Breeze3at
Experienced Member
My Florida buddy and I got back to my house yesterday from our annual "Spring" ride. We rode in sunny 70 degree temps. the first day through Ga and into NC. The 2nd day was West into TN and 85 degrees and a HUGE traffic tie up near Sevierville, but we made it to Marion, VA for the night. Monday morning we hit Highway 16, The Dragons Back through VA into WV. That is one nice road, with lots of elevation changes, twists and turns. It's not as tight overall as the Tail of the Dragon, but we rode over 100 miles (Tail of Dragon is 11 miles), with virtually zero traffic. There are lots of farms and small communities along the way. We stopped for lunch in Beckley, WV at Appleby's and it started snowing while we were in there. We rode across the street and booked a room at the motel and holed up for the rest of the day and night. Next morning was 26 degrees and clear when we left the motel. It took a while to get all our locks open, as water had frozen in them. Two old guys in the parking lot blowing into the locks must have looked funny. It was a beautiful clear day riding through the snow covered mountains on nice dry roads. It warmed up to the mid 40's, and we hit some really nice back roads. The only problem was a lot of gravel remained on the roads, which caused some severe "pucker power" in a few of the turns. We spent another night or so in WV, then rode through some beautiful hilly Virginia country sides. We've both done most all of NC, so we used secondary roads South to Charlotte, then spent the last night in Chester, SC. Saturday broke to a steady rain and mid 40 temps. We bundled up, and hit the Interstates South to Columbia, then East to Augusta, GA where the rain quit after 150 concentrating miles.
The last leg was under cloudy skies on nice GA backroads to my house and cold beers and hot BBQ waiting for us courtesy of my Princess Bride.
It took us two years, but we made it to West Virginia in the Spring, maybe a week or so too early, but now it's a Unique part of another road trip with a good riding buddy.
P.S. The new Andrews 48H cams are a noticeable improvement pulling the mountain grades. Well worth doing IMO. AVG. mpg went up about 3 overall (I can't help it, I check mpg on everything I own).
The last leg was under cloudy skies on nice GA backroads to my house and cold beers and hot BBQ waiting for us courtesy of my Princess Bride.
It took us two years, but we made it to West Virginia in the Spring, maybe a week or so too early, but now it's a Unique part of another road trip with a good riding buddy.
P.S. The new Andrews 48H cams are a noticeable improvement pulling the mountain grades. Well worth doing IMO. AVG. mpg went up about 3 overall (I can't help it, I check mpg on everything I own).
