8-12-10
Jim Doug and Fran
This time, we’re heading for the east coast. This time there’s a real reason for the trip besides ‘cause it’s there. We’re going to visit relatives! Several of them. First there’s my son Tom in Virginia Beach. He and girlfriend Charlotte will be our first stop. Actually our second. We’re going to take 2 days to ride out to Virginia Beach. So, technically, our first stop is Natural Bridge, Virginia.
We started out on rt. 52 through Ohio to Augusta where we took the Augusta Ferry across the Ohio River, to KY rt 8.
We continued on rt. 8 to Vanceburg, KY where we picked up rt. 10 and then 9 on into Greyson, KY. In Greyson we picked up I64 for a few miles. In Huntington WV, we picked up route 60. The intention was to take 60 on through Virginia. Obviously, we had never traveled 60 through West Virginia before. After our eleventy hundredth and 3rd turn on rt. 60 through back alleys and driveways, we decided this might not be the "best" most scenic route to take. We saw a sign for 64 and made a bee line for I64 again. We got on I64 and didn’t get back on 60 until after Charleston. 60 was much better to ride at this point.Of course, at this point we looked at the map and found that had we stayed on 60 instead of taking the 3 mile detour to I64, we would have been out of the city and onto the "highway" portion of 60 in about 5 blocks. Live and learn.
The temperature today was supposed to be up in the 90’s, way up, around 97f I think they said. It was every bit of that. Fortunately for us, we got into the hills of West Virginia just about the time it started getting hot. It was still hot, just not as hot as it could have been. Around Cedar Grove we stopped to fill up the tanks. Here we found that Jim had had a very close call.
As with every motorcycle trip there’s a few close calls. This was Jim’s.
As good as this birds aim was, he missed Jims face, but not by much. This could have had drastic results. It was getting awfully hot about this time too. We had a solution. At least for a short time. While we were getting something to drink, I decided that the ice machine could serve double duty.
Jim and I placed our helmets inside the ice machine on top of the bags of ice. We stayed there for about 15 minutes finishing our drinks. When we were ready to leave, we retrieved our hats. Man did that feel good! Back on the road…. It only lasted a few miles but it really felt good.
Next stop was the Kanawha River falls.
Neat little place to stop for a few minutes rest.
After the falls we decided to get onto Route 39 to take a more scenic drive. We took rt.16 north to rt. 39. This was, I believe a good choice. The road was a nice drive through the hills with lots of good twists and turns.
We took 39 all the way to Lexington Virginia where we picked up rt. 11 to the first KOA for this trip.
Our first night was spent at the Natural Bridge KOA near Lexington Virginia. Here the bikes were on level ground. Unfortunately, we weren’t. We set up tents on the only ground available and nothing was level, and the rocks and acorns made sleeping a bit tough. Oh well, such is life on the road. At least the bikes were happy.
At this KOA I was able to connect to the campgrounds wireless, just not the internet. I was told that there were too many users on line already. Oh well.
We had a makeshift dinner consisting of whatever we had in the feed bag and the beer Jim rode out and got. All night we all kept thinking about the field of grass across the street we weren’t allowed to camp on. The saving grace there was the quiet. Very little disruptive noise in this campground. That’s a good thing.
Day one is in the bag.
Tomorrow, Virginia Beach, Virginia to visit with Tom and Charlotte
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