Fall foliage Ride 2009 Virginia, West Virginia

[Intech]

Day One:

The 2009 Leaf Peeping ride turned out to be a lot better than some expected. That nasty storm system cooperated some and flew off to the north. We rode in a little rain on the way to the meeting point at Duck's Corner in Buckingham, VA. Ingo (F1Fan) took the worst of it coming from his direction. We watched some pretty nasty looking skies to the east of us before leaving. We headed out Rt. 56 towards Raphine and our lunch stop and the hook up with Nate and Beth (BluBullet) from IN and Greg (Geezer) from NY. We had a good lunch and then headed off down 606 to 39 through Goshen. Some rain and a lot of debris on the road for the first section. We rode through it and by the time we got to Goshen Pass it was clear, dry and sunny. VA colors were awesome. We continued on 39 to Marlington where we picked up 219 south to Lewisburg and the Briar for the night.

Early Birds L-R Janet (Mrs. Intech), George(Bellman), Jim(JimStan)

The rest of the crew arrives at Duckies:

Lunch Stop:

Nate and Beth (Bluebullet) arrive:

Several shots from the first stop on 39 in Goshen:

L-R Heidi(luvtoride), Janet(Mrs. Intech), Beth, Nate(Mrs. & BlueBullet), Jim(JimStan), Sharon(Scoops), Greg(Geezer)

Geezer chillin'

Jay(Violione) in fine form! (Ingo you are lucky I missed the napkins!)

Some pics from the road: (Good job Janet!)

Goshen Pass:

Hi Geezer!

Nate pointing out the finer points of Leef Peeping to Beth!

 

[wheatonFJR]

WOW! Great scenery and pictures :clapping:

Good to see some familiar faces out enjoying themselves.

 

[Niehart]

Hey thanks for taking us along. Great pictures!

Who is that Geezer guy! Saw some guys that looked just like him in Idaho....

 

[f1fan]

Bob,

Thanks for posting the report with pics and missing the napkins. Btw, that rain suit left this morning with the trash pick-up. :rip_1:

 

[Intech]

Bob,Thanks for posting the report with pics and missing the napkins. Btw, that rain suit left this morning with the trash pick-up. :rip_1:

Notice I kindly excluded the wet "parts"! :blush:

 

[Hamie]

Great pictures....thanks for sharing...

I stopped here when I was in Virginia after SFO...

 

[Intech]

Ride Report Continued:

Back at the Briar we had the opportunity to catch up with past aquaintences and get to know new ones! Jim and Creta(Spklbk) showed up for the festivities with Jim offering his services as tour guide for Sunday. Plenty of beer, Jameson, Maker's Mark, and, of course, moonshine.

New friends Nate and Beth(BlueBullet) Great folks that I hope to have the pleasure of riding with again!

The Geezer! Greg was also a pleasure to keep company with. I will have to ring you up when I am back up in your neck of the woods.

Creta, Sarah and Jay

Jim(Spklbk) Tour guide and cherry distributer and Beth

Heidi(Luvtoride) had trouble showing her enjoyment in getting her ride back. NOT!

Jay was thinking "can we pleeease go inside?!" Itwas getting quite cold, but we had plenty of "antifreeze"!

That wraps up day one. Day two to follow.......

 

[wheatonFJR]

You had some quality people on what looked to be a great ride!

The bluebullets are both great people. Even though I've met them at various FJR functions, I haven't had a chance to ride with (I mean behind) Nate yet...even though I've exchanged messages with him starting back in his Leaf River, IL days. Nate is a great guy! If it works out, he is even going to scout out a Ninja 250 in central Indiana for my son David. Thanks Nate!

Greg is a class act. He's been generous to me in the past in my travels. I look forward to motorcycle camping with him in 2010.

I met Jim briefly at EOM '07 at the Lewisburg bluegrass concert that he let us know about. He seems like the kind of guy that makes this world a better place. I look forward to riding with Jim someday.

I'm glad to see you back in the saddle Heidi. Was it very rusty getting back on yer bike? Hope you have some great rides this year and next.

Jay was thinking "can we pleeease go inside?!" Itwas getting quite cold, but we had plenty of "antifreeze"!

ATGATT Jay! :lol:

Hope to ride Virginia next year.

 

[luvtoride]

I'm glad to see you back in the saddle Heidi. Was it very rusty getting back on yer bike?

Yeah Mark, definitely... considering I hadn't been in the mountains in months. It started coming back pretty fast at some point. I was right on the lead rider's ***** going over Potts Mountain on 311.

PS... bike is running stupendously well.

 

[wheatonFJR]

I'm glad to see you back in the saddle Heidi. Was it very rusty getting back on yer bike?

Yeah Mark, definitely... considering I hadn't been in the mountains in months. It started coming back pretty fast at some point. I was right on the lead rider's ***** going over Potts Mountain on 311.

PS... bike is running stupendously well.

Great! Ooooh, Pott's Mountain. I'm jealous.

 

[Intech]

Day 2:

Day 2 we had an awesome tour guide that took us on some great roads and a good hike to take in some awesome scenery. Thanks Jim! Unfortunately I didn't have the camera out of the bag during the ride just at the stops, so no twisties and no buffalo. It was quite a wildlife ride too! We had deer, squirrels, turkeys, and dogs in the road! Fortunately the buffalo were not. Jim led us through some nice twisties and scenic farm country of southeastern WV. He then took us up this goat path that had been paved and parked the bikes. Jim was quoted as saying, " Once you get up this first steep incline it levels off and is about 1/2 mile hike." Well, we all learned what someone from WV thinks is "level" It was .8 miles to be exact and uphill BOTH ways! The payoff was worth it, though. Breathtaking! I had a full sweat going by the time we got back to the bikes.

First refreshment break in Union, WV(I think)

Starting up the steep part:

Let the stragling begin...

And the payoff..Well worth the hike!

Who is carrying us down???

And that completes the photo part of the ride. This was a memorable weekend with good friends. Janet and I are still on a high from the weekend. We can't think of much else that pleases us as much as riding with the folks we have met since getting the FJR. All I can say now is when is the next ride??

 

[bellman]

Bob, my thoughts exactly. I left my bike out after I got home thinking I would wash off the grime today. Nah! I took a little 2 hour scoot up in the hills this afternoon and reiterated to myself, I didn't go on the ride this weekend for the leaves.

Thanks for putting together the trip report and the ride! Looking forward to the next time!!

 

[Bluebullet]

Sweet, I'm glad day 2 turned out so awesome. We had our heated gear cranked that morning on the highway heading home it was just cool enough that the wind chill was soaking in. We stopped at the gorge bridge and found a goat trail (Rock Hill Road)on the north east side that we were able to get a view way down the ridge. Then we blasted up the toll road to the AA in Kentucky and back on I74 in Cincinnati to home.

 

[Gizmo]

Looks like you guys had a great time. Great pics! Thanks for positng up... :clapping:

 

[El Toro Joe]

Great pics & report...looks like everyone had a great time