We originally passed through Goshen a few years ago during one of our motorcycle tours of Virginia.
Goshen is a quaint town bordering the George Washington National Forest the nearest “big towns” are Staunton and Lexington VA.
One of the things that interested me was the Goshen Truss Bridge. Not the best light for good photos but you get the idea. Built in 1890 it was the height of bridge engineering at the time.
Ride On, Ride Safe
This is the 30th anniversary of the ride to promote the role of motorcycles as an option in the daily commute. This event originated in the United States but quickly grew into an international event.
By riding to work we demonstrate:
Some may ask, as we are still in the era of Covid and a large number of folks are still working from home, how can I participate without a commute? Do as I am going to do….. Ride for 30 minutes before you start your home office workday!
Maybe I should ride for 30 minutes everyday before work?????
RIDE ON, RIDE SAFE
In 2019 there were just not a lot of good motorcycle memes. I had a total of 20 in my memes folder to chose from. Last year there were nearly double that to choose from and the selection of the final 9 memes for last year was difficult
This year the down selects went quick it took less than 5 minutes to pick the 9 best motorcycle memes from 2019. So, enjoy!
Which one is your FAVORITE? Let me know in the comments below. I like the dinosaur one the best!
Why the 9 Best Motorcycle Memes? Because everyone does 10 and 11 is to much work.
Thank you all!!!!
Holy heck I never really expected to reach this milestone. This is just a blog about motorcycle stuff that interests us. I am surprised that you guys are interested in the same stuff.
Now you may have noticed that there has been a …. shortage of articles on rides or trips this summer. Well my wife tore 2 ligaments in her left knee and getting on and off the bike has put us on hold for anything but the shortest rides.
Right now, I want to finish the Hollowed Ground American Byway ride. We had most of it finished before her incident but the last third is just hanging out there wait for us to finish. We might be able to slip the last part in this year… but it is getting tight.
Thank you again for following this blog!!!
Interactive map of American Byways
A few years ago, I wrote about a website the federal government got right, their “America’s Byways” website.
What I did not know, at that time, was that the authorization for identifying and creating new byways had expired in 2012. From 1991 until 2012 nearly 150 roads were defined as an American Byway or an All American Road.
Now, it turns out, that both the House of Representatives and the Senate have passed the “Reviving America’s Scenic Byways Act” and it is now with the president to sign. And who said that they could not work together to make something happen.
This act requires the Secretary of Transportation to seek nominations for and eventually make a decision of those roads that can be added to the list. This program also provides resources to those communities along the roads to help further improve the byways.
American Byways info page
This website is a great source in helping plan a future ride. We have used it and have rode several of these byways ourselves including: The Highland Scenic Highway, George Washington Heritage Trail, George Washington Memorial Parkway, Northwestern Turnpike, Skyline Drive and the Natchez Trace among others.
For those of us that like these roads a special thanks must to go out to the American Motorcyclist Association. The AMA is part of the coalition that has gotten us to the point of renewing a government program that actually works.
American Byway map page
Overcast, light rain and thunderstorms, that was day one of the HOG Curves to Cores motorcycle rally. There were no guided rides and with those weather conditions I decided not to do any of the self-guided rides. Instead I did the poker run and apple hunt. I still had a lot of fun!
Day Two of the rally was sunny but not hot, perfect motorcycle ride weather! I had signed up for the “Acting Like a Good Ole Boy” guided ride.
This was a 127-mile, well crafted, ride across the Blue Ridge Mountains and down the Shenandoah Valley. Some SPECTATUCLAR scenic views and some cool riding. I was unable to get pictures from the motorcycle as my co-pilot and backseat photographer had to work
The mid-point of the motorcycle ride was a stop at “Cooter’s Garage and Dukes of Hazard Museum”. Those of us of a certain age will remember the Dukes fondly as it was a lot of fun to watch. Today it is “politically incorrect” but then it was fun.
When we pulled into Cooter’s Garage, we were only folks there but, before we left there was at least one other group of about 10 motorcycles and then the Can-Am Spyder section of the Women’s Mid-Atlantic Riding Tour pulled in the parking lot.
The last time I saw that many Spyders in one spot, my wife sent me to the store for a can of bug spray! (now that is comedy)
From Cooter’s Garage we rode to lunch and then back to home base in Winchester. The return trip was just as scenic.
Day Three was supposed to be a ride to Summit Point Raceway to ride our big Harley Davidsons on the track. I did not make this ride as I had an offer to test ride the new Zero electric motorcycle. Stand by for a post on that event.
Day Four of the rally and the weather, once again, was perfect for riding motorcycles. This day my wife was able to attend and we had chosen the “For Whom the Road Tolls” guided ride.
At 80 miles this ride followed the first toll road in what would become the United States, Snickersville Turnpike. This was another well run ride. I want to praise our road captian Peter for an outstanding job on a ride with lots of intersections and stop signs!
This ride was through some of the most rural parts of northern Virginia. Beautiful farms and landscapes abound though out the ride. We passed though multiple small towns founded in the mid-1700s, a lot of pre-United States and Civil War history was ridden through this day.
Day four was also the closing of the rally. Held at Groves Harley Davidson of Winchester they had several event prizes to give away, of course I did not win anything! Bummer.
All in all this was a great event, setup and executed very well. We are going to another HOG rally later this year, it will be hard pressed to outperform the Curves to Cores rally.
Ride On, Ride Safe
![RTW Button Art [Converted]](https://ijustwant2ride.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/ride-to-work.jpg?w=600)
The 28th annual International Ride Your Motorcycle to Work day is fast approaching.
The goals of this event are:
A day of rider unity.
Highlight the positive aspects of motorcycling
Arouse the curiosity of coworkers as they see a lot of motorcycles in the parking lot.
Allows us to bring up important motorcycling related items such as distracted driving, E15 fuel, lane splitting, etc..
This event is always the third Monday in June!
Learn more and get free propaganda at the RIDETOWORK.ORG
Ride on, ride safe!
We rode motorcycle across the Highland Scenic Highway as part of our long get away weekend. I left this and another road off those posts as they deserve their own discussion. In a nutshell, if you are anywhere near this road you owe it to yourself to enjoy this ride.
It is not a technical, twisty motorcycle road but fun in its own way. It is more like the Blue Ridge Parkway or Skyline Drive, 43 miles of ridge top riding with spectacular views and vistas. Just a sit back, relax and enjoy kind of road.
The Highland Scenic Highway runs from Richwood WV to US Route 219, or vice versa. The highway is also an “American Byway” that rolls through Monongahela National Forest. We were a week or two early for the peek fall foliage displays but if you time it right it is going to be a wow moment with all the hardwood forests on leafy display. There are 4 overlooks to stop and view undeveloped wilderness, not all had open facilities, but each had paved parking and picnic areas.
As for the road itself, it was well maintained with mostly rolling ridge top riding. Toward the 
northern end there was a long, steep incline, parts of which are 9% or (seems) greater! With over two thousand feet of elevation change, I had the motorcycle in 3rd gear and used engine braking for what felt like miles of decent. Had the day not been getting late and the shadows long, I would have turned around and rode the Highland Scenic Highway again.
Make sure your tank is topped off before riding, while it is relatively short there are no fuel or snacks along the route. This road would make for a nice picnic ride, pack your lunch in, stop at an overlook or trail head (there are a lot of hiking trails) for a fun afternoon.
This Scenic Highway is not as easy to get to as most others, it really is in the middle of nowhere. However, the roads you need to take to get to this byway are just as fun as any we have rode. If this area and the Highland Scenic Highway are not on your motorcycling bucket list, you need to add them right now!
After stopping for a break and lunch at the Cass Scenic Railroad State Park we were back on the motorcycle. An hour or so later we make it to the southern terminus of the Highland Scenic Highway.
About 43 miles later we came out on the other end of the highway near the Snowshoe Resort Area. I am going to do a separate post on the Highland Scenic Highway.
The view from the top of Snowshoe Mountain.
In the mid-Atlantic area of the US Snowshoe is one of the premier snow skiing areas, and in the summer is renowned for mountain biking. For us, today, it was the end of a day of riding and touring on the motorcycle. We rolled up to the Snowshoe Inn, got a great meal at a nearby restaurant and turned in early.
The folks at Snowshoe Inn were very motorcycle friendly. The allowed us and three others to park our bikes under their covered entrance, somewhat out of the elements.
The next morning, we awoke to dense fog in the valleys that climbed quite away up the mountain sides. We rode at a slower pace due to visibility issues and not wanting to run into any deer, literately.
The ride out of the Snowshoe area could have been great fun. If we could have seen more then a couple dozen yards ahead! Oh well, maybe next time.
There were a LOT of hairpin turns!
By the time the fog had burned off we were back at Yokum’s Store in Seneca Rocks. A sausage, egg and cheese sandwich with a Dr. Pepper hit the spot and now both the motorcycle and its passengers were full and ready to roll.
Roll we did, through the rolling hills of the Greenbrier and Canaan Valleys, up and over a couple ridges we were soon at the last stop of our long weekend, Blackwater Falls State Park outside Davis, WV. 
Blackwater Falls gets it name from the color of the water that flows over the waterfall. A very dark brown to black flow, picked up from the rocks over which it flows. 400 steps round trip for some wonderful pictures and a good time with the wife.
The last major road we traveled was Corridor H (US Route 48) or as many call it, the “Road to No Where”. It starts north of Davis, WV and ends near the VA boarder running for about 100 miles. I am going to do a separate post on this road as it is a real beauty.
Our weekend covered 3 days and 610 miles of awesome Twisty, Technical, Tight, Scenic roads.
Below is a description of our long weekend motorcycle ride. I cannot put into each of the descriptions of where we stopped during our ride how astounding the roads are for riding a motorcycle. Curvy, twisty, technical, rolling, tight, flowing, and scenic are just a few of the adverbs I could use to describe the roads in this amazing area. The roads here can be dangerous as well; road conditions, weather, wildlife and bad drivers, of course, can make any road dangerous but these roads can pull you into over riding your abilities. Decreasing radius turns abound and can catch you unaware. Ride safe.
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Creating a long weekend, the wife and I took a 610-mile motorcycle ride through eastern West 
Virginia. We left our home Thursday morning with neither true routes set nor lodging planned.
I knew that there are cabins for rent at the Smoke Hole Caverns Resort, so I set the GPS on the bike to take us there via the scenic route. I can truly say that it the route the GPS lady took us was nowhere close to the route that I would have picked by looking at the map. However, we did enjoy the path it laid out. Twisty in the mountains, rolling valleys and great views. We were not disappointed with what the HD GPS programs had provided (this time LOL).
We arrived at the Resort about 4PM and we got the last cabin (or room) available. It was a happy coincidence that we got the “Honeymoon Cabin” on the day our 32nd wedding anniversary. The heart shaped whirlpool tub was just the ticket for rest and relaxation after a day of motorcycle touring.
The next morning, we rolled out with the idea we were going to ride the Highland Scenic Highway. The ride across the Highland Scenic Highway was AWESOME ,but that will be another post! 
Our first stop of the day was for breakfast at Yokum’s Store in Seneca Rocks WV. This store and its next-door neighbor, are throw backs to the era of the “General Store”. The food was good (good enough we would stop again the next day), and folks friendly.
Back on the bike, we headed to Marlinton, WV (GPS still on scenic) which is the southern end of the Highland Scenic Highway. The route took us near the Green Bank Radio Observatory, so we decided to defy the GPS lady and ride off her route and check out the Observatory. We “recalculated” her route LOL. 
The visit to the Observatory was a lot more fun they one would think. While you do not get to peer through a telescope it is still quite interesting. A nice visitor center, a guided tour of the grounds and some cool stories (like how a short circuit in an electric toothbrush 8 miles away was picked up by the telescopes) made for a great 2 hour stop. Make sure you add this as a stop on your motorcycle tour of West Virginia.
Back on the motorcycle and again following the GPS ladies’ (what would you think of a GPS that used Ozzy Osborn’s voice? LOL) directions we soon came to Cass Scenic Railroad State Park. 
This state park is located at a stop on the old steam engine rail line. They still use several of the original steam engines to take riders up to the top of “Bald Knob” mountain (4.5 hours) and other locations. Both the wife and I have ridden the steam train to the top of the mountains as kids so we passed on this trip. I do recommend if you are in the area to take the trip to the top or one of the other rides if you are in the area!
That is enough for this blog post. Check out Part 2.
I JUST WANT 2 RIDE!! 