thelastweek

So... the last week has been memorable, and worth a mention.
Allison, my ever, and oh so beautiful wife of nine+ years and I left last Saturday morning for a weekend in the mountains. After dropping the kids off at nannies house, (Thanks Nans!!!)We started out at the Sonshine cafe in Statesville for breakfast. (delicious, and cheap) We drove up rt 90 out of Lenoir, NC wich turns to single lane gravel about 15 miles outside of town and continues up to the town of Linville. We passed through old towns like Edgemont. Saw lots of bear hunters and their dogs, and some amazing fall colors.

In Linville we took a little side trip to the falls wich are absolutely beautiful, if not a little crowded with tourists.

We made it to Asheville about 4:30 and checked in to "the birds nest" wich was appropriate as Allison is affectionately known as "the bird" by some who love her the most. That night we ate at "Bistro"? Pecan crusted trout all around! great stuff!!

We walked around Asheville for awhile to see the sights. Their was some kind of hippie convention going on. With bellies full of trout all the patchoulie in the air was a little overwhelming so we hmm, hmm, retired early. Nuff said.

Sunday was a great if not interesting day. We woke up slow, went out for coffee and a bagel, and then found a church to go to. Mountain Vintage Church in Arden, NC was interesting to say the least. It seemed to be full of alot of old hippies, and quite a few "vintage" mountain folk. Not exactly what I look for in a church, but the worship was awesome!

After church we went to the Frugal Backpacker to do a little shopping. Two hours later and quite a few dollars lighter Allison and I both had new shoes, Al had a new backpack, and we had a few things for the boys.

We spent the afternoon in Black Mountain, NC looking in art galleries, tasting some fine North Carolina Wines, and browsing through antique shops. We found a king size bed that we both liked and since we were in a spending mood, we bought it.

Later in the afternoon we were joined by Joel and Tia (friends from church), and Dean (its too long of an explanation) for pizza at "Fathers House" in Black Mountain, followed by a trip to "the orange peel" (a concert venue in Asheville) for a Guy Clark show. Good times with great friends. If you haven't heard Guy Clark before look him up. His west texas attitude, and music make for incredible listening. Some of my favorite.

Monday, after another trip to the Frugal Backpacker, and saying good bye to the ladies, Joel, Dean and I headed to the Pisgah National forest west of Brevard, NC for a few days in the woods. We hiked in beautiful fall weather up a stream to our camp, collected up a good supply of fire wood, and had at it. Sitting around the fire with the guys things get "talked out", and a man can take a "talking down". Just what I needed. Thanks guys! If we look cold, thats cause heck yea!

That night it snowed! Thanks to a warm sleeping bag and a tarp I was plenty warm. This is the scene on the creek when we woke up. Stinkin beautiful!

Some hot coffee and some oatmeal and we were ready for a "day hike". We hiked along the creek for hours hopping from rock to rock, and soaking it all in. The second night was a repeat of the first around the campfire, only there were alot more "thats what she said jokes".

Wednesday we hiked back to the car, got out of the woods to eat a big meal of western North Carolina style barbecue and ribs in Brevard, then drove back to Mooresville said goodbye to Joel, and spent the night at home with the wife and kids.

Thursday morning Dean and I loaded up the motorcycles and headed to Dublin, Virginia via every backroad I could find.

In the morning the battery on my bike was dead, so along the way I stopped at an Advanced Auto Parts in Elkin, NC to replace it. They didn't have one so the guy proceeded to call every Advanced Auto Parts between Elkin, and Dublin to locate one for me. After exhausting all possibilities within the company he continued calling the competitors, and eventually located one for me in Mt Airy, North Carolina. How awesome is that?! I will be going to Advanced first for future automotive needs!

Dean and I continued on to Pulaski Virginia where I was pulled over by the Police for "suspicion of stunting". Actually I was just standing up on the pegs, and

stretching my legs. Really! Turns out I was speeding to, but the cop was really nice, talked bikes with us for a little while, and let us go. I don't think he even gave me a warning. It was more like "have a great day!" Thanks. I did.

Shortly after our waylay in Pulaski we stopped by Deans Uncle Texs house in Virginia. Word is the guy is a bonafied genius. It was a short stop, and I'm not one to judge but the guy has a full machine shop in his shed, and builds things like working miniature v-8 engines, and gatling guns from scratch. Amazing!! True artistry. He also has a healthy collection of antique steam engines and alot of other cool stuff. I could have poked around his place all day.

We spent the night at Deans dads house in Dublin. Kathy cooked up some home made chile that was just like my mom makes. Delicious! I had alot of fun talking cars, watching Pinks, and looking at photos of all of Freddies old cars, and eating too much chocolate cake. (Thanks for the hospitality!)

In the morning Kathy filled us with sausage, eggs, and biscuits and Dean and I drank lots of coffee waiting for the weather to warm from around 30 degrees (deemed unacceptable riding weather) to somewhere in the neighborhood of 45 degrees (acceptable). There was some talk about going our seperate ways in the morning, and making it home, in my case to go trick or treating with the kids, or in Deans case, to have a day at home alone before the family gets home, but those thoughts vanished as we hit the road, and began "exploring" West Virginia.

We rode single lane, gravel strewn, asphalt backroads for hours, stopping periodically simply amazed at the beauty of what, and where we were riding. I didn't take many pictures. They couldn't possibly do the experience justice. All I can say is Wow! and Wow! and Man I think I could do this every day!! The new image of "worship" in my head is a man on a BMW GS riding the back roads of West Virginia with his head and arms held up to the sky screaming Whaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! as the road sails along beneath him. AMEN. Sorry I couldn't capture that image on film, or digital file or whatever. Maybe someday.

The ride continued up the east side of The New river national forest along hwy 20 through towns like Hinton, and Rainelle. Hinton is beautiful. Rainell has some true "southern" flavor.

We continued north, or west on hwy 60 to 19 where we turned south and came back over the New River Gorge Bridge. You have seen this bridge on tv. All I have to say about it is it is really high! People skydive off of it for cryin out loud! Sorry no pictures, but look it up on the internet if you want to know what I mean.

After crossing the river we took a right onto hwy 16 witch runs along the New river to where it flows into the Gauley, crosses the Gauley and hooks back into hwy 60 wich goes west towards Charleston along the Kanawha river through some really "rough" coal mining towns that I didn't photograph, but you are treated to views like this along the way.

Heres two guys who just don't have enough time to do it all.

We made it into Charleston at rush hour. We spent about 25 miles on Interstate 64. We had a few sudden stops, wich served as reminders that your prayers for safety were working! The thing is, people in cars rarely look out for motorcycles, and riding interstates is a fine balance of being overly defensive while riding agressively enough to stay out of their way. Lots of fun. A little dangerous!

Dean and I continued on to Milton, W. Va to spend the night in our tents at "Jims campground, self-storage, carwash, laundromat, r.v. park, and pawnshop" for the night. Maybe W. Va isn't the only place you'll find this combination, but it did add to the experience.

It was Holloween in W. Va so it was an interesting night. After eating a huge meal at a small, extremely slow country kinda food place in Milton, we went back to our campground to fall asleep to the sounds of guys hunting racoon in the woods behind us, ( bark bark bark yap yap howl for 20 minutes or so then pop pop. silence for about 20 minutes repeat) and the sound of a distant haunted trail. ( continuous screaming with the sound of chainsaws buzzing) It didn't last all night and I actually did get a pretty good nights sleep, although it was cold, and we woke up to thick frost and below freezing temperatures. Thanks to the new battery my bike started right up. We loaded up, geared up, and went for a short ride to Panera Bread in Huntington for a couple hours to await warmer weather.

After eating Dean and I said our goodbyes, and went our seperate ways. Him Back to Greenfield Indiana, Me back to Mooresville. I took the scenic route. I was on the bike for nine to ten hours only to stopping to fuel, and stretch every couple of hours. I only took a couple of photos the whole day, but I have alot of great memorys of hwy 10 south all the way through W. Va then linking in to hwy 16 through Virginia and into North carolina. My plan was to take 16 all the way home, but around six oclock I was in Sparta, NC and decided I had better shoot 21 to I-77 and make it a one and a half hour trip as opposed to the two to three hour trip it would have been going the rest of the way on 16. I didn't want to be riding the twisties after dark. And I won't lie. My Butt was sore!

Two interesting things that happened on this ride. I went to West Virginia, and ended up in War. Thats me and the blue mule (yep, I named my bike) just south of War, W. Va on Hwy 10. The other was a valuable lesson I learned riding through Virginia on hwy 16 just north of Mt rogers.

I rode by myself all day on Saturday. North of Mt Rogers I came through an intersection and a guy on a V-strom pulled in behind me. He followed me over the mountain and through some twisties and was staying right on my tail. So for the sport of it I graciously throttled down, through twisties that I had never ridden before, while keeping a close eye on my mirror to see if he was staying with me. He was so I rode harder. Not smart! really stupid. For those of you that don't know what I mean by twisties let me give you my definition. Twisties are typically paved mountain roads that twist and turn back on themselves sometimes more than 180 degrees over hills, through dips, and around blind corners. Anyway I came up over the crest of a "hill" while glancing in my mirror to see how far behind me this guy was. Just over the hill the road took a hard 120 plus degree turn back to the right. I ended up sliding the bike sideways into the oncoming lane of traffic to get it slowed down in time. I didn't go over the cliff, and there were no vehicles coming the other way. The lesson Ride your own ride. Thought I would have learned that years ago. Hopefully it will stick this time.