Ancient History PMS - Frog Level Discovery - Part 1

Rather than backing up as the WDGAH tales have been
doing, I'll start this series at the beginning with
the oldest bit of electronic journalling that I have
on the pc. It's not the best writing I've done, but it
provides background to several other accounts that may
prove enjoyable.

Cheers,
Greg

Riff Raff's Ride's
Copyright 1997, 2006

Frog Level Discovery - Missed Connections, Missed
Directions and Missing Mammals - Part 1

It's mid September. I've got a VFR750. I've got a
passion for winding mountain roads. I've got a weeks
vacation. I've got good maps of West Virginia and
Virginia. I've got two riders with me for the first
few days. I've got no deadlines, no fixed
destinations, no budget restrictions, no cell phone,
no sights that "you just have to see", no
friends/relatives that I have to visit "while you're
in the area", and no relationship/financial/work
related problems waiting to smack me in the face when
I return. I've got the world by the balls and I'm
squeezing hard!
At first this was supposed to be western Montana, then
it was going to be the Natchez Trace, but the best
laid plans.... Dan Terango and Gary Stone are my
accomplices for the start of my annual fall trip. Pat
Hoban was supposed join me for the whole week, but as
noted, the initial plans for this trip were made in
another dimension.

Saturday
It's a miracle, Dan actually showed up for breakfast
(late of course) with a full tank of gas! Turns out
the only reason for this was that he ran out of gas on
the way to work the day before. Gary spoils the
chance for a clean getaway by needing fuel at the
start. Dan resolves to turn over a new leaf and is
usually the first one ready to go again after our
stops during the day. (An alien has taken possession
of his body.) Dan has an RF900 Suzuki and Gary is
making his first multi-day trip on an EX500 Kawasaki,
hair dryer and all.
We left Pittsburgh and headed east, then south into
West Virginia on roads often traveled by Dan and I.
The general intent was to explore roads in WV for a
couple days and then further south after Gary and Dan
split off for home on Monday. It was a cool start and
a few drops threatened as we approached the mountains,
but the weather gods smiled on us and the rain never
fell. We made our way down to Seneca Rocks and had
lunch at the Front Porch restaurant overlooking the
rocks and a large group of Harleys. The view was
great, the food so-so. Without seeing the
motorcycles, you'd know what the riders were on
because hats, t-shirts, belts, boots and jackets were
all emblazoned with the logo.
I was breaking in a new full-faced helmet and
discovered that is has a tendency to suck up insects
through the gap at the chin. Staring bug-eyed at a
hornet on the inside of a face shield is definitely
not the best way to start an intense stretch of
twisties!
My inclination to explore side roads had us traipsing
all over an area of western Virginia in the evening
without a clue as to where we actually where. In the
end, we made it to Staunton VA for the night. Good
roads and not much traffic made for a fun day. Sore
butt is prevalent, but that's a price well worth
paying.

Sunday
I like Dan's alien. We are on the road at eight, a
truly unique occurrence. On past trips we've been
lucky to be awake by eight.
The local squirrels have an interesting habit that
does nothing to contribute to their life-span. Rather
than just darting across the road in front of us, they
run out and start going in circles in the middle of
the road. I saw two of them perform suicide death
spirals today and four or five for the trip. Gary had
the only hit, fairly soon after starting out for the
day. I saw it fly up in the air behind him in my rear
view mirror. When we stopped later I went fishing and
asked if his bike was handling alright, he gave me the
desired puzzled look, so I said I wanted to know if it
was acting "a little squirrelly".
The morning run back into WV definitely got the blood
flowing, U.S. route 250 from Monterey VA to Thornwood
WV. Dan races and likes to ride at a faster pace than
I'm usually willing to, on good stretches of twisting
road I wave him to the front and let him go. For a
change I decided to see if I could keep him in sight.
I did and in the process I tested the rev limiter, and
glanced down at one point to see the speedo dropping
below 105. I never felt like I was in over my head,
but I don't think I'll make a regular habit of
blasting roads at that pace. The thought of a deer,
or even a woodchuck at that speed is unnerving.
After a late breakfast we did a long loop to the west
of route 219. A good stretch to Webster Springs was
followed by a leg to Richwood that was the only
totally forgettable piece of road we encountered.
Actually the road wasn't too bad, but local traffic
was heavy and it was just a slog to be endured. We
picked up Brent, a CBR600 rider in full leathers at a
gas stop. He highly recommended a stop at Warm
Springs, VA to soak in the springs. He and Dan lagged
back and did some roll-ons before we split up.
The roads and scenery got better east of Richwood. We
stopped at a set of waterfalls and I went fishing
again. I saw that Gary had picked up a branch in his
lower fairing and was dragging it along. He hadn't
noticed the bike getting a 'wooden' feeling. Gary and
I hiked down to see the falls and got a couple of good
pictures. Coming back up, we saw a girl wearing a
t-shirt that said, "Mean People Suck Nice People
Swallow". She looked like a nice person. Far
reaching vistas greeted us on 150 which looped along a
summit ridge back to 219. Saw another large Harley
group in a parking lot. One bike was being worked on
and another was getting hauled off in a truck. They
didn't look like happy campers. A dinner stop near
Marlington set us up for an evening ride back into VA.
Going through Goshen pass gave us the best of both
worlds, great views and great twisties.
We ended up stopping for the night near Lexington VA.
330 miles of riding put us thirty miles down the
interstate from last nights' stop. That's the
definition of a great days' ride.

to be continued...





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