I Ain't From the South, but I got Here as Quick as I Could

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It's been a nasty spring, weather-wise and we have not got much riding in, just a few trips back and forth to work. fluteSONG is healed up pretty good now and we haven't been to the mountains for quite a while.




We eased on up to Tuggle's Gap for lunch.




Still some snow on the ground and salt/sand on the roads in spots.




Goofball.




The restaurant was a disappointment. I have refused to eat/pay for food only once or twice in my life, yesterday was another. We split the club sandwich Carol ordered (which had soggy bread) and went on our way.

I have never gotten a good meal there..
And I only get a salad .. It's always rusty...
But there pies OK..


Hey Happy Easter...

Someone had a bit of misfortune, didn't look too serious.




We headed up Rt. 8 through Floyd.








Carol has always wanted to live in a Yurt, I guess that's why she took this shot.

We did a loop we haven't done in quite a while; Rt. 8, Alum Ridge, White Rock, Indian Valley, Dug Spur, Bell Spur, Squirrel Spur, Ararat. Lots of great roads rolled into one day-loop.

Break time!

Somewhere on Dug Spur, I think, a hawk flew out of the woods. It was sort of tracking in front of us and I was getting ready to try to get a picture when it dropped a squirrel on the road in front of us. He was in the process of getting his butt in gear when I got this;



Wildlife photographer I ain't.

I rode Indian Valley road on the way to Bloochdog's last Oct. Very pretty country.

Nice work with the camera, Carol.

Funny, that's the first bad meal I've had there.

Happy Easter to you and HB!

It's high on my list of awesome roads.

I think we had some crap on the lens toward the end of the day...




Thanks to Al Tuna's patient tutelage, I now have a GPS that records tracks and I know how to show one to you here;

Check these out. Good way to share tracks and routes.https://sites.google.com/site/altunagpx/gpx

http://www.google.com/sites/help/intl/en/overview.html

It's been a nasty spring, weather-wise and we have not got much riding in, just a few trips back and forth to work. fluteSONG is healed up pretty good now and we haven't been to the mountains for quite a while.

Man, isn't that the truth? We've had LOTS of moisture up here around Lexington and it's been cold, wet, and gloomy for a month now. I got a new-to-me Yamaha WR250R two weeks ago and between weather and work have been able to ride it all of 22 miles , it's killing me! Pic from the mountain above our home last Saturday:



And Sunday:



:dog

Yeah, yeah, the moisture is great, the creeks will be full all summer, the trees-shrubs-grass all love it, my spring isn't going to go dry, blah blah blah but I WANT TO RIDE MY NEW BIKE!!!!! It is supposed to be SPRING! We had 16 inches of snow two weeks ago, two inches of rain a few days after that, then the 10 inches last weekend, and it's raining outside right now so I'm looking at ADVrider instead of riding!

OK, end rant. Can't control the weather. It will be a glorious spring and summer with all this moisture.

We eased on up to Tuggle's Gap for lunch.

I'm sorry you had a negative dining experience at Tuggles Gap! My wife and I ride that area several times each Summer and have always enjoyed good food there, but maybe because at places like this we always stick to the basics - coffee, cheez burger, fries, and PIE. Never anything exotic like a salad or club sandwich . Would you buy sushi at a gas station?

Last time we were at Tuggles Gap was a Sunday afternoon in mid-August last year; we'd ridden the BRP down to Boone and toured around for a couple days and were headed home. Normally the place would be choked with bikes, but it was about 45 degrees, soggy, and so foggy we rode for miles by just tracking the centerline. We were the only people there and had a gloriously hot and tasty lunch with several gallons of coffee:



The newspaper headline was pretty good:



If I were the editor I probably would have put that second story below the fold... I hope you'll give Tuggles another chance but this time stick to the basic food groups of grease, caffeine, and sugar. If that doesn't work, there's a great restaurant in Floyd just west of the only stoplight called Oddfella's Cantina that is fantastic.

I'm glad the Mrs. is all healed up and that you've been getting out on the bike! Maybe we'll run into each other out there some day, if it ever warms up and quits raining.

Doug

Hey, Doug, thanks for looking in. I'll go back to Tuggle's Gap for sure, we've been there many times and like I said, it was my first disappointment. I see you're in a fantastic riding area where you live, over near the GWNF and all; I get up into that area several times a year either on the way to somewhere or just cruising for a day or two. I don't know if you go to rallies much, but BYOB is being held at Seneca Rocks this year, it would be a good chance to meet some folks.

The bike felt a little funny on that first left-hander out of Stoneville...

Hey, that's pretty interesting. Is there anything that's not on Google?

great ride Rick, and great photos as always, love that area over there. We were just about due for a day like that.

Stix, I'm jealous- seems like the only time I get to ride through lexington is on the way to somewhere else, but there are only about a thousand little roads off of Route 60 between James River State Park and Lexington that I want to explore.

WOW ya really got screwed..:eek1