Mineral

Yesterday afternoon was pretty much the same as the morning with lots of twisty roads and beautiful scenery. Like Back of the Dragon, yesterday I ran the "Talon," WV Route 60, which was another twisty piece of awesomeness. I also knocked out two more 50 Rides, 1 Nation photos, Virginia's for its Skyline Drive ride I did a few years ago and West Virginia's for the Monongahela National Forest and Highland Scenic Highway. Except I didn't ride the Scenic Highway.

As I was making a u-turn to get a photo of the sign, I dropped the bike ☹️. I didn't get hurt, and Willie was only bruised, but I couldn't get him up by myself. I left him laying in the road, praying no one would come around the bend and run him over, as I ran to the Cranberry Mountain Nature Center for help. Two Park Service officers and I were able to get him back on two wheels before any cars came up on him. He has a few scratches, but he started right up for me and ran like a champ. Atta boy, Willie!

I changed the route to cut out the Scenic Highway, but still wound up on more really twisty roads. No scraping the rest of the day, though. Falling over isn't the same as crashing, but I definitely didn't want to risk doing both on the same day, so it was easy-does-it the rest of the ride.

After 12 hours on the bike, I stopped for the night in Orange, VA, where Domino's fed me dinner while I doubled checked my route for today so I wouldn't miss another HD. I also thought about the day and remembered the unusual animal I saw.

I've seen lots of animals the past few days, but each state seems to have more of one than the others. In Kentucky, we dodged turtles 🐢 sunning themselves on the roads. In Virginia, I lost count of the groundhogs I saw scooting from one verge to the other. West Virginia was chipmunks 💨, skittering around with their little tails stuck straight up in the air. And in Ohio, squirrels 🐿️. Sitting on the side or the middle of the road, not moving until you're right on top of them. Little buggers. As for deer 🦌, they're everywhere. Yesterday, one big red doe on the other side of the barbed wire fence decided to run the same direction as I was going...and kept up with me for about 50 yards. But what got me on this train of thought was the peacock 🦚 I saw on a gas station roof in West Virginia. That certainly was an unexpected sight.

I pulled out of the hotel this morning at 07:10 and one minute later hit rain. Just a drizzle and I already had my rain gear top on, so I kept going. The drizzle soon turned into rain, all kinds of it ☹️. "Little bitty stingin' rain, and big ol' fat rain, rain that flew in sideways, and sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath," as Forrest Gump so eloquently stated. So, I pulled over at about 20 miles in, put on my big girl pants (aka rain gear), called my hotel to get an extra night, and changed my route to head straight to Cumberland, Maryland.

What I forgot to do, though, was change the settings to NOT avoid interstates, so I wound up on some pretty twisty and slippery roads. I waved the cars past me on the double yellows and kept a slow but safe pace. I got to my hotel in Braddock around 11:00 and got into my room around 12:30.

While I waited, I walked across the street to the Highland (Shop) Harley store, which also has service...why it's not a regular dealership I have no idea...and grabbed a quart of oil for Willie. I'm trying to keep him happy 😉.

So long [for now], and thanks for all the fish! ✌️

Day 94 mileage: 550.4 (total 21424.7)
HD Dealership Challenge: 3 (total 165)
50 Rides, 1 Nation: 2 (total 16)Read more