My friend, Dottie, who just got her motorcycle license earlier this year, has been itching to go for a ride with me. Since my usual riding partner was otherwise engaged with chores, Sunday seemed like a good day to do just that.
Why not take her along on Saturday? Not only did she have other plans, she hasn’t been riding for long, tires easily, and is quite sensitive to cold. So I knew the trek I had in mind on Saturday might just do her in.
Sunday’s weather wasn’t nearly as nice as it was on Saturday. Mainly because it was really windy. But it was still pretty.
I thought the temperature was just right, but Dottie was freezing. She still hasn’t figured out her proper gear combination. It takes experience for a person to know what to wear in different conditions to keep oneself comfortable. But she toughed it out, and we had a pleasant day.
When it came time to plan the route, I figured I’d take her outside of her usual riding zone and head over into West Virginia. I hadn’t been over there on my bike since early May. And even that was just a brief visit. I miss my old haunts.
We didn’t go far into West Virginia, but I did enjoy seeing that little corner of the George Washington National Forest again. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Wardensville, West Virginia was our first stop.
Star Mercantile
There’s a funky little country restaurant there — the Star Mercantile — that I like and thought Dottie might enjoy.
It’s cute, kitschy, and their food is decent. The waitress can be sorta grumpy, but that’s part of the charm.
I was excited to see some new artsy additions in town. Like this giant rooster, across the street from the restaurant.
Giant Rooster
And this interesting “mural” a couple blocks west of the Star Mercantile. Upon closer inspection, I was delighted to see it was made out of old bottle-caps.
Bottle-cap Art
I didn’t know what the heck it was supposed to be — honestly, I thought from afar that it was a pig — but found out later from Dottie’s daughter, Ashley, that it mimics The Son of Man, a famous Rene Magritte painting.
Wardensville getting artsy? Huh.
After a nice, long lunch so Dottie could warm up, we ventured into the George Washington National Forest via Trout Run Road.
Trout Pond
We stopped for a quick peek at Trout Pond, which was still a bit colorful.
And then we continued through the forest. My memory isn’t as good as I thought. We did a bit of circling before we finally made it to Wolf Gap. But at least they were scenic circles.
Near Lost River, West Virginia
Near Lost River, West Virginia
Near Lost River, West Virginia
Dottie didn’t enjoy the forest roads nearly as much as I did. They are narrow, have no shoulders or no shoulders (drop-offs), were a bit covered with fallen leaves, and the bright sun through the trees made it hard to see.
Wolf Gap
In addition to being where the West Virginia/Virginia borders meet, there’s an overlook, which I have never visited, where you can see a mountain named Big Schloss.
After that, we headed home.
I did stop outside of Flint Hill, VA, on Ben Venue Road, to capture this image of the old slave quarters, rare because they are made of brick.
Former slave quarters on Ben Venue Road.
What felt like a brief ride to me — I logged 175-miles — may have been Dottie’s first 200+-mile day. She lives about 20 miles from me and we met at my house, so she covered a few more miles than I did.
It was nice being back in West Virginia, but it has left me itching for more. Hopefully, Hubby and I will get a chance to head out that way before winter really settles in. Fingers crossed…
This past weekend I was supposed to go to the beach with my girlfriend, Diana, for a three-day weekend. But work has been a bit crazy, and I couldn’t get off early on Friday, which would have meant for a very late arrival. Since she had to be home relatively early on Sunday, it would have made for a severely compacted weekend. And we only get together once a year. So we decided to re-schedule for mid-November.
That husband of mine had already made plans to work in his sorely neglected workshop. Which meant I had a completely free weekend.
You know what they say, when life gives you apples, make apple cider. Or something like that…
Anyhoo, a couple of weeks ago, I plotted a route for a motorcycle ride that looped south and west through Virginia. My mapping software said it would take about eight hours, not including stops. That really means about 10 hours, since you all know I like to stop.
Temps were a bit colder the weekend we’d been considering that route, so we decided to put it on hold until a later, more temperate date.
Having suddenly found myself with nothing else to do this past weekend — yay, me! — I figured Saturday was as good a day as any to do that ride. Especially since temps were forecast to be in the upper 60s/low 70s and the foliage was looking quite nice. I did shorten the route a bit, though, by opting for the most-direct route to my first stop, the Bold Rock Cidery in Nellysford, Virginia.
Bold Rock Ride Overview Map
Don’t worry, I wasn’t going there for samples, I’d just always wanted to see the place because I knew it was in what appeared to be a pretty location.
I was right. It was gorgeous.
Maple Trees Across from Cidery’s Parking Lot
To-go Bottle
Bold Rock Cidery Collage (click for bigger view)
Apparently Rockfish Valley Highway is where all the cool brewers/wineries are located. In addition to Bold Rock, there were several smaller establishments I’d never heard of along with the Starr Hill Brewery and Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company.
Alas, I wasn’t there to visit a bunch of breweries, I was there to ride. And that’s what I did.
From the cidery, I continued south on VA-151, which itself was a beautiful road, and then headed east on Jonesboro Road, CR-666, to VA-56, Crabtree Falls Highway. As it turns out, there’s actually a waterfall — Crabtree Falls — along that road, which follows the Tye River through the George Washington National Forest, so it’s sorta heavily traveled. Um, keep in mind “heavy” is a completely relative term when you’re riding in rural areas. Unfortunately there was lots of loose gravel. Even a special warning sign for motorcyclists. But that was okay, I wanted to take my time and enjoy the lovely mountainous, many-hued, forested scenery anyway.
I wasn’t dressed for hiking, so I rode right on past the jam-packed falls trailhead parking lot. I did stop a bit later, however, to snag a few pics.
Looking East on VA-56
Many trees were past peak color, but there was still lots to see.
Looking west on VA-56, a road I MUST revisit.
I think I was still southeast of Vesuvius, VA at that point (how’s that for a town name?), but I’m not sure. I do believe it was still VA-56, though.
As I rested for a bit (and took pictures) a group of about 20 Porsches zoomed past, followed a few minutes later, by a smaller group of Mazda Miatas. I guess it really is a popular road, and for good reason.
Sorry to brag, but I have to say, I know how to pick good motorcycle roads. Another splendid stretch was VA-39. The following pics were captured near Goshen Pass, southeast of the town of Goshen, VA.
Fun Road
Lovely Scenery
The Maury River
I couldn’t linger long. But I will definitely visit that spot again one day.
From there, I continued west on VA-39 to CR-678, Indian Draft Road. That’s what it was called at the southern end anyway. County roads like that tend to change names, and sometimes even numbers, when they cross county lines or other major landmarks. It makes wayfinding a bit more challenging, but that’s all part of the adventure.
I think CR-678 was the best road yet as far as scenery goes. It was stunning. It ran along the Cowpasture River for a ways and then, at some point, it became Bullpasture River Road. Perhaps near Williamsville, which is where the Cowpasture River forked off to the right. Then the road ran alongside the Bullpasture River for a time.
I literally laughed out loud when I saw the sign proclaiming that I was on Bullpasture River Road. And I said to myself, “Next sign you see, you’ve got to stop for a pic.”
In a very weird twist of fate, this is the next sign I saw…
Bullpasture River Road and Fuzzys Path
What are the odds that the very next signpost would be at the intersection with Fuzzys Path? I knew my pal, Rachael (FuzzyGalore), would get a kick out of that one.
I LOVED that road. Really. It’s my favorite kind of road (what I call a putt-putt road). It winds through a beautiful valley dotted with farms and flanked by mountains. All 27+ miles of CR-678 were pure ToadMama heaven.
I’ll share more pics after I’ve gone through them. Here are a few for now to tantalize your virtual ride-along imagination.
Toward the southern end when it was still Indian Draft Road.
Slow and steady was the perfect pace for this narrow, winding path.
For the record, “slow” was about 45 m.p.h. This isn’t the sort of road on which you want to be zipping along, carving turns. County roads aren’t always equipped with warning signs, so you need to be a bit cautious as the sharp curves can really sneak up on you. Trust me on that one, okay?
Along Bullpasture River Road
Cows along Bullpasture River Road.
Pretty church and barn near the northern end of Bullpasture River Road.
Quilt barn near the northern end of Bullpasture River Road.
It was starting to get late and I was still several hours from home, so I had to get rolling. Lucky for me US-250, the Highland Turnpike, was next. It’s a fast, super-sweet section of changing-elevation twisties that are to be savored. Quickly. I did say “fast,” right? LOL.
Check the road out with Google Street View. It is NOT a putt-putt road.
Lucky for me, US-250 runs through the national forest, so I got to stop at Fort Edward Johnson for a potty break. The fabulous road continued…
Looking west from the parking lot at Fort Edward Johnson.
The light was fading fast, so off I went again.
After that, I only stopped one time somewhere along VA-42 south of Harrisonburg to check my text messages (Hubby checking in)…
See my shadow in the middle of the frame?
…and then I stopped in Luray for a very quick dinner. I took my good ole time crossing Thornton Gap in the cold darkness — sharp, descending-radius curves — and made it home right around 8:00 p.m., a mere 318 miles and roughly 10 hours since leaving the house that morning.
It was such an amazing day.
It’s been a long time since I’ve set off on a long, solo adventure like that. Some people think I am bold and/or brave for doing trips like that alone. I don’t agree. I think I’m normal. Relatively speaking again.
I can’t imagine NOT wanting to go for rides like that, alone or otherwise. There’s so much more of Virginia and the surrounding states that I/we still have yet to see.
I’m already looking forward to the next long, exploratory journey.
It’s Fall. My favorite time of year. The air is cool and the landscape is colorful. Notice I didn’t just say trees? The grasses and other ground plants change, too, which just makes for an even more-dramatic landscape.
Have I mentioned that I love Fall?
I planned a ride for Saturday. Hubby planned yesterday’s ride.
He’d mentioned on Friday that he wanted to go to Flint Hill for brunch on Sunday at Griffin Tavern and Restaurant, our go-to restaurant in that area.
I knew I wanted to go to Syria, which isn’t too far from Sperryville, so I thought we could eat at the Thornton River Grille. It’s got a 4-star Yelp! rating and we’ve never eaten there, so I figured it was about time.
Unfortunately, I forgot to factor in the leaf peepers. I also didn’t consider the Graves’ Mountain Apple Harvest Festival in Syria. (Only because I didn’t know of it.) We were mired in traffic in Syria for a bit as a result. Sperryville is very close to Shenandoah National Park, and was quite congested. And the Thornton River Grille was way too crowded (there was at least a 30-minute wait for a table), so we went to nearby Headmaster’s Pub, which has a 3.5-star Yelp! rating.
It was busy, too, but much smaller, so we thought we’d be okay. The food was good, but we had to wait a REALLY long time (about an hour after arriving) for our meal. Since we’d gotten so delayed, we nixed the second half of the route I’d planned, but did take the scenic route home.
Anyway… it was still a nice ride. Here are my favorite pics from around Syria, a lovely little spot just outside of Shenandoah National Park (SNP). For those who don’t know, SNP is the home of Skyline Drive, which is always extra-crowded at this time of year.
CR-643/Etlan Road in-between Syria and Etlan, VA
CR-643/Etlan Road in-between Syria and Etlan, VA
CR-643/Etlan Road in-between Syria and Etlan, VA
CR-643/Etlan Road in-between Syria and Etlan, VA
See why I wanted to go to Syria? It really is a pretty spot, especially in the Fall.
VA-231/F.T. Valley Road, headed north toward Sperryille, VA
Unknown location, but very pretty.
Sorry, but I can’t remember where that shot was taken. At one point, I started snapping pics with my point-and-shoot while riding.
Those pics are all from Saturday.
On Sunday, Hubby took the lead, so I decided to wear my helmet cam. Lucky for me, I’d remembered to charge the battery (for a change).
Here’s a slideshow for you. I added music, which you may or may not like, so be sure to check your volume before clicking play.
If I’m being honest, his route was nicer. Plus, we got to stop at the Griffin Tavern in Flint Hill for brunch.
Now I need to get rolling on today’s new, long, solo adventure.
Early Americans may have been courageous travelers, but they were sure unimaginative when it came to naming places. I’ve been to Gloucester, Massachusetts and Gloucester, Vurginia. Now I can say I’ve been to Gloucester in South West England, too. It’s near the River Severn — when we lived in Maryland, we were close to the Severn River — and has a really big cathedral.
How big?
I couldn’t fit the whole thing into a frame.
Gloucester Cathedral
Building of the cathedral began in 1089, but “Gloucester has been a place of Christian worship continuously for over 1300 years, since Osric, an Anglo-Saxon prince, founded a religious house here in 678-9 AD.” (If you’d like to learn more of the history, visit the cathedral’s Web site.)
It was VERY cool.
King Edward’s Gate
Here are some pics of the exterior, which itself is impressive.
Statues/sculptures over door.
Interesting support structure.
Statue (builder?)
Cloister Garth (courtyard surrounded by cloisters)
Looking up at the tower from the courtyard.
Spooky tower shot.
Interesting sculpted accent.
Supports sculpted as if riveted.
LOVE the detail. (click on pic)
As grand as the place is on the outside, it’s even more amazing inside.
Fan-vaulted Cloister
Stunning, intricate cloister ceiling.
Cool walkway.Interesting arches.
Lovely stained glass.
More lovely stained glass.
Harry Potter movies were filmed partly at Gloucester.
Stained Glass Collage (click on pic for bigger image)
Really big window.
Closer look at sculpture below window.
Ceiling Detail
It’s a big place.
That’s what I call architectural detail.
More sculpture.
Painted ceiling (the whole room was painted like that).
Hubby admiring some of the monuments/tombs/memorials.
Very interesting arches.
Collage of memorials. (click on pic for larger view)
More memorials. (click on pic for larger view)
I am no historian. Sorry. You can take a virtual tour if you like.
And that was our visit to Gloucester Cathedral.
We roamed around, admiring its splendour for hours. I saw this road sign after leaving the cathedral grounds. It was near where we’d parked.
Some folks were surprised to read that I’d agreed to take the back seat for our recent road trip. So many people yearn to transition from passenger to rider. Going from rider to passenger just sounds backwards.
But it was cool. Really.
One thing for sure, being a motorcycle passenger adds a whole ‘nother element to that letting your mind wander thing that motorcyclists enjoy.
All I had to do, literally, was sit still and enjoy the ride. And announce, every now and then, that I needed to pee.
Do you know what that husband of mine actually had the nerve to say to me on Sunday?
“We should have hooked you up with a pavement wetter.”
For you non-riders, that’s a tube apparatus that long distance male riders affix to their, um, works, that runs down the leg of their pants and hangs out below their foot. So they don’t need to stop for pee breaks as often. He didn’t say it because I had to stop a lot. He said it because he’s a smart-ass and knew it would make me laugh.
It did. We laughed a lot during our short little road trip, the plan for which was actually hatched innocently enough during a conversation we were having over beers in Belgium.
The number of beers may have something to do with how clearly I remember this chat, which went something like…
“I’d be willing to test the backseat. We could do a little trial run when we get home.”
“Where to?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Niagara Falls?” I said. Because it was the first thing that popped into my head.
I’d been wanting to see the falls, and didn’t think it was all that far away.
That’s why, shortly after our two-week trip to Europe, we were off on another adventure.
It was raining when we left on Friday. We could have taken the car, but that would have been boring. Besides, that’s why they make rain gear for motorcyclists, right?
The rain only lasted for the first two hours or so. It remained cloudy and overcast, but at least it was relatively dry.
Cloudy sky and wet road didn’t dampen our spirits.
Hubby admitted that the roads would have been more fun if dry — riding a motorcycle on wet roads requires extra caution — but we both still enjoyed the scenery. It had been several years since we’d seen that part of Pennsylvania.
Nice country road in Pennsylvania.
Curve!
Since we had to take it a bit slower on the wet roads, we ended up riding later into the evening than we’d anticipated. We were thinking we’d stay in Punxsutawney, but couldn’t find a hotel or motel. I don’t know where all the media and groundhog watchers stay in February when then crowd around to see Phil the Groundhog emerge from his hole. So we continued on to Brookville, Pennsylvania, which is where we happened upon the Gold Eagle Inn.
Gold Eagle Inn in Brookville, Pennsylvania
I love quirky lodging, especially when it is clean and lovingly maintained. Yes, it was old. Yes, there were pink fixtures in the bathroom. But it was very clean, inexpensive, had a restaurant attached that served good food AND beer… what more did we need?
Lucky for us, when we woke up on Saturday, it was sunny. After a quick breakfast at a nearby McDonalds, we continued north.
Our view from the room on Saturday morning.
The further north we got, the more colorful the leaves were. Temps were moderate, in the 50 to 60 F range (10-16 C), which was fine thanks to our gear.
All in all, it was a lovely day for a ride.
Snowmobile road?
I’m surprised I was able to capture enough decent pics to share. Not because of the weather, but because of the weird electrocatastrophalytic “thing” that dogged me all weekend.
My old point-and-shoot camera, which I was wearing on a lanyard around my neck, ate through batteries like you wouldn’t believe (10 AAs in two days) and kept dying on me.
Saturday it was dry enough to carry my fancy-schmancy NEW point-and-shoot camera on the lanyard, but it died before we had even reached New York. And by DIED, I don’t mean a simple loss of battery power. No. It completely stopped working. I can’t even get the thing to power up.
My older model iPhone has always sucked when it comes to battery life. Plus, I just knew I’d drop the thing getting it out of and back into my pocket as we rode. Sigh…
But I persevered, and managed to snag some decent pics for y’all.
You folks who like seeing the foliage in this area should enjoy these…
Buffalo is bigger than I expected. I’d show you a pic, but I have other images that are better. Like this Niagara Falls collage.
Niagara Falls is a giant megapolis. And that’s not necessarily a good thing.
There’s Niagara Falls, NY, USA. There’s also Niagara Falls, ON, Canada. Oh, and there’re these three waterfalls known as Niagara Falls. It all combines to form a crazy, chaotic, over-commercialized blight on the map.
Everyone always says the Canada side is better, so we chose to go to Canada.
Hubby had done the planning. At one point he’d mentioned something about it being off-peak season. Little did we know it was Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. LOL.
Rainbow in the mist above Horseshoe Falls (Canada).
American Falls (US)
Horseshoe Falls was my favorite.
Infamous boat ride.
I’m glad I finally got to see the falls, but as a whole found the area far too built up for my tastes. It’s sorta sad, really. The falls are quite majestic. But they are surrounded by stuff.
Funny Sign
I’m a nature girl. A natural wonder like that should be surrounded by nature. Not a gazillion hotels, chain restaurants, casinos, and every other kind of kitschy attraction/distraction under the sun. And I like kitsch. Love it, really, just not next to and practically on top of a set of waterfalls like that.
Don’t get me wrong, we had fun. Lots of fun.
But I won’t be going back.
The ride was awesome, though. And the trip as a whole was a cool little impromptu adventure.
Here’s proof that we enjoyed ourselves.
We look like we’re having fun, right?
Goofing Around
The ride home was a bit odd. We experienced some of the weirdest weather conditions ever.
Remember that funny sign I showed you? The one that mentioned mist?
Clouds of mist, from the waterfalls.
It was serious. So much mist rises from the falls and into the air that it forms clouds. Big ones. Sunday morning, it was raining in Niagara Falls, Canada, but only near the falls. And it was 38 degrees Fahrenheit (just over 3 C) at around 7:00 a.m. as we were leaving. I figured it would warm up as we rode inland.
As we made our way around to Niagara Falls, NY, something in the air caught my eye.
The morning sun had turned the mist cloud pink.
That’s a totally lucky capture of the moon above the cloud of pink mist. Shot with my OLD, slow point-and-shoot, from the back of a moving motorcycle.
Shadow Capture
My theory about it warming up was flawed. It got colder. Temps hovered very close to 32 F (0 C) for the first two hours.
Thank God the “Barcalounger” (Dar, that cracked me up) has heated seats.
Little wisp of fog. See the frost on the ground?
A little while later, we hit what I thought was a small patch of mountain fog.
Into the fog.
We rode through that thick, wet, heavy fog for at least 45 minutes.
The McDonalds in Salamanca, NY was truly an oasis. For real.
We lingered at that McDs for about an hour, having breakfast, drinking coffee, and warming up. By the time we left, temps had crested the 40 degree mark.
You don’t realize just how warm 45 degrees (7 C) feels until you’ve ridden through the low- to mid-30s for a while.
The rest of the ride home was long, but uneventful. It was pretty, and relaxing. You’d think it would have felt unpleasantly long, but it didn’t. And we arrived at our house right around 5:00 p.m.
I’m not going to make a habit of being a passenger, but I’ll do it again.
Are you itching to see more pics from Europe? Sorry, but that trip report is being interrupted.
It — and me — are taking the back seat for now.
Can you guess why? Maybe these pics will help…
Meg
K
Belle
Hubby
Three unhappy dogs and one happy husband. Have you guessed yet?
Road trip!
And I’ll be riding on the back seat of Hubby’s bike. Because every man enjoys having his hot wife behind him, sharing his ride. Even if “hot,” in my case, just means perpetually overheated.
That Hubby of mine has been looking forward to long road trips on that shiny, new, big-ass cruiser of his. This trip is a test.
I’ll do my best to post pics from the road. Wherever it may be taking us…
Why not take her along on Saturday? Not only did she have other plans, she hasn’t been riding for long, tires easily, and is quite sensitive to cold. So I knew the trek I had in mind on Saturday might just do her in.
