peeps – ToadMama.com

May 4, 2014

An Impromptu Fuzzy Road Trip

Every now and then opportunities come along that you just can’t pass up.

I’ve been friends with Rachael (aka Fuzzy) for quite a few years. We met through her blog, Fuzzygalore.com – A Girlie Motorcycle Blog, and have been following each other ever since.

We have a lot in common. First and foremost, we’re girls who love to ride motorcycles. We’re also Moms, wives, photographers, fans of roadside oddities, etc. Getting to know Rachael on-line over the years, I always felt like we were kindred spirits.

Saying she’s famous would probably embarrass Rachel, so I’ll just call her well-known throughout the moto-blogging community. She’s got quite a following. So I was always afraid she’d think I was some weirdo Internet follower/stalker. LOL.

We’d tried meeting in person several times over the years, but for various reasons those plans had been thwarted. So, when I got an e-mail from Rachael saying her and her husband, Kenny, who I also felt like I sort of “knew” through her blog, were going to be in Romney, the town near our WV Place, I knew I had to jump at the chance.

I didn’t want to jump too quickly, though. Dare I hope that it would really happen? I had an unpredictable work project that could have made it difficult. And the weather this past week was horrendous, what with the monsoon rains we experienced. So I tried not to get too excited. I figured if I made definite plans, Fate may intervene. It always seems like the more I look forward to something, the better the chance that it won’t come to pass. Know what I mean?

That’s why few folks aside from Rachel, Kenny, Mike, and me knew of my plans.

As luck would have it, Fate was on our side this time. My work project was completed as scheduled, which meant I was able to take Friday afternoon off and head out to West Virginia. I was REALLY looking forward to it.

Friday was a fabulous day for a ride. The ideal scenario was for me to get to WV in time for dinner with Rachael and her crew. Then ride with them on Saturday.

Here are some sights from my Friday ride.

2_sights — Colorful restaurant in Linden, VA – The Apple House

The Apple House, in nearby Linden, Virginia, is supposed to have good food — especially doughnuts. I stopped there to grab lunch, and dessert, but it was pretty busy and I didn’t feel like waiting. I’ll get back there one day. If for no other reason than to buy one of their t-shirts.

Since I had some spare time, I decided I should stop at Dinosaur Land, a nearby-ish roadside attraction I’d never seen. In fact, I hadn’t even KNOWN about the place before one of Rachael’s road trips through the area.

6_sights — Way-cool Entrance to Dinosaur Land

There are various ways to get to the WV Place from our home in Virginia. But I was hoping that the Redbuds were still in bloom along US-50, west of Capon Bridge. I wasn’t disappointed.

I made it to the WV Place pretty much without incident. And I was happy to see the WV Place still standing. The inside is still a mess, but there’s no sign of mold anywhere — yay!!! — there’s still a decent amount of propane in the tanks, and there was some hard apple cider in the fridge.

I putzed around there a bit, then headed into town after connecting with Rachael.

9_sights — View toward Romney from just inside our community.

I was so happy to finally meet Rachel and Kenny, that I didn’t think to take pictures. Can you believe it!?! The three of us did have dinner together. And we made plans to meet up the next morning. I was anxious to get back to the WV Place before dark. Two miles of gravel road, lined by cliffs in some spots, through woods heavily populated with deer, is not a place I want to be after dark with no streetlights and weak motorcycle headlights.

Rachel and Kenny trusted me enough to lead them on a ride. How about that? The challenge was to plan a route with good roads and some fun/quirky stuff I knew Rachael HAD to see. It took some thinking, but I think I came up with a pretty good ride.

We planned to meet at the entrance to my community. When they arrived, I was tickled to see they’d brought a friend along. Mark, from Boston. I never got his last name. Sorry, Mark!

Our first stop was the Oldtown Low Water Bridge, one of the few remaining privately owned toll bridges in the country. It’s such an odd, quirky little bridge, I knew they’d love it.

Oldtown is actually in Maryland. I forgot to mention that to my riding buddies yesterday.

From there, we doubled back about 15 miles so we could hit one of Mike’s favorite roads, CR-3, also known as Springfield Pike, Slanesville Pike, AND Springfield-Millesons Mill Road. Route finding in West Virginia is a challenge. We did a quick detour on WV-29 so Rachael could capture a shot of this Mail Pouch barn to add to her collection. I’d forgotten to tell her it was coming up, so she was tickled.

13_ride_day — Rachael taking a picture of the barn. The very vocal cows were a bonus for me.

From there we headed back to what looks on the map like a continuation of the road we’d been on, but is actually a different road with multiple names, of course, depending on what map you use and/or where you enter the road. It’s know as Cold Stream Road, CR- 45/20, Springfield Grade Road, AND CR-15. Really.

After stopping for gas, we continued southward on CR-14/Cacapon River Road (also Capon River Road) toward Wardensville. We stopped for lunch at the Star Mercantile (see my previous post if you want to read more about the restaurant).

After lunch, I took them on Old US-55, not an easy road to follows as it wends its way around New 55, which is a great motorcycle road, even if there are almost always bits of gravel to dodge. Oddly, New 55 is now 48/55, but all of the signs pointing to the highway say “to 55”, which is what makes the old road so hard to follow.

Once we reached the end, we turned around and jumped onto New 55 so we could stop at a scenic overlook.

Then we headed to North River Road to visit my favorite herd of Oreo cows.

16_ride_day — Oreo Cows of North River Road

The locals sure got a chuckle out of seeing four motorcycles parked along this country road while four riders look at this herd of cows. They had to be thinking, “What? You’ve never seen cows before?” They probably just take their Oreo cows for granted.

17_ride_day — Kenny and Rachel, communing with the cows.

Then it was off to Grassy Lick Road. I’d told Rachel about that road repeatedly. Of course, I’ve mentioned it in my blog before, too. She’d tried, unsuccessfully, to find it on Friday.

So, when we finally did get to the south end of the road, there was a guy in a pick-up in front of us toting his large pig in a trailer. What an odd sight.

I’m sure my followers were wondering why, shortly after the pig guy turned off, I led them off of Grassy Lick Road. Until Rachel saw this little barn, which I’d also forgot to mention we’d be stopping to see.

20_ride_day — My BMW F650GS, Rachel and Kenny’s Triumph Tiger 1050s, and Mark’s Yamaha Super Tenere.

FINALLY, it was the time to run Grassy Lick. It’s smooth, fast, full of alternating twisties, and a couple of nice sweepers.

They loved it, just as much as we do. Which is good, considering all of my hype. LOL.

My favorite pic from the day was captured by Kenny (I think). Or Mark. Unbeknownst to me, he’d captured me following Rachel across my favorite bridge. How cool is that? Thanks to whoever shot this one. 🙂

bridge crossing — Rachel and me crossing my favorite bridge.

Rachel and Kenny are just as awesome in person as I thought they’d be. Mark was a great riding companion, too.

Hopefully, we’ll get to ride together again one day. Maybe next time, we’ll be able to plan far enough ahead so Mike can join us.

He did get to meet them briefly, but that’s another story…

Thanks again, Fuzzmops, for the excellent riding day.

April 19, 2011April 19, 2011

Peeps I Know: Granny Trace

This edition of “Peeps I Know” is a bit different. It’s EXTRA-special, too. Because this post is not about someone I met on-line. It’s about someone I know-know. Like in-the-flesh.

Not that I don’t love all my online Peeps. You guys are awesome, too. But the lady I’m going to tell you about and I go WAY back. She knew me even before I was ToadMama. Heck, even before I knew there was such a thing as a personal computer.

I think we were about 13 when we met. Our families attended the same church in a Baltimore neighborhood called Armistead Gardens (aka “The Gardens”). Tracey didn’t live in The Gardens, but her Grandmother did. In fact, her Gran lived on the street behind my parents’ house.

I could tell you all about the fun, wholesome things we did together as wee lasses. But I won’t. ‘Cause I like to keep this blog real. (Although we weren’t altogether horrible children, we did have a bit of a wild streak.)

If someone would’ve told me, back in the day, that I”d be sitting here one day writing about “Granny” Trace, I would have laughed hysterically. For serious. Back then, I couldn’t imagine any of us as adults, much less parents or, God forbid, grandparents.

There were actually four of us who hung out together. Carol, Laura, Tracey, and me. Carol is the oldest. She’s a full year ahead of me. Laura is six months younger than me. And Tracey is six months younger than Laura. Which, if you do the math, means Tracey is a year younger than I am. We were some crew, I tell ya. Carol, being a whole year older, wasn’t with the three of us all that often. And of all of us, it was Laura and Tracey who spent the most time together.

DSC01719_xmas_2005 — L-R, Carol, Kathy (me), and Tracey - Christmas 2005

When Tracey got pregnant at 16. And then married, we sort of grew apart. At that point, I was busy being a kid and she was busy being a very young mother. We didn’t lose touch completely, but we did drift apart. We just didn’t have much in common. I mean, I was a total tomboy. I’d never so much as baby-sat a kid by myself. The only babysitting I did was when I accompanied Carol to watch her nephew. And that wasn’t because I loved kids. It was because her sister would supply us with beer and a place to drink it. While we watched her toddler. Smart, huh?

We did see each other periodically. But several years passed and before I knew it, Tracey had three children. Laura, who had gotten pregnant and married six months after Tracey, ended up with three kids, too. But hers came one right after the other. Tracey’s are at least a couple of years apart. Carol never did have children. And I managed not to get knocked up until I was a whopping 22.

That’s how old my son is now. He’s the only kid I gave birth to. I earned Shannon and Amy by marriage. (I said “earned” for a reason. Step-motherhood takes work. Trust me.)

Anyway… as you’ll discover after you visit her blog (which I really, really hope you’ll do), Tracey is not your average woman. The guy she married at the tender young age of 16? John? He’s still her husband. They just recently celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary. Between them, they’ve managed to build quite a family (three children and three grandchildren). John, who started out as an apprentice carpenter all those years back, is a very successful, high-level foreman-type (I’m sure he has a fancier title than that) for one of the biggest commercial contracting companies in the area. While he was busy building his career, Tracey was tending the home front. You know, being all domestic. Raising children, cooking, baking, sewing. The whole nine yards. She was a stay-at-home-Mom for many, many years. She did daycare for a while. And she worked VERY HARD for far too many years at a grocery store.

Why did I tell you all that? Because her story deserves to be told. Marriage is hard. Parenthood is hard. To start at 16 and build the kind of life she and John have built together is nothing short of amazing. There was lots of blood, sweat, and tears along the way, trust me. But they persevered. And now Tracey is starting to realize her dream of owning a farm (albeit a small one). She always loved being a mother. She LOVES being a Granny. She loves raising critters (she’s been referred to here previously as The Chicken Lady). And growing stuff. And making things. Not just food stuff either. Tracey is far and away the craftiest person I know. (She’s the one who taught me to sew. Yep, I can make quilts (simple ones) all because of Tracey.)

She’s said for years that she’d love to have her own craft shop. And she totally could. She’s very talented. She could sell baked goods, and crafts, and homemade granola (that was awesome, by the way). She’s the one who baked those brownies filled with double-stuff Oreos. Oh. My. God!

When we were at the WV Place for our girl getaway recently, I asked her if she had an Etsy shop yet. She didn’t. But she’d been thinking of setting one up. I told her she should make a blog. Honestly though, I know she’s no techno-savvy Mama. And I really didn’t think she’d go for it. But she did. It’s not rocket science really. And she’s most definitely got more than enough material to blog about. Before I knew it, she was buying her domain name. and Granny Trace Scraps & Squares was born!

granny_trace_screen_shot — Be sure to visit. And tell her ToadMama sent you!

I’m not trying to take any credit here. I just prodded a teeny weenie bit. But I really am very proud of her. Really. She’s got so much to be proud of. So much to be thankful for. None of it was handed to her either. Not a single, stinkin’ thing. She worked for all of it. Which is why I think her story should be told. I admire her tremendously. We don’t spend nearly enough time together. Heck, we barely communicate during the course of a normal year. But that’s just because we both live different lives.

How different? Here’s Tracey’s new ride. A tractor with a wagon. She likes driving it slowly, in circles, repeatedly through the same field.

Not quite like my new ride. We definitely couldn’t ride together. 🙂

granny_trace — Granny Trace on her brand-new ride! Isn't she just the cutest Granny ever?

That’s one of the reasons our annual girl getaway is so important. It gives all of us (we’re down to three) time to catch up. To just be girls again for an entire weekend. You have no idea how refreshing that is.

I still don’t know if she set up that Etsy shop. But I do know she’s up to 35 followers. And she’d really like to hit 50. Really, really.

I’d like her to hit 50, too. Because she could use the encouragement. She’s a very special, very talented lady. (See Trace? I bet you never thought I noticed!)

As an added incentive, she’s giving away some of these awesome little chicks she makes out of vintage wool.

So, if you are at all into crafts, or baking, farm life, or sewing, go visit her blog. Perhaps you know some folks who might be interested in one or more of those things? Tell them to go visit Granny Trace’s blog. And be sure to let her know that ToadMama sent you.

For the record, I never refer to her as “Granny Trace.” I really don’t mind getting old. But calling your girlfriend “Granny” is just weird! Even if she’s really proud of being a granny, and you’re a granny yourself. (No one calls me that, though. I’m just G. It’s very easy for all the grand kids to spell.)

And since we’re talking about records… I don’t know who shot that picture of Tracey on her new ride, but I LOVE it! I totally stole it from her blog. But I couldn’t help myself. Besides, we’re friends. We share stuff.

He were are about a month ago. I can’t wait to see what the next 30 years will bring!

IMG_9548_dressed to kill — We're Still Hot (It Just Comes in Flashes Now)

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

UPDATE: I just had to add pics of some of my Granny Trace creations, i.e., gifts she’s made for me.

IMG_9856_snowman — Petite Snowman Pillow

IMG_9859_my chicks — My Collection of Chicks with Rooster Pillow

February 12, 2011February 12, 2011

Peeps I Know: HouseholdDiva6

A few weeks ago, I did my first Peeps I Know post. This is my own little initiative to bring extra attention to some of the very interesting people I have “met” online.

Blog Title: HouseholdDiva6

Blog Host: Ann Marie Detavernier

As with Jade, the subject of my first “Peeps” profile, it was Ann Marie’s photography that first caught my eye. Honestly, I can’t remember how long I’ve been reading her blog, but I’m pretty sure it’s been a couple of years. It was just a sleepy little blog when I started reading, but it has since evolved into this very cool, multi-faceted hub of information with over a thousand followers.

But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me tell you a bit about Ann Marie.

ann_marie_peeps_I_know — HouseholdDiva6 (aka Ann Marie)

I don’t know her age, but I’m guessing late-20s or early 30s. She’s got three kids (two boys and a girl) and is married to a soldier. It’s because she’s married to a soldier that she’s living in Germany. Her blog is all about being a military spouse, but that’s not its sole focus. Yes, she talks about being married to a soldier and enduring LONG deployments (she’s survived many), but she also talks about photography and cooking. She’s managed to build an online and in-the-flesh community/support group of other women in the same boat as she.

The coolest thing she did recently was start an Overseas Coupons and Coffee Program . As her web site explains, after she realized she needed to be wiser with her money (three kids, remember?), she “started reading and learning skills from frugal blogs all over the internet. Weekly meal planning (why it’s good for my marriage); cooking in bulk (with the intent to freeze); writing a grocery list; shopping in my pantry and freezer before going to the store; and , organizing my list according to the Commissary aisles.” It all worked so well, she wanted to share it with others. And she did! Follow this link to learn more: Overseas Coupons and Coffee Program.

She also shares recipes, too. That’s where Shannon got her soft pretzel recipe, the one she uses to make those delectable pretzel dogs. Well, I got it from Ann Marie’s blog and gave it to Shannon.

Her kids are super-cute. She’s got a great sense of humor.

She takes great pictures. Still.You really should visit her Flickr pages and have a gander at her images. Maybe I just really enjoy her site because I’ve been following for a while. It’s been fun seeing her kids grow and sharing other little glimpses of her life.

Even though I don’t share the military spouse thing, I REALLY enjoy her blog. She posts such a wide variety of stuff, but I read it all. Like a very neat post she did the other day on making Daddy Deployment Boxes. Today’s post featured a great shot of her Hubby making breakfast (though I’ve never seen anyone sit down to make pancakes!).

Anyway… if you’ve got some time to spare, hop on over to HouseholdDiva6. Leave a comment so she knows you visited, and be sure to tell her ToadMama sent you.