We started our motorcycle vacation today. We left the house about 8AM and headed out to Ohio on our Harley Davidson Ultra Limited. Our, path for all but a few miles on day one, is via US Route 50.
We picked up Route 50 just a few miles south of Leesburg, VA. I have to say that Route 50 from this point to our endpoint is a fantastic motorcycle ride. In Virginia you ride through horse and wine county (I quite counting vineyards and wineries at 15). In fact in Middleburg we saw folks preparing their horses for a jumping contest (I am sure there is a proper name for this contest, but I do not know what it is) there were dozens of horses and riders milling about. My wife said she thought it was called “Trials”, to which I replied then they are all guilty!
Shortly after crossing into WV you head into the Appalachian Mountains. These mountain roads are some twisty fun for a motorcycle! Swooping around turns, quick climbs and steep descents (up to a 9% grade) with spectacular views from the mountain tops and rolling farmland in the valleys make this a route, in my opinion, as much fun as any of the roads around the Tail of the Dragon. By the way I dragged the floorboards of the bike a few times without even trying!
I had forgotten that Route 50 passed into Maryland for a few miles so today we traveled in 4 states. When we left Maryland and rode the motorcycle back into WV Route 50 also became the Northwestern Turnpike one of America’s Byways. Stopping for lunch and gas in the little town of Grafton, WV we ate a McDonalds, which had to be one of the least clean stores we had been in…unfortunately I did not notice this until after we had received our food.
We did make a side trip to Cairo … I am still taking my wife to all the great cities of the old world, via motorcycle. I was able to get her to Lisbon and Damascus last year. Athens is next on the list!
The first day of our vacation motorcycle trip is now over. 315 miles through some of the best country for motorcycle riding. I highly recommend this part of Route 50 to anyone passing through WV, MD or VA. OHHH… for got to mention, that per Standard Operating Procedure, we got wet in a thunderstorm!!! Storm Chaser powers ACTIVATE!
I JUST WANT 2 RIDE!! 