|
|
Eric was on the line to the Honda shop at 8:30 sharp. The had a tire. "We are just passing through, can you put it on this morning"? "We have a busy day, but if you get your butts right down here, we will fit you in".
We were there in less than 10 minutes. Kudos to Mark IV HondaYamaKawaZuki in Wytheville, Virginia.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| During the hour and a half that it took to install the new
tire, we window-shopped. This DRZ400SM tickled my fancy, and the price
looked good, too. We chatted with one of the mechanics, and he told us the the shop's owner also ran a dual-sport tour company in Costa Rica. He gave us a brochure, and it looked really cool. Maybe Eric and I will have to do this one year soon. Linky. |
|
While at the shop, Rob called. We were scheduled to be at his place on Sunday night, which meant we were going to have to stop playing around on the squiggly little roads and make some time. But Rob said that it was cool with him if we didn't show up until Monday. An excellent development! Now we could stay off the Interstate and spend some time at Niagara Falls.
|
An old Honda 3-wheel ATV in the curve... |
Since we now had an extra day, I routed us back east a bit
to a road that I had heard a lot about, WV 16. The GPS took us up I-77
north to just over the West Virginia line, the onto WV 10. The
Interstate in this area just can't help but be pretty, with all the
mountains, but the backroads are SO much better. 10 was a joy, and the
few locals that we came up behind were driving like madmen. I guess
that growing up in these hills, you learn to drive pretty well.
|
| As we entered Mullens, the pickup that I was following slowed down dramatically. A little local knowledge, I thought. Sure enough, about a mile into town, the radar detector lit up as the local Deputy prowled for an unwary speeder. These little rural towns probably depend on lots of out-of-town speeders to keep the city budget in the black. |
|
|
Guess this is still legal in West Virginia... |
You wouldn't know it from the map, but Mullens stretches on and on. It seemed like it had grown up the road and joined up with a lot of other little towns to make one long, boring 35MPH zone. There just weren't that many open stretches of road all the way to Beckly. Once we reached Beckly, we got gas and had lunch at a tired looking Shoney's. Thankfully the food tasted better than the restaurant looked. We continued on 16 for a while, which sometimes paralleled 19, and sometimes joined it. There was plenty of traffic and plenty of lights, so we finally just got on 19 (a high speed 4-lane) and put some distance between us and the urban sprawl. When we got back on 16 near the New River Gorge, it was much more rural and much more to our liking. |
16 was not the road that I thought it was going to be. I had read that it was very tight and twisty. There were a few tight sections, but is was more sweeping curves, not as challenging as I had expected. It ran through pretty country, but also took us to lots of grinding poverty. The towns were old and shabby, full of aging trailers, boarded up stores, and tumbledown shacks. Abandoned mines, plants, and railways were everywhere. The coal industry had kept this area alive, but just barely. Yet, among all the poverty, I noticed two things...everybody had a 4-wheeler, and everybody was well fed.
| My plan had been to ride 16 all the way to the Ohio River, but by the time we got to I-79, the day was getting on, and we wanted to be at Niagara Falls tomorrow. Plus, we hadn't been seeing many motels in the West Virginia hinterlands, so it made sense to stay on the Interstate the rest of the day. We ended up at an expensive, run-down Quality Inn in Morgantown, West Virginia that night, and had dinner at Golden Corral. We rode about 300 miles. |
|
