#34 Hungry Bear

July 23, 2006

333 miles

The Barn General Store near Lake Anna was a fueling stop for us.

This general store extends the invitation...Do Drop In. There's something I find appealing about the little old Post Offices.
Hadensville, VA 23067 (northwest of Richmond, Virginia)

Now one might wonder about a sign such as this... TANK CROSSING...?

Come on...really?

But I suppose one should take such signs seriously when you're passing through an Army Guard Maneuver Training Center such as Fort Pickett! Fort Pickett is about 50 miles southwest of Petersburg, Virginia.Another small general store, the Hungry Bear on VA40 near Stony Creek, Virginia.

The bridge crossing the York River near West Point, Virginia (about 40 miles east of Richmond). This is the kind of grate (not great) surface that makes motorcycle riders a bit nervous. The tires jump back and forth in the grooves...makes it feel like the handlebars are being controlled by someone else.

Some of you may recognize this place from a previous Fleeter Log.

This is downtown Stevensville. There's only one intersection and three buildings within sight.

Across the street from the ESSO is an old Texaco.Chasing the sun on the way back home...

#33 GTT-Humpback Bridge on the Last Day of GTT

2006 July 7

GTT Trip

No this isn't an optical illusion...the roads really do get squiggly.

See...told you. This is why these are the best roads. Obviously this trip isn't about making "time," but about the ride you can experience on the back roads.

We stopped by to see the Humpback Bridge near Covington, VA.

Built in 1835...remained in public use until 1929.In this picture you can see why it is named the "humpback" bridge.While exploring down along the rocks at the water's edge, I came across a few reptilians. Either it's a two headed snake or there are two snakes under that ledge.

I think it's two snakes, so that makes four snakes I counted without even trying too hard.

Great place to go swimming.

Just make a lot of noise and check the rocks for snakes before you venture onto them.There are many old barns along the back roads.Some barns aren't so old though. These kids had a Lemonade Stand sit up on the side of the road in Bacova, VA.
One kid's name was Clay. He didn't believe me when I said that was my name too...had to show him my license. He didn't know what to say then...Time to stop for lunch. This country market had a deli counter that served up some nice turkey sandwiches.Isn't this just the coolest stamped concrete sidewalk?! It's at the Augusta Military Academy museum near Fort Defiance, VA.
Before closing, the Augusta Military Academy was the oldest of the seven military prep schools which existed in Virginia. It is located next to the Augusta Stone Presbyterian Church established in 1740 when this was on the edge of the Western Frontier during the French and Indian War. It's getting dark when we pull in at the house in Fredericksburg, VA.

Home again, home again
Jiggity, Jog
Home again for Fleeter too. Being home again is nice, but I am reminded of what someone said about me during the trip...

"Some people put down roots and some people grow wings"

I actually rather like having wings...

My GTT (Gone To Texas) trip is now history. But it was fun and I want to do it again!

I'm mapping the states I've fleetered to and through.

This is what my map looks like now.

GTT Trip
Dates: April 29 - July 7, 2006
Miles: 7,013
States: 10 (VA, NC, SC, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, TN, WV)

#32 GTT-Riding Country Roads from NC to WV

2006 July 5-6

407 miles

GTT Trip

We left Franklin, NC in a light misty rain. For the rest of the morning we rode in and out of drizzle, but nothing drenching or worth stopping to sit out. But still a little too wet to bring the camera out very often. By midday the roads were mostly dry, but the air still had a nice coolness to it.

Linville Falls and Linville were nice little towns in North Carolina.

Check out those Motolights!

US221 on the way to Blowing Rock, North Carolina.

I wondered if this was one of the rocks blowing? When the rain looked like it would pour again at any moment, we decided to take a room in Boone, North Carolina for the night. This was our view of a firetruck flying down the rainy road.
Better than the view out on the road...this time. The next morning we found the old Mast General Store in Valle Crucis, North Carolina.

Still in operation...since 1883.The front of Mast General Store. A real "old time" general store is worth the extra miles to visit.

Off the interstates, so many of the roads have a nice contour to them.

Sylvia got a bit worried that we were getting lost when we took small roads that were not on the state map. But Jill, my GPS navigator, knew exactly were she was taking us.

Here the road circles back almost on its self. This happenes quite a bit on these back roads.

Sylvia got a shot of me heading around the curve.So often the roads go right by (and I mean RIGHT by a building...within a couple feet or even inches). This makes me think that there is no rule about setback distance. My guess is that the houses and barns were here first and they weren't moving for a road, even if it was bigger and faster than the last road. For those of you that don't recognize this type of road and may be asking...But where does it go?
The answer is nowhere. This is the "runaway truck" ramp. If a semi-rig loses braking control as it barrels down the mountain, it will take one of these ramps that generally turn upward in a thick sand. This one doesn't have sand but has a quick change from downhill to UPHILL. I think it would be a rough transition if you're out of control flying down this mountain. Maybe like a roller coaster without the tracks...On the Interstates, we find that sometimes we go through the mountains instead of over them.And on the other side of this mountain, we arrive in West Virginia. The West Virginia visitors center closed at five...we didn't get a map...too late. But we did meet a couple on a Harley Sportster. They had ridden from Florida and said it had been a rough ride. The woman riding pillion (as passenger) had even stopped and bought a thick pillow to tie to her seat to help the ride. Still, she said she wouldn't do it again...not like this. She wanted her own bike or a better pillion pad!
Back on the smaller back roads again, we travel under the trestles of a rail's truss bridge as we dig deeper into the mountains of West Virginia.The sun gets lower and the temps drop as we head to Beckley, West Virginia.Would this qualify as riding into the sunset? Today we rode 232 miles through four states...NC, TN, VA, WV... mostly on small country roads.