#72 Home from Moonshine!

April 20, 2007

345 miles

Moonshine
Day 9
Friday

Beautiful day! Cool 48 degrees heading out from the motel, but the sun was shining bright! It will get up to 73 degrees by the time I get home. Loaded up and ready to head out from the Best Western in LaVale, MD.

It's such a nice day, I decide to head NE for a bit rather than turning straight south into Virginia.
Catoctin Mountain Park called my name. I went to collect the stamp, but I'll go back again to ride Hwy 77.

Maryland Hwy 77 through Catoctin Mountain Park.
Hwy 77 on the way to Thurmont, Maryland.

Next stop: Brunswick, Maryland in search of a stamp at the museum downtown.

There's the old rail depot in Brunswick, MD.
And there's the Museum in an old brick building downtown...just a couple blocks away from the depot. This is where I'll fine a stamp to add to my NPT collection.
This local guy isn't a rider, but was quite taken with Fleeter. Might have something to do with his last name...FLEE.
Moving on down the road. Time to cross into Virginia. Which means this fleetering adventure is drawing to an end.
The bridge that takes me across the Potomac River and into Virginia.

I think I've said before that I like the back roads... Well this is my kind of road. The sign says so...
click to enlarge
Just down the way a bit on Back Road is Baker Store in Mt. Olive, Virginia. Baker Store is a stop on the Virginia Tour. The VA Tour provides a collection of stops in a booklet where, if you visit each of the stops on your motorcycle - answering a question about the location to prove that you were there -- you get a certificate of completion and a pin for your efforts. Kinda of like a treasure hunt on your motorcycle. Gives you purpose and a destination to get off the main roads and onto those back roads that I like so much.

Sometimes my "back roads" get pretty "back there" ... as long as they stay paved, I'm good with it!
On the way to Ida, VA.


Where the heck is Jill taking me?!

I stopped to admire the small church and to collect it as a stop on the VA Tour.

This fella was out working there-abouts and was right proud of his little old church and offered me a look inside.
Every time I would take a picture he was careful to step aside. So I snuck this one of him before I left.
Heading back over the Blue Ridge Mountains near Luray, VA.

Every time I pass by this store, I wonder...

Are they really antiques if they are making them daily??

I guess someone could call and ask...

Okay, I know this is a really bad photo, but the story is good. I'm riding along and I see someone out mowing their lawn...nothing new there. Then I see this little kid on their mini bike riding along with Mom as she rides the riding lawn mower. How cute is that? Then the kid saw me and about broke his arm waving! Guess he was excited to see someone he related to much more than his mom on her machine!

Now that's just cute as a dickens...I don't care who you are!

That brings us to the end of the 2007 Moonshine Lunch Run.

Nothing wrong with riding 802 miles one way to get a Moonburger!

Moonshine Lunch Run trip summary:

Total trip miles: 2,780 (per GPS)

Total trip time: 9 days

Stamps collected: 17

States fleetered in this trip: 9

Fleetering life is good!


Home long enough to have Fleeter serviced, mow the lawn, etc.
Then Back to Texas...

#71 Mound City to Allegheny Snow

April 19, 2007

329 miles

Moonshine
Day 8
Thursday

The day starts out overcast and even though I have hopes of the sun breaking thru, it never makes much of a showing today. The heavy, low clouds are with me all day though. The high temperature of the day (65 degrees) was right here where I start the day at Chillicothe, Ohio.

click to enlarge

Whose arm is that reflecting in my glasses? Oh, it's the photographer I carry around with me when fleetering. The Hopewell people lived in Mound "cities" along the Ohio valley long before an Europeans stepped foot on American lands. They were named Hopewell after Capt. Hopewell, owner of the farmland where many of the mounds were located.
Back on US23 north toward Columbus, Ohio.

Could this be a sign that we're in corn country?

This was one of the first clues that I was now on the National Road. The National Road was the first federally funded interstate highway. It was built 1811 to 1834 as a trans-Appalachian byway to connect Baltimore, Maryland to the Ohio River and then on to Vandalia, Illinois. US40 mostly follows the original route, but Interstate 70 took a straighter route and only occasionally runs along the original National Road.
From Ohio, came Wheeling, West Virginia then ... poof! You're in Pennsylvania.

Wonder if I would get a "special" welcome here?
My next targeted stop is Friendship Hill in Pennsylvania.

To get there, I go through some small towns such as Masontown.

And then I fleeter along some back roads of Pennsylvania and along the Monongahela River (pronounced [məˌnɑŋ.gəˈheɪ.lə], also known as The Mon...no doubt!).

The Monongahela River is one of the few US rivers that flow north.

click to enlarge photos

Next stop is 24 miles away at Fort Necessity National Battlefield. This camp was built in 1754 as

the first military engagement of the French and Indian War (known as the Seven Years' War outside of the United States). It is also the location of George Washington's only military surrender.

Crossing over the Allegheny Mountains and into Maryland on US49...the weather seemed to be getting cooler and cooler.
It didn't just SEEM cooler. It WAS cooler. I started seeing snow along the highway. Who would have known?!
I decided to find a place for the night along I68 in Maryland. It's 43 degrees out here and getting cooler. No sun, no electric liner under this jacket... and it's getting later. GPS Jill says there are several places up ahead between Frostburg and Cumberland, Maryland. I take a promising exit that has 2-3 motels and check them out. No motel coupons for this area...darn. I follow Jill's directions and we find the Best Western in La Vale. A nice, unique motel next to a restaurant.

Decent price at $62 for all that they offer. Sold. I sign up for a room and go next door for an open-face chicken sandwich.

Fleetering life is good!

But tomorrow... Time to fleeter on home.