Canaan Valley Resort WV to Maidens VA
194 Miles
This part of the ride was going to be leasurily ride to my brother's house in Virginia so I'm able to take my time, get good and packed up and head over to chat with people before we bailed out.
Huh, it looks like the party went on all night :) As I get there, I spot a trashcan with the remnents of the previous nights festivities. Pizza and booze. A perfect combination.
As I undersstand it, there were several runs last night to pick up beer and here on the other side of the transcan are a couple of cases and of course, pretzels.
I'd gone over to hunt for breakfast but they weren't open just yet. On the way back to the lot I thought I'd snap a shot of the parking lot. There are several bikes over on the other side as well and a few up in the upper parking lot to the right. That's Stromgal down in the lot behind her bike.
After going back and forth to the resort and chatting with folks as they woke up, I finally suited up, said my goodbyes to all and headed on to Richmond to start my week of friends and family visiting.
I stopped at the Seneca Rocks to grab something to eat and tank up. When I got into the store, I was pretty amazed to look around and see all the interesting stuff. Since the counter lady was off getting something, I snapped a picture of the inside of the store. There's everything you could possibly use inside there even a stuffed wolf.
When I got out I hung out next to the bike and had breakfast and drank my soda. A couple came up in their truck and we talked motorcycles for 15 or 20 minutes. He had a custom but really enjoyed seeing the sportbikes. His nephew was interested in a sportbike but he was afraid he'd hurt himself on it. I pointed him to the MSF courses which he hadn't known about. While we were chatting, I spotted one of the STN'ers heading off in the same direction I was going. We wrapped it up and I headed out.
I went over to the Seneca Rocks ranger station but I was a few minutes early. The parking spot is the same one Rita and I stopped at on our first motorcycle ride together back in 2001. It was quite cold and we'd snagged some plastic bags from the store down the street and put them between our jeans to keep warm. It wasn't perfect but it worked.
While I was waiting a lady pulled up. She moved to WV years ago with her husband and bought a large piece of property. Now she does some art stuff and works at the station part time. When the doors opened, I helped bring some of her gear in and then I picked up my pin and bailed out.
The ride down from West Virginia went from pretty cool to fricking hot and humid. I pulled over at a fast food place in Harrisonburg to remove my sweatshirt and jeans (I was wearing my bicycle pants and constriction shirt underneath) and then called Rita to let her know I was still alive. I called my brother to let him know I was on my way and to get directions to his new place.
After almost an hour, what with talking to Rita and my brother and his wife, I zipped up and headed on south on 81. I made the left onto 64 and down to my brother's new place.
Holy Moley! His place isn't even on the map yet it's so new. The alarm folks were there finishing up. I greeted Lori and Simon, my nephew and unpacked the bike in their garage. During the ride I'd noticed the front tire wasn't in the best shape. I was hoping it'd make it but the riding around in the mountains proved the tire was beyond where it should be changed. Since Erich wasn't home yet, Lori and I broke out the phone book and did some hunting around for a bike shop that had a Metzler Z6 front tire. Unfortunately we weren't able to locate one but we did find a shop with a different Metzler (m33? something like that). He said it was a better tire so I went ahead and headed on to downtown Richmond to get it installed.
The place was in a fairly run down area of town. The shop looked like a dirt bike type shop with a few other parts kicking around. They had just the one tire so I got it put on. The price was reasonable especially since I was dropping in and in need of a new tire. I hung around the shop and checked out the various bits. They had pieces of dirt bike engines, lots of exhausts, and plenty of videos.
Once I got the new tire, I got back on the road and carefully scrubbed it in. It felt a lot better on the corners so I was happy :)
Back at my brother's house I got the rest of my gear unpacked and set up in the guest room. Since I had access, I got my clothes washed. I also broke out my larger back and started packing up the extra stuff I wasn't going to be using on the rest of the trip. I overpacked a little and shed some extra gear. Remember that, you can always ship unnecessary stuff home.