Saturday November 14th. I meet Steve for breakfast at 9am. Temperature is in the low 40's. The high is suppose to reach mid 60s and we are going to go for one more trip before winter sets in. We are heading to West Virginia, our first stop is Point Pleasant. We leave Chillicothe around 10am, riding East on route 35. Arriving in Point Pleasant just after 11, we park the bikes and stop in Harris Steakhouse for a cup of coffee. This was a great decision, we here tales of Mothman from the true believers. As it turned out one of the women in the restaurant was a witness,,and claims to have seen the creature. Before I go any farther,,NO,,I do not believe in the Mothman, Bigfoot, or any other boogie man that goes bump in the night. However, it made for an entertaining morning. We leave the diner and strike out on foot, we see the statue of Mothman, then walk down to the flood wall to see the murals,,then its off the the Mothman museum. The museum has many interesting artifacts, original police reports from Mothman sitings, and props from the movie.
The last two hours have been fun, but it is time to get back on the road. We leave town heading North on route two, a nice two lane road we take to the Ravenswood exit. There route two joins I 77, well we do not want to take the Interstate ,,so we check the map and find route 68 in Ravenswood. Riding route 68 north to Parkersburg , the sun is warming things up now and the ride is fun up this two lane. With breakfast wearing thin, we decide to stop in Parkersburg for dinner. I know a great retaurant , The Mountaineer,,,if I can remember where it's at. We ride to the East side of town, yup,,there she is, ok,off the bikes and grab the map. Over dinner we look over the route, looks like we will have to jump on I 77 and ride north one exit to get back on route 2,,ok thats not to bad. After dinner, and dessert ,,we are stuffed. We jump on I 77, ride north one exit and we are back on route two heading north, our goal for the day was wheeling WV. The problem is , it is getting late in the day. This time of year the sun is on its way down by 5pm,,and it is dark by 6. We ride route two along the river as the sun is fading from the sky,,and it is getting COLD...Several small towns pass with not a hotel in sight. Friendly, then Sistersville, Paden City,,then at last, New Martinsville, here we find shelter from the cold night air. A hotel, not the best but I have seen worse. They have a small bar, so we decide to go have a beer and watch the Ohio State game. That did not last long, in WV you can still smoke in a bar,,and this is a small bar with 4 or 5 people smoking,,,,within 15 minutes my eyes are burning from the smoke. That is enough of that, we strike out on foot to a nearby store, look around a bit then its back to the hotel,,,and it's only 8pm,,looks like it is gonna be an early night.
Sunday Morning, we rise early and get ready to ride. It is 40 degrees , and very foggy,,we wipe the bikes dry and pull out at 730am. We ride north on route 2 as it follows the river, this would have been a great fall ride 3 or 4 weeks ago,,but now the trees are bare. I see a barge on the river and thought about stopping for a picture, but this fog is so thick it would have been a waste of time and film. They are doing some construction work on route 2 and the road is very rough in in spot's,,I hit a bump that is so bad it throws me off the seat. 20 miles go by and we pull into Moundsville WV, there we stop for breakfast at The Guest House Restaurant . There we enjoy breakfast , and conversation with a few of the other customers. Talking to the locals, they suggest we cross the river and travel north on route 7 in Ohio,,after that last section of rough road,,,we agree.
After breakfast we head out, cross the river and north on 7 to Bridgeport where we stop for fuel. There we pick up route 250 north. This sounded like a good idea, two lane road, full of hills and twisties, BUT,,lined with houses, a lot of driveways to watch,,and way to much slow moving traffic for this to be fun. A long and boring 26 miles north to Cadiz Oh. This is where things get much better, we turn west on route 22. We have this two lane to ourselves , yup,,this is better, and we are away from the urban sprawl and the driveways. Riding along we stop to stretch our leg's,,and take a couple of pictures at Lake Piedmont. The weather called for Partly cloudy,,doesn't that mean it should be partly sunny??? No sun!!! overcast and cold,,I need a cup of coffee. We get back on the road, about 20 miles before we see a little store, a short stop for coffee and conversation with the locals. It is turning out to be a really good day, a little chilly but a fun ride. A fellow stops to talk when he See's the bikes, Steve tells him about a few of our rides. He looks at at us and asks,,sooo,,you guys retired??? Now I know I am not a kid,,but dang!! do I look that old????
Well, time to roll, back on 22 westbound, we ride through Salt fork state park area. Wish we had time to explore, but I need to keep pushing for home. The next town we come to is Cambridge Ohio, I have never been through here this time of year. The streets are full of Statues of Dickens characters for the Christmas season, again,,wish we had time to stop and explore. We ride on to Zanesville where we pick up route 93 south,,hey,,look,,the sun is shining ,,,yippeee,,first time I have seen it all day. And you can tell its out, the air temp. is rising,,it feels warm,,time to shed a layer before riding on.
Leaving Zanesville we ride south on route 93, 50 miles of rolling two lane and we pull into Logan Ohio. What a great day to ride, with the sun out it is getting warm,,,time to lose another layer. We pull into a Marathon station that is closed on Sunday, oh well,,pull off my coveralls and put them in the saddle bags. The owners show up to get something out of the store and let Steve use the restroom, turns out they ride too . From here we are a short 40 miles from home, down route 180 to route 159 and we are back in Chillicothe.It was a great two days,,,maybe,,just maybe we can get in one more trip this year,,,hope so...
