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Where did you go today on your Roadster?

296K views 3K replies 221 participants last post by  The Dogfather 
Good idea L of S. I see you still have your R bike! LOL


As for the thread, still winter around here so I will just read and live vicariously through you guys until spring.


Rick
 
Today I rode home, but all week I have been touring around the Dragon Kingdom riding the Dragon 129 of course as well as the Cherohala Skyway, a good section of the Moonshiner 28 and the Devils Triangle. Here are a few pics:


The Devils Triangle





The Cherohala








Yes it got foggy and COLD! Temps dropped to the low 40's while riding in the cloud.











The Dragon sculpture at the Killboy shop across from Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort






 
Just got home from a solo overnighter as I has an extra day off for the July 4th Holiday. I booked a room using my travel points for work and hit the road yesterday morning for the Hocking Hills of Southern Ohio. Along the way I ran into a couple of our ancestors.





Never did meet the owners but the bikes were very clean/ I then continued on. I live up near the North Coast of Ohio along Lake Erie where it is pretty much flat, but as you ride south you start to see the hills form and soon you are riding some of the best roads in this part of the country. Rolling, twisting strips of asphalt that test your concentration and restraint from the blind corners and blind dips in the road. On one such dip, I had instinctively rolled off the throttle before the crest and strained to see over the dip only to quickly come upon a large pile of horsesh1t and a horse and buggy as this is Amish country.


My next stop was to see Big Muskie, a roadside landmark and park showing off one of the largest shovels in the world from a nearby quarry.





 
What with the crappy spring weather and my work commitments, my only riding so far this season has been a ride to the dealer for service and single all day pleasure ride. That had to end! I did have a couple of PTO days to burn, so I set aside a few days before the Memorial Day weekend to go for a multi state cruise. My goal was to hit 6 states, in 3 days. Spoiler alert! I came up 1 state short.

The weather Gods must have been smiling at me as the sun was shining brightly the morning of my departure with 0% rain forecast for the next two days and only a small chance for the third and final day of trip

To get the **** out of Cleveland, I slabbed it down to Canton and where I jumped off the interstate for some favorite twisty roads. I chose to leave on Thursday and return on Saturday to avoid the holiday traffic, and it worked as I had mostly clear and free roads the entire time.

Normally, when heading to West Virginia, I just shoot down 800 to Fly and then take the ferry across to Sistersville, WV. Not today as I was getting bored with that route. This time I wanted to ride some other roads south. Route 9 was my choice and I picked it up in Carrollton after exiting onto US 30 E in Canton home of the NFL Hall of Fame and following OH43 south. Route 9 had wonderful pavement, no traffic and lots of twisties to burn off the rust from the offseason. Even riding through St. Clairsville was a breeze with Route 9 proving to be a delight.

My plan was to eventually hit 536 to the river just by the bridge to New Martinsville, but even with a map and GPS I still managed to go left when I should of gone right and ended up on 148, a great road in its own right but drops you on Route 2 by the river a good 15 miles north of the bridge and a relatively boring those 15 miles were!

Crossing the bridge to WV I stopped for gas having finally burned off the last of the winter Stabil. I stopped at this small riverside park for my packed lunch and a breather.



Gazing out into the water I spotted this Hillbilly paddle wheel boat complete with folding lawn furniture.. They looked to be having a blast!



My destination for the night was Buckhannon, right at the gateway of great riding in virtually every direction! To get there I followed 180 to 23 which I have ridden before. It is a great route to get across the northwest section of WV as it has nice sweepers and as most of rural WV almost no traffic.

I kept my options open for roads as I got closer to my destination to allow for exploring new roads if time permitted. I jumped on Route 50 for a short distance to check out WV 33 to US19. All more of the same. Fun roads little traffic. When I was but 20 miles from my hotel, courtesy of my hotel points from work travel, it was only 3:30 and too early to call it a day. I decided to visit the town of Helvetia. This sign tells the story better than I can.



I have visited the hidden gem before and want to issue a warning to those who wish to visit.



I came in off of WV20 south of Buckhannon. The road is marked as Helvitia Rd. and is right by a Nature Center. That is THE ONLY PAVED ROAD into Helvetia from the west. GPS often mistakes the community park above the town accessible by dirt roads that really are not street bike roads. Or even ADV bike roads unless you have a very skilled pilot. Don't ask me how I know? Anyway, the road into Helvetia is as rural as it gets. Narrow twisty with sections of both awesome and not so awesome pavement. But when you get there, you are in a place that time forgot!



A bad selfie! Trying to get the sign the part of sign that says "You've arrived!



As mentioned I have been here before. There is a B&B as well as a bunk house over the restaurant. I have stayed at both. Very quaint. No cell service. No TV. As I said a place that time forgot. The first time I stayed, it was above the restaurant in the Bunk Room. It was $50 pp including an incredible homemade breakfast in the morning. We hung out at the cemetery up the road which had a gazebo. Pitch black, crickets chirping with the occasional goat blahhing or strolling by. An amazing place!













I was there in time for dinner as the restaurant closes at 6. It brought back memories of visits in the past. I have so many pics of this place that I only took a few this time.

The original telephone switchboard for the town!





Of course the obligatory food pic! As authentic Swiss dish you will find anywhere outside of Switzerland!



After dinner and feeling refreshed, I decided to take the long way to check in at the hotel by leaving via the only other paved road that takes you out towards Route 219 south of Elkins. However heading out east does leave options as there are paved roads that will take you north and eventually to Route 33 which is what I did, arriving at the Hampton Inn around 7 PM a healthy 360 miles for the day, and 2 states.

The next morning my route took me into Monterey Virginia via the mountain pass on US 250, head north on 220 a wonderful fast moving road that follows the river that runs through the valley. I then headed back west over the mountain on US 33 back into WV. I stopped at this lookout with beautiful views of Germany Valley!





I would be riding that road in the valley momentarily!



28 north was next taking me to Seneca Rocks. Another area I have visited before both for BMW Cass rallies as well as BYOB in Bartow to the south.







This is the area of Cass Railroad and the National Radio Observatory complete with airwave blackouts! There is a very cool free tour of the Observatory as well as a presentation at their visitor center. You can also take a scenic ride on the railroad. Worth the visit.

I was now at 3 states with 2 more to go. My destination for the night and where my tale will end, is Pittsburgh my home town. I had another free hotel courtesy again of my work travel and a card game with my non riding buddies. PA would be state #4, but I still needed #5! Many folks don't realize that Maryland stretches east 1/2 through Pennsylvania and West Virgina, so Deep Creek Maryland was not far away home to Wisp ski area where I have skied many times. I had lunch at a nice café overlooking the lake and one of the summer time slopes.



Now it was onto Pittsburgh. Before moving to Cleveland area, this was my riding grounds! I went through Confluence up past Seven Springs eventually arriving at my hotel in downtown 'Sliberty! This was my hood growing up in the East End of Pittsburgh. For those of you who are from Pittsburgh, know what I am referring to, if not then I will spell it out. East Liberty, once home to the 2nd largest business district in Pittsburgh, before Urban Renewal in the 60's decided to ruin it by building a pedestrian mall before that was popular, sending the once thriving district with 3 department stores, 4 movie theaters (1 x rated, giggle giggle when we were kids!) and a better men's clothing store where my father worked for 20 years. This district had a sporting goods store where my father bought me my first baseball glove as a kid. A furniture store where I bought my first bed for my first apartment! I went to High school down the street. And they ruined it!!!

Now 40 years later they are fixing it. Whole Foods started the rebirth 15 years ago and now I am staying at a Hotel right in the middle of this once thriving district that is making a comeback.

The Hotel is a mixture of old buildings and new additions.





The renovated red brick building is where my Father used to work. Waiting on a new tenant.



The abandoned office building is where my orthodontist use to be.



If you were originally from Pittsburgh and have not been back for a while, you will be totally shocked with what is happening in 'Sliberty. Ironically my daughter was also in town for her BFF's wedding and she and her boyfriend were staying just a couple blocks away at another hotel. A converted YMCA where I use to work out when home from College. Things sure have changed.

My original goal was to leave Pgh in the morning, head north past Kinzua Dam and into Western NY for my 6th state. But having a late breakfast with my daughter meant I didn't get to saddle up til noon so I wisely decided to save that for another day and head home.

The ride home from Pittsburgh was one of many that I have done over the years so I won't bore you plus I didn't take any pics so it really didn't happen.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!

Rick G
 
No worries about posting my Smugmug gallery. I have posted plenty of pics here before. I do have a new computer so maybe it is doing something different when I copy of Smugmug link.

I am trying a different way here.



Bingo! I got this figured out now! Unfortunately it is too late to edit my original post, but you can look at the gallery posted above and figure out which pic was suppose to go where.

Rick G
 
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