This morning when we hit the road it was a bit chilly at 62 but not a problem when you got the gear. So with the GPS fired up and a full tank of gas we started todays adventure. Speaking of GPS, the Garmin and me had a few fights today because I would come to an intersection and ole Garmin thought it was funny not to indicate which direction to go. I would pick a direction and most of the time I was wrong and re-route was done. Once today ole Garmin said she didn’t have enough memory to continue, but eventually I worked her through it. But at the end of the day, route was complete and it got me back to the hotel.
The First really cool road was Hwy 80 with it’s very tight switchbacks and short straights. This lasted for about 8 miles and ended at the top of a small mountain. I had to take a picture in each direction, just for me. That is another road that I will have to remember to do sometime in the future. Then the fun started. In the pictures today, look for the funny looking short tunnel. Water was flowing on one side and a road went through the other side. The road itself started out normal enough until somewhere near the top of the mountain we ran out of hard surface road and into dirt. Oh my! Do I turn around an back track and or find another route? Are you kidding me? We plow straight ahead as any true dual sport rider would do, even though I was on a cruiser pulling a trailer. It was actually fine. The dirt roads were hard compact and not a lot of loose gravel so I was able to move along at 25 mph except going down hill. Little harder to stop pulling a trailer in the dirt and rocks when you do not like using the front brake. I’ll use front brakes in the rocks, but not very aggressive. Back brakes on the dirt in most situations will help keep the bike upright. I guess we did about 10 miles in the dirt before we finally popped near Richlands. Here we stopped for lunch and fuel.
Leaving Richlands it got really pretty driving through the valleys and mountain ridges. This would be an awesome ride in the fall while the leaves are changing colors. Your line of sight was far so I could imagine the colors. We were tacking toward Tazwell Virginia looking for Highway 16 or the Back of the Dragon. Once established on this road it was obvious why the name stuck. It did resemble the Tail of the Dragon or 129 in TN and NC. unfortunately the eastbound lane mostly was under repair. The sides of the roads had taken a beating due to the heavy rains so they were fixing the shoulders which made the road surface a mess. Still at 16 miles long, there was plenty of good clean surface to run, so it was still a hoot. Looking at the proximity of Hungry Mother State park, I might have to do a run on the BMW to overnight camp and run this road a few more times. Good practice for Alaska.
Today was a good day. Weather was perfect and for the most part the route followed was fun. I’m sure Lori could have done without the dirt roads. She’s a trooper though, she didn’t whine. This ends our stay in Bristol Virginia and tomorrow we will do another loop around Bristol through Mt. Rodgers, and then then West toward Gary Mace’s place. Hopefully if all plans workout, we will meet somewhere in between here and there in the middle of nowhere and track back toward his home. It’ll be good to see the Old Boy again and his family to. Gary and I worked together for 20 plus years at the FAA till he retired to the mountains of Tennessee. We will do a one night stay at their place and then move onto Williamsburg, KY to squat for another 4 days of riding.
No comments:
Post a Comment