Monday took us out of Ripley relatively early (at least for me, but late for Duc Dude) around 7:00 AM. We gassed up and headed for points west and beyond. Route 62 in West Virginia took us to Route 2 and over the Ohio River into Ohio (my homestate) near Gallopolis. We grabbed another great road, Route 141 for a good bit of time. I am trying to remember all the roads we took, but by now the numbers were just that.
Somewhere in Ohio or Kentucky, we came upon a white non descript soccer mom minivan traveling through the twisties and sweeping turns at a pretty good clip. Just as soon as we were visible in his rear view mirrors, he took that as a challenge. He turned it up a notch to 8 (on a scale from 1-10) and begins to throw this mini van into the turns like he was Mario Andretti. I remember saying to myself, "How the hell can this guy throw this van around and not once lose it?" About 15 or 20 miles down the road, we all had to stop due to road construction. Duc Dude pulled up next to the driver to get the 411 on this guy. In what I would call the deepest Kentucky twang, he told him that he traveled the road twice a day and knows it like the back of his hand. He also had said that he comes from a family of racing people and that's just how they drive.
Highway 233 and 141 were some other incredible roads in Ohio as well as 279, 139 that took us into Route 52 at New Boston, 4 miles east of Portsmouth at the Ohio River. After admiring the Ohio River for a few miles, it got real fun on Route 125 at Friendship, through Shawnee State Park in to West Union where we took Route 41 down to Aberdeen where we picked up Route 52 to croos the Ohio River into West Virginia. We followed a somewhat boring Route 10 throughout West Virginia until Powersville where I thought I had died and went to motorcycle road heaven all the way to Falmouth. The bike held to the curves like a train on rails. It continued over to to Williamtown where Route 25 took us to Dry Ridge.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Day One, Sunday July 13, 2008
Not wanting to make this journey alone, I joined up with Erik Heilvei;, a.k.a. Duc Dude, a fellow member of the Mac Pac Eating and Wrenching Society and Jon Burt, a Chicago area Mac Pac'r. We are meeting Jon approximately 200 miles south of Chicago in Salem, IL on Monday evening. Erik, along with Earl Bare (another Mac Pac'r) came up with the route and nightly lodging stops. Erik emailed us the the Garmin files so we could download them to our GPS units.
I met Erik at the west bound Pennsylvania Turnpike Valley Forge travel plaza at 7:00 AM. I was supposed to be there at 6:30 AM, but anyone who knows me, knows that I am always fashionably late. Not a good way to start the trip.
The first leg of the trip was somewhat boring as we had to travel the PA Turnpike for approximately 150 miles when we got off at the Fort Littleton exit. We started our off-the-beaten-path journey on Route 522. Better than the turnpike, but not a perfect road. Things got way better when we crossed the West Virginia border once we hit Route 9. The elevation changes combined with the tight twisties and sweeping turns bumped up the fun factor a notch. (Keep in mind that I am pulling my custom trailer through all these turns. I had no problem keeping up with Erik on the majority of the roads. I couldn't believe that my bike was handling as well as it was pulling that thing!) We got to Route 29 and proceeded to enjoy that for a good way. Once we hit Route 50 things started getting WAYYYY better around Claysville, WV. We stopped in Gormania, WV for fuel and grabbed Route 90 that runs along the North Branch Potomac River. 90 was more of a long, sweeping curve kind of road that had some beautiful scenery. Just north of Blackwater Falls State Park, we picked up Route 219 for what I would call the best twisties so far. We had to travel Route 33 for a bit which was uneventful but the last leg of our day more than made up for it. Route 119 from Weston to Ripley was by far the best of the day. I still have a hard time believing that my bike could handle SO well pulling the trailer! We stopped for the night and had a gourmet dinner at the Ponderosa Steak House. I had the Prime Rib which was great by Ponderosa standards. I can honestly say that I not only survived the first day, I LOVED IT!!!
I met Erik at the west bound Pennsylvania Turnpike Valley Forge travel plaza at 7:00 AM. I was supposed to be there at 6:30 AM, but anyone who knows me, knows that I am always fashionably late. Not a good way to start the trip.
The first leg of the trip was somewhat boring as we had to travel the PA Turnpike for approximately 150 miles when we got off at the Fort Littleton exit. We started our off-the-beaten-path journey on Route 522. Better than the turnpike, but not a perfect road. Things got way better when we crossed the West Virginia border once we hit Route 9. The elevation changes combined with the tight twisties and sweeping turns bumped up the fun factor a notch. (Keep in mind that I am pulling my custom trailer through all these turns. I had no problem keeping up with Erik on the majority of the roads. I couldn't believe that my bike was handling as well as it was pulling that thing!) We got to Route 29 and proceeded to enjoy that for a good way. Once we hit Route 50 things started getting WAYYYY better around Claysville, WV. We stopped in Gormania, WV for fuel and grabbed Route 90 that runs along the North Branch Potomac River. 90 was more of a long, sweeping curve kind of road that had some beautiful scenery. Just north of Blackwater Falls State Park, we picked up Route 219 for what I would call the best twisties so far. We had to travel Route 33 for a bit which was uneventful but the last leg of our day more than made up for it. Route 119 from Weston to Ripley was by far the best of the day. I still have a hard time believing that my bike could handle SO well pulling the trailer! We stopped for the night and had a gourmet dinner at the Ponderosa Steak House. I had the Prime Rib which was great by Ponderosa standards. I can honestly say that I not only survived the first day, I LOVED IT!!!
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