Motorcycle trip - day 3, Weston, WV to Richmond

The last day of the trip was Monday. We wanted to get an earlier start to the day so that we could get back to Richmond at a decent hour, since I still had to get back to Manassas and we both had to work on Tuesday. So we were pretty much ready to go before 8:00. The complimentary breakfast that the Comfort Inn Weston was meager, but the waffle iron was serviceable (although it required some convincing to release our waffles) so we stuck (ha ha) with that. I think Chris would have preferred that we eat at the Sheetz across the street though.

As we were getting prepped for departure, we were chatting with one of the other guests who was marveling at the Florida plates on the bikes, and so we explained where we were going and why. He related that he has a bike as well, but he doesn't really take it on trips like he used to because it's not so comfortable for he and the missus anymore, but that they were actually on a road trip currently, with no particular route or place in mind, just driving to see what they could see. Reminded me of someone else I know...

Weather reports looked clear, if a bit chilly. It was in the mid-50s and quite foggy, but we decided to forgo the rain gear. That turned out to be a mistake. I had to stop after less than 15 minutes on the road and put on a long-sleeve shirt because the combination of damp and chilly air was really going right through my summer mesh riding jacket. Our route had us on US-119/33 for about an hour. It was good that we were on a fairly straight divided highway, because visibility was very low, less than 1/2 mile most of the time. We even used the flashers on the bikes on more than one occasion. It was damp enough that we may as well have been riding in the rain, as I was collecting every bit as much water on my helmet shield as I was while riding in an actual rainstorm.

Just as we were getting off of US-33 onto WV-29, we rode out of the fog and into a nice mostly sunny day, and it had also warmed up a good bit. Good thing, because WV-29 is a FUN road! Pretty much as soon as it comes out of Elkins, WV, it gets curvy and starts climbing up into the mountains. You pass through a couple of small towns, and then there is a section where the road curves and climbs about 1500ft in the space of 1/2 mile, and then moves into a section of nice sweeping curves, and even some real switchbacks. The road is in nice shape, and there are passing zones every so often so that you can continue at an appropriate pace. From there, we hit US-250, which is quite possibly even better than 29. If you look at it on the map, it's pretty obvious why. This website is where I found the route.
US-250 took us through both Monongahela and George Washington National Forests, and so the road wound through the trees,with an occasional view of the valley below. The elevation was such that we were able to enjoy the slight touches of color starting to show on the leaves, and the sunlight was just slightly filtering through the tree canopy. The temperature was perfect too. I can't think of a much better way to spend a day. It was absolutely fantastic! The roads were curvy, and we kept a brisk pace, but not so brisk as to be challenging on a Harley. The nice thing was that the pace allowed for me to truly concentrate on my lines through the turns, and I started to see what people are talking about when they say that you "string the turns together." You would start to see the line that connected one turn to the next, and could ride quickly, but still very smoothly. I could have done it faster on my bike, but it would have been much more tiring and less relaxing, because I would have been riding much closer to the limits of my skill.

We rode through Staunton, and then headed for Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National park. Skyline has a $10 entrance fee, but it's absolutely worth it. We rode on Skyline for about 35 miles, took some pictures at 3900 feet, and then headed towards US-33 to get us back to Richmond.
We got into Richmond around 2:30, and the final mileage on the bikes read 969.6 for the trip. We (very briefly) considered going another 30.4 miles so that it would be an even 1000, but then decided that it wasn't all that important. Chris and I hopped in his car and headed for Manassas, where he joined us for dinner to wait out the traffic before he headed back home.

All in all, it was a great trip, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Perhaps with a different bike, but otherwise an awesome experience. The roads we traveled, especially on the second and third day are some that I would recommend to any driving/riding enthusiast.

Motorcycle trip - day 2, Greensburg, IN to Weston, WV

Day two dawned cloudy, but definitely better weather than Kenosha the day before. It appeared from the weather reports that we had gotten ahead of the storm, and it had turned north while we were headed south, so it appeared that we were going to stay dry. After breakfast compliments of the Hampton Inn, we headed outside to pack up the bikes and get moving. It was a good bit warmer this morning than the day before, and we were surprised to find that there was no morning dew to wipe off of the bikes. We dispensed with the rain gear, only to see a few raindrops on the bikes. Fortunately, that was all it was, and we stayed dry today. We realized now that we were able to see the surroundings of the hotel in daylight that it was somewhat strangely located. It was literally in the middle of a cornfield! There was a grain elevator across the street, and a cell tower behind it, but as far as you could see in nearly all directions, it was corn, grain elevator, corn, grain elevator. We were both anxious to get away from the cornfields and into some more interesting riding.

Also, September 19th is the annual observance of "Talk Like a Pirate Day" so I posted all of my Facebook status updates whenever we stopped in some form of Pirate speak.

We headed out on US 421, and picked up State Route 48, which skirted us up north of Cincinnati. It was a nice rural road, with some curves and even a few hills. Chris and I were both amused by the sign when we came onto a part of the road which warned trucks not to use the road due to steep hills and dangerous curves. Sounds like fun! Outside of Cincinnati, we picked up I-71 to get to US-35. 35 is still a divided highway most of the way, but it goes through some cool towns along the way. We stopped in Chillicothe, OH for lunch, for my first experience eating at the Steak 'n Shake. Burgers were good, shakes were better.

From there, we hit State Route 327, which eventually connected to US-50, and both were really great roads. This was really the first of the nice curvy, mountain roads we were looking forward to on the trip. A brief stop for fuel and rest in Coolville (how could you *not* stop there??), and we were on our way again.
From there we caught State Route 47 in West Virginia, which is an amazing road. I found it using this website, and it is strongly recommended for both the scenery and the drive! One thing I will say about the late Senator Byrd and his ability to bring home the pork... WV's roads were in a completely different class from the comparatively awful roads in Indiana and Ohio - almost no frost heaves, and nice smooth pavement even on these little secondary two-lane roads. 47 ended at US-119, which took us into our landing point for the night, Weston, WV. We stayed at a Comfort Inn there that was obviously a converted motor lodge of some sort - still had the external entrances to the rooms, but they had built a new building in the front to house the check-in and breakfast area. We went to the plaza next door to the hotel and grabbed some "Italian" food from a place called Genos. The food was passable, the beer was cold. I ordered an Italian Sausage sandwich, but instead of your standard tube-shaped sausage with peppers, onions and maybe some tomato sauce in a bun, this had sliced sausage, peppers, onions, and the entire thing was covered in cheese, like a pizza, but on a sub roll. It wasn't bad, but definitely not what I was expecting. We arrived a good bit earlier tonight than we had last night, so we were able to get to bed earlier in preparation for an early departure the next morning so that we could get into Richmond in the early afternoon.

I can honestly say that a lot of the roads we traveled today more than made up for the relatively boring, tiring freeway slog that we did the day before.