Posts Tagged ‘West Virginia’

Out and About on our Motorcycle

Posted: June 9, 2015 in C&O Canal, Motorcycle, Motorcycle Rides
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Last Sunday morning Debbie and I jumped on the Ultra Limited (I think I am going to call it Big Blue) for a day ride.  With no real destination in mind we thought about hitting a couple spots on the C&O Canal.  If you have been following this blog you know I am slowly documenting those spots along the canal assessable by motorcycle. 

Ijustwant2ride.com

Old school McDonalds.

We left the house about 9AM heading west.  We stopped for a bit of breakfast at a McDonalds along Route 9 near Charles Town, WV.  As you can see in the photo it is one of those restaurants designed to look like an old school McDonalds, pretty cool.

 After filling out tanks (including Big Blue’s) we continued west on WV Route 9 then north on Interstate 81 then west on Interstate 70.  Normally we like the back roads much more than the Interstate but today we thought it would be better on the highway.  Pulling off into Hancock, Md we begin looking for the stops on the Canal but also found some other cool things as well, like the huge anti-aircraft missile in front of a Veterans of Foreign War (VFW) building.

We found both stops along the C&O, the Tonoloway stop and the Hancock Visitors Center.  The visitor’s center was very hard to find as it is not well signed and the road into the park was practically invisible unless you are looking for it as we were.  

Heading back east we wanted to stop at one additional canal stop (4 Locks) and we did but not the one we were looking for.  Again the signage was bad and we happened upon C&O Canal Dam #5 only because I noticed a street called Dam #5 Road (quite imaginative) and the fact that I knew there was a C&O dam in the general area.  But the fact we did not find the area we were looking for was no big deal as the area was great riding, rolling hills, great farmland views all made up for not finding the site. 

After looking about Dam #5 we mounted up and headed for home.  On the way home we started seeing hundreds of motorcycles heading north and west along our route. When we stopped for lunch we asked a couple who were riding if they know what was occurring.  Turns out it was the aftermath of “Operation God Bless America” a ride from New Castle, PA to the Veterans Hospital in Martinsburg, WV.  We have never heard of this particular ride before but with, according to the couple to which we spoke, over 2000 bikes it is one we will check out in the future. 

Unfortunately we had to head home to some yard work. But, as you can tell by the pictures, we had a good time on our 200+ mile day trip.

 

C and O Canal Motorcycle Ride: Ferry Hill Plantation

Posted: August 13, 2014 in C&O Canal, Motorcycle, Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle touring
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ijustwant2ride.com

Ferry Hill Plantation

Location – Ferry Hill Plantation

Mile Marker –72.8

Historical Comments – Just up the street from Lock 38 is the Ferry Hill Plantation. The area around the plantation began as a cross river ferry site in the 1760’s. The ferry and plantation remained in a single family’s hands until 1958, a really good run. It site served as a restaurant and bar until 1974, catering to the students from Shepherd College across the river in Shepherdstown, WV.

The plantation served as the headquarters of the C&O Canal National Park system from 1979 to 2001. Now it is a museum to the C&O Canal and plantation life in Maryland. If you are touring the Canal this is a nice side stop.

Ride to Site – At the intersection of Route 34 and Canal Road, the ride to the plantation is a smooth easy ride. Coming from Canal Road be aware of the traffic on Route 34 as the speed limit does not seem enforced.

Amenities – Visitors Center, public restrooms, parking

Road Conditions (from main road) – paved

Railway Situation – none

Parking Lot Conditions – Paved and pea gravel

Main Attraction – Ferry Hill Plantation.

My Thoughts – One of the hidden gems while motorcycle touring the canal (it happens to be air conditioned) 🙂 . The plantation house is manned my volunteer docents who provide an oral rendition of the history of the home and grounds.

Map

C&O Canal Motorcycle Ride: Ferry Hill Plantation

View of the back of the home
Restored Grand Room
View of Sheperdstown, WV

Can-AM Spyders catches fire!…..No Really, like flames and stuff! :-)

Posted: August 12, 2014 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle advocacy, Motorcycle radio, motorcycle safety
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This comes from many interweb sources….

Couple of things I caught… only 2 fires cause an investigation (but they have had combustion issues in the past)…. Cam-AM sold 52,000 Spyders!!!….. and there is a police version!

 

U.S. safety regulators are investigating two reports of fires in Can-Am Spyder three-wheeled motorcycles.

The probe covers about 52,000 motorcycles from the 2008 through 2014 model years.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says in documents posted Friday that the fires appear to be unrelated to three recalls of the motorcycles. One Spyder was destroyed last month in a fire while being used by the Morgantown, West Virginia, Police Department. Another burned in the Mojave Desert region of California.

The safety agency says it will look into what caused the fires. Investigations can lead to recalls.

The Morgantown police, in a July 23 complaint to NHTSA, said an officer was riding the Spyder on a city street and felt heat rising from beneath the motorcycle. The officer saw flames coming from the engine and moved it to the side of the road. “Within seconds the vehicle was fully engulfed and flames caught a yard and two nearby trees on fire,” the complaint said.

The Fire Department and a city mechanic determined that the fuel system was the source of the blaze, the complaint said.

No one was injured in either fire, but the police motorcycle was a total loss.

The three recalls happened in 2012 and 2013, and all involved the risk of fires. Last year, the company recalled about 8,200 Spyders because brake fluid leaks could cause fires. In 2012 it recalled about 34,000 because fuel vapors could leak due to an ill-fitting gas cap. It also recalled 9,600 because fuel vapors could exit a vent hose in the engine compartment.

Reference:

Foxnews

Motorcycle Ride: Pro Football, Harley Davidson GPS and 889.3 miles of highway!

Posted: July 8, 2014 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle touring
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ijustwant2ride.com

Just what it says!

Over the 4th of July holiday weekend Debbie and I took a long motorcycle ride, 889.3 miles to be exact. We rode out to Canton, OH and the Pro Football Hall of Fame (HoF). That would be the HoF for American style football, not the World Cup/FIFA type of football.

We left the house about 9 AM on Friday morning heading west on I70, traffic was heavy but moving well. By the time we were on I68 traffic was very light but the police presence was heavy. For a while it seemed we saw a police cruiser every 15-20 miles. Even with all the cops, traffic moved at a nice 70-80 miles an hour!

Not being in any real hurry we stopped whenever we needed or when Debbie had to stretch her legs. I also collect Harley Davidson dealer pins and have all but two for the shops in West Virginia, Bluefield and Wheeling. This ride would have netted me the Valley HD, (Wheeling) pin but they were closed for the 4th. Moving on, we arrived at our hotel, the North Canton Courtyard, about 4PM. We were tired from the long day in the sun so we had a small meal in the hotel bar and “retired” to the room and it’s whirlpool tub.

The next morning we rolled out to the HoF. We had a really good time, reviewing all the displays. The history of professional game was quite interesting, if you every get a chance to check out the uniforms of the Duluth Eskimo’s it will be at the HoF!

The one thing I was surprised about was how small the HoF was, with over 100 years of history I expected more content. Also, I thought that some of the displays were not set up in a manner to ensure that they are going to last another 100 years. I hope that the HoF is taking preservation more seriously then it appeared.

It took about 4 hours to make it through all the exhibits of the hall. After lunch we decided to go to a couple of the local HD dealerships. It was here that a VERY surprising weakness with the built in GPS appeared. I selected Freedom HD from the list of local dealerships in the GPS and we rolled out.

After about a 15 minute ride the GPS announced that we had reach our destination “on the right”. “Technically” it was correct, Freedom HD was on the right, but we were in the middle of the interstate and the dealership was about 300 yards, a large ditch, a fence and another road away. It was no better when we attempted to go to Adventure HD. You could see the dealership as we traveled down the interstate but, the GPS lady directed us in the opposite direction when we hit the exit. Following her directions we ended up in the parking lot of a Sheetz gas station.

Not only did it fail to find these two dealerships, it also failed to find Steel City HD on our trip home, placing the shop about a mile away on the wrong side of the road. We only found this store because there was no place to turn around along the road. To give the GPS system database of dealerships some credit it did find Valley HD and Neidengard’s HD with no issue. This is a brand new 2014 Ultra Limited with the most current software load. To only find 2 out of 5 dealerships listed in the database is poor quality control at best and plain stupid at worst. I am going to do a more in-depth review of the bike as soon as I have the first service completed.

The ride back home was completely uneventful until we reached the merge of I68 and I70. I think the highest speed we reached between the merge and I81 was 45 MPH and that lasted about 30 seconds. When we reached I81 I headed south until we reached Martinsburg, WV and then hit the back roads home. Normally that would have been a longer ride, but I bet we saved an hour of scraping my boots along the road.

We road nearly 890 miles through 5 states (Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio) on a comfortable bike. Our “storm chaser” powers were never activated, which means we stayed dry. As you can see in the pictures, we crossed some cool bridges!  We both like pro football (although Debbie is a Dallas Cowboy fan) and the HoF was worth the trip, highly recommended. All in all it was a great weekend away.

Lock 38: C & O Canal Motorcycle Ride

Posted: June 13, 2014 in C&O Canal, Motorcycle Rides
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ijustwant2ride.com

C&O Canal Lock 38

Location – Lock 38

Mile Marker – 72.7 and 72.8

Historical Comments – Near two Civil War Battle Fields Harpers Ferry and Shepherdstown, WV.  Also nearby is the former headquarters for the National Park Service’s C&O Canal division, Ferry Hill, which is now a restored plantation museum.

Ride to Site – Lock 38 has two separate areas both assessable from Canal Road.  Canal road is a paved but not well marked byway, pay attention to traffic.

Amenities – the lock areas have restrooms but nothing else.  Shepherdstown is nearby with full amenities.

Road Conditions (from main road) – paved

Railway Situation – underpass, very spectacular when a train is passing overhead

Parking Lot Conditions – Paved

Main Attraction – The remains of the lock and the nearby Ferry Hill Plantation.

My Thoughts – A major trail head for folks hiking and bicycling on the Canal Trail but not a lot to see here for the motorcyclist EXCEPT for railroad overpass.  The overpass has to be about 50 yards about the roadway and canal.  When a trail is crossing the view is spectacular.

Map:

Ijustwant2ride.com

Lock 38

 

 

Motorcycle LED Lights… Making them legal

Posted: December 6, 2013 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle advocacy
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motorcycle, harley, harley davidson

Journal photo by Erika Elaine Wells

In West Virginia it is illegal to use additional LED lights while riding.  Bob Cunningham, who lives in Martinsburg, WV, did not know that either until a State Trooper pulled him over and handed him a ticket.  But that traffic stop set Cunningham on a mission to change the law.

First, Mr. Cunningham gathered more than 1,000 signatures on a petition supporting the change and then he enlisted his State Delegate John Overington in the cause.  He convinced Mr. Overington of the safety enhancements that come from the auxiliary lighting and gave him a battery operated example of the LED lights that Overington could use in support of a bill to allow the lights.

Long story short, Delegate Overington pushed for the bills approval and it passed the House of Delegates but ran out of time in the State Senate.  Mr. Overington is going to reintroduce the bill in the next session of the WV legislature and work with the Transportation Committee to get the bill into consideration faster.

You can read the news article here.

Motorcycle ride to Antietam Battlefield

Posted: August 29, 2013 in Motorcycle Rides
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Last weekend Debbie and I went for a motorcycle ride to Antietam Battlefield.  The American Civil War battlefield is near Sharpsburg, Maryland about half way between Martinsburg, WV and Frederick, MD.

motorcycle ride

Ride to Antietam

This was the worst one day battle in American History.  23,000 soldier were killed, wounded or went missing in only 12 hours.  After seeing the battlefield and understanding the tactics of the time I find it hard to understand how these men walked into the open for the cannons to…just wipe them out!

The battlefield itself is well maintained and there are monument to many of the units and men that fought and died on that day.  The museum has a thirty minute movie covering the action, I suggest you see the film first as it will lay out what occurred in a broad scope so you will have some context as you move outside.

You may run across two, non-military, names that were unexpected to see in a place like this.  Clara Barton, founder of the Red Cross and, then Captain, Oliver Wendell Holmes. Holmes, who was left for dead at Antietam, would later become a famous member of the American Supreme Court.

We also spent part of the day just wheeling around and by the time we arrived at home we had put nearly 120 miles on the bike.  And for a great change, there was never even a threat of rain.

Another Great September Ride…. 10th Annual Battlefield Run

Posted: August 27, 2013 in Motorcycle Rides
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bfrflyer2013

This is another great ride (I just said that, right)!  The Battlefield Run is about 110 miles long and rides through four states (Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania) ending at Battlefield Harley Davidson in Gettysburg.

The name comes from, I think, the fact that it rolls through several Civil War Battlefields including Antietam, Charles Town, Shepherdstown, and Gettysburg.  The name is also representative of the charity it supports, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. Which provides college scholarships the surviving children of fallen Special Operations Forces.

Debbie and I only discovered this ride two years ago.  It is a cause close to our hearts (I spent 10 years in the Army Special Operations Command) and is a great ride (I said that, right?).  If you can attend, please do!

Motorcycle Ride to PAW PAW

Posted: August 20, 2013 in Motorcycle Rides
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Well, Paw Paw, West Virginia was not the intended destination, in fact, we just went out to ride.

We pulled out about ten in the morning (on the Ultra Limited) and head west on Route 7.  I noticed the exit for Virginia State Route 9 and decided, what the heck let’s see where Route 9 goes.  We knew it went north to Martinsburg, WV but that was about it.

Route 9 in Virginia is also known as Charles Town Pike and passes through rolling farmland and the towns of Paeonian Springs (which has a historic district) and Hillsboro.  Hillsboro sets in the middle of a gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains. A short climb out of Hillsboro and you have a great view of Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.

motorcycle ride

RT 9 at WV/VA boarder

At this point VA Route 9 becomes WV Route 9 and also becomes a four line highway. While we did not take the road, by the looks of the area I can image that “old 9” down the mountain would be full of twistiness!  Crossing the Shenandoah River we scooted through Charles Town and Martinsburg, we did not stop to look around, today was just about riding. A little after Martinsburg the road becomes a 2 lane again.

When we reached Berkeley Springs we did stop.  Right in the middle of the town is the Berkeley Springs State Park. The town (its real name is Bath) was considered the country’s first spa and resort area because of the mineral spring producing 2,000 gallons a minute.  George Washington even visited the springs. Heck the town even has a castle!

Continuing on Route 9, up the mountain out of Berkeley Springs we summited to a spectacular view of the Potomac River in the valley below. We decided to have lunch across the street from the fabulous view at Panorama at the Peak restaurant. This is a farm to table, organic, restaurant and the food was awesome!

Back on the bike we rode down the mountain and into the Cacapon River Valley.  This stretch of road from Berkeley Springs to Paw Paw was very lightly traveled, I doubt that we passed a dozen cars.  It undulates along the Cacapon River and was just a very nice ride!

motorcycle ride

Riding in the Cacapon River valley

We reached the end of WV 9 when we hit Paw Paw.  It is a very small town at the intersection of WV 9 and 29 and was the point where we began our return trip.  We did not retrace our route instead we zigged and zagged through a variety of roads until we reached Route 7 at Winchester, VA.  After stopping at the Winchester Sonic restaurant for ice cream (I love there coconut milkshakes) we quickly made it back home.

We put in 198 miles on this trip with only a few stops….it was a great day with the wife and the bike!

West Virginia Motorcycle Tourism

Posted: August 14, 2013 in Motorcycle news
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motorcycle-map-ALL-ridesAs noted in the last post, I had stopped at the “Welcome to West Virginia” rest stop on Interstate 68.  While there I looked at the rack of brochures of all the different things you can do in the state.

I was pleasantly surprised to see four or five motorcycle specific brochures.  Each of the pamphlets outlined different rides in different sections of the state.  I have ridden several of these over the years and they all are great.

I am glad to see WV start promoting the state to bikers.  I have ridden the Tail of the Dragon and it was cool, but many of the roads in the southern and eastern parts of West Virginal rival or surpass the Dragon!  Heck, the road outside the house I grew up in has 108 turns in eight miles.

If you have never considered riding in WV please do.  You can go to WV Motorcycle Rides section of the state’s tourism website for more detail.

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