Tuesday, July 21, 2009

So, Unk, Where Did You Ride to Last Week????

Glad you asked. With the web connection taking a shit on me the day after I got back I didn't get a chance to give ya any kind of ride report.

I was headed to a little town NE of Pittsburgh, Pa so I started out following the Ohio river on hwy 52. Nice road. Very scenic and relaxing. One surprise I got is when I came across this-





Nice little park and grounds.

Here's the house-









Interesting note on the house. After Grant died, they put the house on a train and did a traveling exhibit out of it. They finally moved it back to the original foundation sometime around 1954 or so. I forget the exact date.
What caught my eye was the bridge on the hwy. Cannons and statues. Pretty cool.
Did I take a picture? Oh hell no. Friggin' Moron that I am.

Crossed over into, West By God Virginia, Friday morning and rode South East. Realized I was close to the New River Gorge so I took a little side trip South.


This is a must go back to place. The Bridge alone is worth seeing-


876 feet up from the river.
As you can tell, I didn't take this picture, It's from the Wikipedia page.

Beautiful country around and I really want to go spend a few days there riding the bike and maybe riding some rapids.

I spent an hour or so checking things out and headed back North and took a 2 lane road Northeast across WV and through the Western end of Maryland into Pennsylvania.

What a great ride. Made for a long day as my average speed had to be about 35-40 is all with all the ups, downs, twists and turns.

I ended up stopping about 80 miles short of where I wanted to go after 400+ miles and 14+ hours. My ass was killing me. If I'd have realized just how close I was, I probably would have just pushed on and saved the Motel cost.

Maybe. Did I mention my ass was killing me?

I'm really not in riding shape and it showed.

Went to the Wife's Family Get Together Saturday the 11th and headed out to my brother's place in Northwest Ohio Sunday. Maybe 150 miles. Took the Turnpike and made short work of the ride.

Spent Mon-Wed there.
Great visit there.

I don't see my Brothers to often and it was nice to spend a few days shooting the shit with him.
We also shot a bunch of his weapons. He belongs to the nicest shooting club I've ever seen. I was there a couple of years ago and it surprised me all over again this time.

We burned a lot of ammo and spent about 8 hours blowing holes in paper targets.

He took me to the Warther Museum last Wednesday.

I can't even begin to describe what this guy was able to do with a carving knife, some wood and some ivory.

Here's a couple of pics, but they don't do it justice.













It's impossible to capture the detail on these carvings in a picture.

All the wheels and drive linkage works. No glue. It's all press fit and even the valves on the air hoses turn.

That 2nd train there is about 4-5 feet long. It only took him 9 1/2 months to make it. Start to finish.

That's friggin' impossible. Not human. The guy had to be a space alien.
This is maybe the coolest museum I've ever seen.

Thursday, I headed out and took the scenic route across central Ohio through Amish country. Great ride. Bought some overpriced Amish cheese and whatnot to lunch on on the way.

Great ride and a great week.

So that's the short version of the ride.

Gratuitous Picture for a Tuesday Evening-
New River Gorge.