Monday, June 21, 2010

Ridin 2010

Seems like the summer is a busy one for all of us, but we managed to carve out some time for our now annual motorcycle road trip. With the addition of lovely little Mia, papa Pete came over to Todd's in the morning, so we ended up hitting the road a little later than last year. The other change from last year is that Pete was able to borrow a bike from a friend (sweet!) so that eliminated the need for a rental.
We were a little unorganized this year for some reason, and we hadn't really thought about where we wanted to go. My original plan took us wayyy out in WV and just wasn't feasible in the time we had. So, we set off towards Harper's Ferry. First stop, breakfast. Found this cute truck stop diner.


The plan, as usual, was to take as many back roads as possible and to put in as many hours on the bike as possible. This involves a lot of expert map reading.



We went down through Winchester, VA, and then into West Virginia. Right off the bat, we found some great roads.


Here are some "do-it-yourself" shots by pete. We had made it to Mt. Storm Lake in WV by this point and had stopped to take a breather.

After that stop, it was a game called beat the rain.

Yes, that rain. Luckily for us, we were able to play a pretty good game. We only had to stop twice for rain that was hard but fleeting. First stop was at Alpine's, a lucky find right before a downpour. It coincided perfectly with lunch. This was the inside of Alpine's, a real treat. Nothing like dining with stuffed animals. Yes, that's a bear on the ceiling and if you look closely, there are a few other heads to be found.

But the food was good and the service excellent and we finished just in time for the sun to pop back out.


Oh and that's pete in what we figured was one of the last remaining telephone booths in the east! Hit the road and went down through the Canaan Valley. Some shots:
Had one more emergent pit stop because of the rain, where the people of Dairy Queen were nice enough to let us park the bikes under the drive thru, and then we made it to Deep Creek Lake for the night. Had a great dinner, some beers, and a night's sleep and got back on the bikes in the a.m. headed east. So beautiful and so lush out in western maryland, we couldn't stop commenting on how everything was so green!

Now this is hard to see, but smack dab in the middle of that harley bag, on the top, there lies a piece of gum. That would be todd's gum, that he actually managed to stick there throwing it up in the air while riding in front of pete. Ah yes, the things that amuse us while on the road!

We were only gone for thirty-some hours, but, as always, its some of my favorite hours of the year! Being on the bike is complete freedom, and being with two of my favorite people makes it one hell of a ride! thanks boys :)