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.

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Lazy, porch-sitting afternoon. (Look hard and you’ll see K.)

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).

Screen capture of my ride map.
Screen capture of my ride map.

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.

Hume Road
Hume Road

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.

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SNP, oh, how I love thee.
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See my new mascot?

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.

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SNP/Skyline Drive Entrance Station

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.

Mary's Rock Tunnel
Mary’s Rock Tunnel

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.

Looking south from the tunnel pullout.
Looking south from the tunnel pullout.

 

Looking east over the mountains.
Looking east over the mountains.

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?

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Corny Selfie

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.

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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.

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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.

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Official “Start” Photo

 

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.

Mother’s Day Weekend in Review

This past weekend was one of the nicest Mother’s Days I can remember. Actually seeing the kids would have made it better, but none of them live in the same state. And Eric, the youngest, is a chef-in-training and almost always has to work on major holidays. I did speak with both girls, and made plans with the boy to have lunch yesterday. So all was good in the kid department.

That Hubby of mine did a fine job making the whole weekend special for Aunt Bertha and me. He planned and led a lovely ride on Saturday. He even prepared fabulous dinners on Saturday AND Sunday. I’m a lucky girl.

As for the riding, the weather couldn’t have been better. It was close to being a bit too warm, but as long as we kept moving and rested in the shade, it was great.

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Saturday was a bit more cloudy than Sunday, but still awesome.

 

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Mike giving Bert a bit of history on Bunny Mellon and her estate.

 

If you’re curious about Bunny Mellon, now deceased, read this.

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A happy Bert on Rokeby Road.

 

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Time to move on!

I did capture videos and pics at various times during the ride, but it’ll take me a while to do the editing.

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Selfie practice.

 

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Smoked pork butt (before being ripped apart for pulled pork).

 

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Yes, he made a giant bowl of cole slaw, too. The man has MANY skills.

 

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The three of us, about to dig into a fabulous meal.

 

On Sunday, I took the lead.

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Rest break.

 

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Aunt Bertha’s Sweet Spyder

 

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Hubby, striking a pose.

 

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Same pose, better light. I just LOVE him.
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Lovely spot for a break.

 

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Wineries have some of the most-beautiful locations.

 

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Waiting patiently for me to finish with my picture-taking.

 

Aunt Bertha got a bit lost on her way down. There’s an intersection of roads, around Leesburg, that can be a bit tricky. She was quite tired by then, especially since she’d gotten stuck in rush-hour traffic. Since she was just about 25 miles out, I went and rescued her. I led her to our place via some very shady and pleasant back roads.

Yesterday, as she was preparing to leave, I decided to lead her partway home. I wanted her return journey to be more pleasant. I picked a memorable spot for our parting, a place I knew she’d be likely to remember so I can meet her the next time she rides down to visit.

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Love that pink, polka-dotted silo!

Thanks to Hubby and Aunt Bertha, it really was a lovely weekend.

I’ll try to post the ride pics and videos soon.

I hope you all had fabulous weekends, too.

It’s All About the Ride

This image perfectly sums up our weekend of riding…

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Sunshine, blue skies and big, puffy, white clouds.

And here’s a sample of some of the color we saw.

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Buttercups!

We were a happy little riding pack for sure.

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Bertha, Me, and Mike

Hubby has been testing the Spotwalla tracker app for his upcoming BIG ride. Here’s a screen shot of our tracks from this weekend. The upper portion was Saturday, and the lower was Sunday. Click on the pic and you’ll go to the actual map (I have no idea how long it’ll remain active, though).

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Weekend Routes

I think the “F” is for first and the “S” is for second.

The weekend was fabulous. Really.

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Sorry about the dirt on the camera lens.

More pics and info to follow. When I have more time.

Double LOVE with Hubby

Yesterday was another picture-perfect, blue-sky day in Central Virginia. With temps forecast for the upper 70s (F), we HAD to get out and ride. Really.

Back in February, when I first mentioned my LOVEworks scavenger hunt, I revealed that there were a couple LOVEworks I had opted not to capture. Because they’re along an awesome motorcycle road, which I figured Hubby would probably enjoy.

Yesterday, that’s where we went.

Screen Capture of Our Approximate Route
Screen Capture of Our Approximate Route (ridden clockwise)

The first hour or so of the ride was on the highway. But, once we got off of I-64 southeast of Waynesboro, there were nothing but awesome motorcycle roads ahead of us. (If you’d like to see a Google map of our approximate route, CLICK HERE.)

Bothe of the LOVEworks were at wineries in Rockfish Valley.

First, there was Indoor LOVE at Veritas Vineyard & Winery.

Indoor LOVE
Indoor LOVE

It’s a nice piece, even if it did surprise me by being located indoors. But the winery? Oh. Em. Gee. What a gorgeous location.

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Yoga on the lawn at Veritas Vineyard & Winery.

 

Tiny little Share the LOVE sign.
Tiny little Share the LOVE sign.

The place was pretty crowded. Lucky for us, Hubby spotted the LOVEworks sign. I was not expecting the thing to be inside of the tasting room. But, it works well there.

The tasting room is housed in this building.
The tasting room is housed in this building.

Our next stop was mere minutes away at Cardinal Point Winery. Unfortunately, their parking lot was covered in river rock, and the surrounding ground was soft, so there was no safe place to plant a kickstand.

Broken LOVE at Cardinal Point Winery.

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Broken LOVE

Sadly, that LOVEwork needs a bit of repair. But it was still nice to see.

I rather like this next shot, which I captured while Hubby was in the process of getting out of my way (his words).

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Hubby LOVE

We didn’t really want to linger anyway, the road was calling both our names.

Shortly after leaving Cardinal Point, my odometer FINALLY clicked past 10,000 miles. Woo hoo! I’ve been saying for years that I haven’t been riding nearly as much as I should be. There’s your proof.

We accomplished something else, too. We tested a couple of the routes on one of the America Rides Maps I purchased recently. You know, to see if it’s worth using the maps to actually, say, plan an entire trip. Judging by our experience yesterday, it is. Although, to be honest, in the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia, there are so many good roads, it’s hard to go wrong. But, these maps will help us avoid riding the mediocre roads when we could be riding better ones. Know what I’m saying?

On one hand, I wish I had more images to share with y’all. On the other hand, I’m not sorry. Yesterday was just one of those days that I was so “in the moment,” enjoying the smooth, leisurely ride through a fabulous mix of mountainous and valley terrain, that I didn’t want to stop. It sorta felt like stopping might break the spell somehow. So one we rode. You’ll just have to trust me when I say the scenery was spectacular.

Honestly, a couple of times I felt as if I were driving into and through scenes depicted on a calendar, or in a book highlighting breathtaking farmland views. The road that parallels 252 west and south of Staunton, which is a route recommended on the America Rides Map, was the most-scenic of the day, in that regard.

I’m really, really looking forward to further testing of those maps. Although I still haven’t defined the scope of my upcoming solo adventure, I’m pretty sure those maps will play a role to some degree.

I hope you’re all finally able to enjoy some Spring weather, too.

A Weird Kind of Day

Saturday was chore day, so Sunday was supposed to be fun day.

Not only did I plot a route to a lovely destination, I even included a quick stop at a highly rated BBQ place for lunch.

It was a picture-perfect Spring day here in Virginia. Really.

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I did say picture-perfect, right?

It felt great being out on the road. It’s amazing what a little sunshine, fresh air, and motorcycle ride can do for one’s spirits.

Despite a little glitch in the GPS software, and a slightly circuitous detour, we managed to reach Purcellville. Can you guess what’s there? Besides the BBQ place?

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LOVEworks in Purcellville

Another LOVE sign. The sixth one I have visited. Sadly, it’s the least attractive sign I’ve seen yet. It’s very thin, and not very nicely decorated either. But it’s right around the corner from that BBQ joint that was supposed to be so good. So, after snagging a pic or two, we walked to the restaurant.

Monk’s BBQ is about two blocks from the heart of downtown Purcellville. They have an outdoor seating area, which was full, as well as a dining room and bar. We had a little trouble getting through the door. A local girls softball organization, which was holding a fundraiser at the restaurant, had a big table set up very close to the front door, causing a bit of a road block. We managed to make our way to the counter and place an order — pulled pork for Mike and brisket for me — then grabbed a table to wait.

It wasn’t a full-service restaurant. It was essentially a sandwich place where you place your order at one counter, wait, then pick it up at another spot.

I am sensitive to noise. Loud noise overwhelms me. Mike doesn’t like noise, or being surrounded by a lot of people, but noise and being surrounded by a crowd makes me crazy. In a nutshell, anxiety sets in first, then irritation.

Loud restaurants are the worst for me. What with all the food prep noises, multiple conversations at varying volumes, loud music, close-quarters, shrieking children, jostling, etc. And Monk’s was very loud. Thanks to the aforementioned fundraiser, it was full of families. And there were lots of children cavorting about. There was a band, too. Picture ZZ Top playing very upbeat country music.

It was all quite chaotic, to say the least. I steeled myself, I did. I mean, I know it’s my issue. But the longer we waited, the more uncomfortable I became. And the guy behind, goofing around with his kid, kept bumping into me.

I am usually far more patient than Mike, who was actually waiting calmly. But the cacophony was slowly, but surely, pushing me toward the edge.

We’d ordered two BBQ sandwiches. Pre-cooked meat that just had to be placed on buns then served. How long could it take, right?

After enduring 25 minutes of madness, I asked that our order be made to go. Fifteen minutes after that, we STILL hadn’t been served. So we asked for a refund and left. There was no push-back from the staff, but there were also no apologies. Something is seriously wrong at that place…

We were both pretty hungry by that point, so we walked down the street to the White Palace, a cute little restaurant billed as a burger joint that also served Mexican food. The quiet of the place was a very welcome change from the Hell we’d endured (yes, noise bothers me that badly).

We were served drinks quickly, which was nice. I ordered nachos and Mike ordered a burger. Simple enough.

Minutes after the drinks arrived, a young guy who was circulating among the tables — only one other table was occupied — stopped by to see if all was well, everything was okay, and ask if we needed anything.

We only had drinks at that point, which made it even weirder when he seemed to linger an extra moment after we’d said all was well.

Minutes later, my nachos arrived. After I’d taken one bite, maybe two, the “everything okay” guy showed up again.

He was getting annoying. Realizing we were pre-irritated after our Monk’s experience, we tried to remain calm.

Mike’s burger showed up about five minutes later. He hadn’t even taken a bite when a woman we suspect may have been the cook, appeared, asking how everything was. I mean, he obviously hadn’t even finished adding his mayo and assembling the thing.

We said the food had just arrived. She stood there as if she wanted to hear more.

We told her we’d just gotten the food. She seemed confused.

The woman kept standing there, waiting, mumbling as if trying to apologize for something.

Mike said, “I haven’t even taken a bite yet. I don’t know how it is.”

“Oh, okay,” she said then walked away.

We didn’t see her again, but the young guy stopped past at least two more times. Maybe three.

It was the most weirdly surreal experience ever. I swear, it felt like they’d read a how-to manual for running a restaurant, but had absolutely no practical experience. Checking in on diners does not mean interrupting their conversation repeatedly.

To make matters worse, the more I dug around in my nachos, the more turned off I became. The tablespoon or so of guacamole looked a bit brown, which meant it wasn’t very fresh. And they were oozing grease. How much grease?

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Greasy Nachos

See the grease on the side of the plate? That’s from where I’d poured off a bunch of excess that had collected at the bottom of my plate.

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That’s a LOT of grease.

We couldn’t wait to get out of there, which is why I wasn’t going to bother complaining about my food. But, as I was paying the check, a man, perhaps the owner, asked if everything was okay.

“It was okay,” I said, stressing the okay part, “but the nachos were very greasy.”

“Greasy?” he said, surprised. “There must have been too much meat.”

“No,” I said, “it was just very greasy.”

“Yes, yes,” he nodded knowingly, “from too much meat.”

“There was not too much meat. The meat was just very greasy,” I tried again.

“Oh, okay,” he nodded smiling, still mumbling under his breath about too much meat.

Argh!

After spending almost two hours in Purcellville, we finally got back on the road.

Then, surprise, surprise for Northern Virginia, we encountered traffic. Lots of it. The pretty scenery made it slightly more tolerable, but still, traffic is traffic. And we were both in sorta crappy moods after enduring Hell at Mack’s and that whole weird White Palace experience, so we just headed home.

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I love Virginia’s back roads.

Things did get better once we got further west, and the weather was superb, but what a weird experience.

I guess we can’t always expect a perfect riding day.

A Lucky Girl

Scenes like this always remind me how lucky we are to live where we do.

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A pack of motorcycles parked on Main Street.

 

It’s a fabulous place for motorcyclists. Really.

From the center of town, if one is traveling north, south, or west, you’d reach winding, rural roads in mere minutes. In the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.

A stone's throw from Skyline Drive.
A stone’s throw from Skyline Drive.

 

We’re literally within a 35-mile ride of the northernmost entrance (#2 on the map) to Skyline Drive and the Thornton Gap entrance (#3 on the map).

Although the Drive is one of those bucket list roads for motorcyclists, it’s not the best road in the area. The foothills between here and the mountains are webbed with winding, undulating ribbons of smooth asphalt.

Oh, and it’s just about a 90-mile drive to the northern entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

I’m not bragging, I’m just sayin’…

The people are pretty awesome, too. I wish we’d moved here YEARS ago. Sigh…

On a lighter note, Hubby sent me a video link this morning. I’ve embedded the video below.

The subject line of his e-mail was, “The way I feel sometimes.”

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That poor man. Maybe one day he’ll understand the importance of photographing his food.