or not. I’ve met Annelies, of course. I have also met her boss, Leo, who is not only a nice, fun, friendly guy, but he’s great at selecting the right wine to go with dinner. (We had a sales meeting in London a few years back and Leo always seemed to be in charge of selecting the wine.) And then there’s Bruni, who I have not met, but Annelies always sings her praises, so I’m sure we will get along fabulously. We may need to do a girls’ night out during this trip. 🙂

Anyway… here’s the vacation plan. There are quite a few details to work out, but so far we know this…

We will be leaving on a Friday, flying from BWI to Zurich, Switzerland. It’s an overnight flight, so we won’t arrive in Zurich until Saturday. Then we will hop on a train to Seefeld, Austria, just outside of Innsbruck, which will serve as the base for the bike tour, which begins on Sunday.

As you can see from the map, we’ll be riding in Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. The following Saturday, we’ll hop a train back to Zurich so we can visit with the lovely McDonald family and see a bit of their temporary country. On Tuesday, we’ll fly from Zurich to Brussels, Belgium, where we’ll meet up with Annelies and Yves for a whirlwind tour of their home country and surroundings. Then, on the following Saturday, we’ll fly back home.

It should be lots of fun. We’re both looking very forward to it.

There’s a lot of planning to do between now and then, but at least I’ll have help (from Annelies, not Hubby).

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It Doesn’t Get Any Better

Sunday was a picture-perfect day for motorcycling. After freezing our asses off on Saturday, both Hubby and I were a bit noncommittal about venturing out on Sunday. But after driving into Romney for breakfast at McDonald’s on Sunday morning, I told Hubby the weather was so perfect it would be almost criminal not to ride.

So I mapped out a route for us. Whether using old-fashioned paper maps or newfangled mapping software, route planning is not a perfect science. While county roads are fun, sometimes they are not paved. But we manage, as long as the gravel and/or dirt roads are in good condition.

I couldn’t resist stopping at the Post Office just off US-220 South of Old Fields, WV after seeing the flowers growing there. After that brief pause, we headed West on Old Fields Road [CR-2/5] into Williamsport, WV.

Here are some images from that road…




We proceeded West and, after hitting Williamsport, headed North on CR-5 [Patterson Creek Road]. From there, the plan was to continue West on Poplar School Road (or Popular School, depending on which map software you believe). But there was a problem.

That road was not only not paved, it looked like this…

It’s a pretty little scene, right? Do you see the problem?

This shot shows the trouble a bit better. The road went right through Harness Creek!

Had we been in the truck, we could have forded the smallish waterway. Fording creeks, however, is never a good idea on big-ass, 800-plus-pound street motorcycles.

Traversing dirt and/or gravel roads is enough of a challenge. Driving over slimy wet rocks in a creek? Uh, no.

I couldn’t resist snapping some pics before consulting my trusty West Virginia Atlas & Gazetteer (by DeLorme Publishing) to find an alternate route. Now, I knew where I was and could’ve gotten us home without a map, but it was too nice a day to quit so early. So we headed West to Greenland Gap Road, which goes right through the Greenland Gap Preserve.

Both this and the following images were from a previous trip I’d taken there without Hubby.

I did stop long enough so Hubby could see the gap as shown in the above image. You can’t appreciate the size of the cliffs when traveling the road from East to West.

From there, we headed East on SR-93 then East on US-50 back into Romney.

Riding weather doesn’t get much better than temperatures in the mid-70s, with very low humidity and sunny skies.

As much as I love Fall, I really hate to see the riding season end.

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It’s Coming

What’s coming? Fall, of course. It will be here very soon. We experienced a bit of Fall weather this weekend. More on that later in this post…

It’s not obvious at this point. But if you look closely, you’ll see it. Some of the trees have already started changing.

The grass is getting red.

Seed pods are dropping.

Other grass is turning brown.

And I’ve been seeing more and more colored leaves on the ground. Actually, at higher elevations, there are quite a few maples that have already turned red.

Speaking of higher elevations…


View Romney to Aurora, WV in a larger map

If you click on the above map or link and zoom in, you should be able to see the terrain and elevation markings. You’ll have to zoom in enough to see US-50.

Why am I showing you this? So you understand why Hubby and I had a very cold bike ride on Saturday.

We wrongly decided to head west. The WV place is at about a 1,000 foot elevation. We ended up in Aurora, West Virginia, which is only about 50 miles west of Romney, but at about 2,800 feet.

It was around 70 degrees in Romney and overcast. Heading west, as soon as we hit about 1,500 feet, the temperature started dropping. And dropping. And dropping. Hubby finally stopped so we could add some layers of clothing and our gloves.

Aurora was not the planned destination. We stopped there for lunch. When we went into the restaurant, it was a little foggy. As we ate, we both agreed we’d better head back east. It’s a good thing, too. By the time we finished our meal, the temperature was hovering at 59 degrees (not so bad until you sit on a motorcycle at 60 mph!). The fog had gotten so thick that our face shields and windshields were covered with a pretty thick mist.

Not great motorcycling weather by a long stretch. We were both very happy to hit a lower elevation and warmer weather.

Luckily, Sunday was better. But I’ll talk about that in a later post.