So I took today off because I'm burned out at work and wanted to do some riding. I decided to really bite off a chunk of road today. I have owned the bike about a year, ridden about 1700 miles never have been inside the beltway and only out of VA for an aborted Harper's Ferry trip. My longest ride was 150 miles. The big is old an uncomfortable after a while. Ah well, whatever, I can recover tomorrow.
Backstory:
A bout 3 years ago my wife and I drove into WV. Deep in WV. I have this notion of WV that it's going to a be a 3rd World Country. Growing up in NoVA will do that to you. Well anyhow, I'm always disappointed when it's not like I had imagined. :lol: (For the record, I was in Cheyenne, WO earlier this year and was similarly disappointed).
Anyhow, since that drive 3 years ago I have been obsessed with Rt 55. Our drive took us back from Elkins over 55 and then down the old part. We had been driving all day and it was raining all day. So we're on old 55 (didn't know it was old then) and we run across this giant structure. 15 stories high down along this twisty road. Just boggled my mind at the time. (Did I say I had been driving all day?) Well of course it was the support for new 55. So I wanted to retrace that route (backwards) and see these things in daylight. Who rides all day to see bridge supports? This guy.
So of course the day starts out like this:
So I spend an hour here:
Finally on the road at 9 am. Of course, since I didn't check the oil, the bike needed some. A short stop at home and I'm off.
The fog is still a mess but not as bad as it was. I have people tailgating me while I'm rolling along. Why do people tailgate a bike? :roll:
When I got to Markham, VA, the cars in front of me are slamming on their brakes. I noticed that out in the field to the left, there is a
black bear frolicking!!! Wild! A big one.
First stop, Gas. This is between Strasburg and the WV line.
Ok, so I do some drives with my firends in the car club. Last fall we did a drive leaving out of Winchester into WV. I didn't know where I was until today. We went down the big grade and stopped in Wardensville, WV that time. There is a gas station there. I didn't stop today because inside they have Graffitti like this: :shock: (Wonder why I'm worried about WV?) :lol:
So get past Wardensville and there is what I was looking for. Old 55. Maybe you won't find this as impressive as I do. This massive road built over a twisty windy valley. I didn't stop all the times I could have, but the scale of this project is huge. They must have brought in millions of truckloads of rock to fill in what the bridges don't. Too bad that Old 55 will probably fall into disrepair. Ride it while you can!! (The signs kept steering me back onto new 55. It's like the Interstate to nowhere. 65 mph and no traffic. None. Reminds me of the Lynchburg bypass that just opened..) Anyway, here's some photos:
And on to Moorefield, WV. So I stop for lunch at the Stray Cat Cafe. Featuring Mexican food. Served and cooked most likely by Caucasians, so it was slow. (Yeah, yeah, it's supposed to be my day off....)
it's pretty common to see photos of lunch around here...I did not want to disappoint:
And off... I passed this storage yard for a Scenic Railroad. Pretty cool. You don't see a lot of Cabooses (Cabeese?) these days.
So I took 220 North to Romney and up to Rt 50. I guess there really are only 2 roads in and out of WV around this area. I passed through Capon Bridge...which I found last fall on the car fun run. That time, we passed through Capon valley (?) along Cacapon River road. This is what it looks like..I would recommend it for a nice shorter version of today's ride:
This is Capon Bridge:
And into Winchester. Where I got lost.
