Ha! Thanks! I will be posting day two soon as mtngal gives me that installment We were gone 8 days so a lot of material to go through and we had a great vacation, met some neat people as you'll see later. Good to see you at Notta. OOPs ...guess I was foolin' with my photo bucket and messed up the photo in _anatics quote...oh well...sorry..I put the original back in but can't fix the quote.
Saturday 9/22/12 was a big day with lots of miles to cover. We also had several attractions in mind to see along the way. I had previously been to a "Shot Tower" about 20 minutes north of Hillville and wanted to show this to mtngal. You can google this and find it easy and it is located very near a VA state park on the New River and the New River Trail runs right by it. It is a 75 foot high tower used in the Civil War to make lead bullets. An exact measure of molten lead can be dropped from a height of 150 feet into a vat of water and you have a perfect cooled sphere. Why a 75 foot tower? It's too much to build a stone enclosed tower that high so they built it on a rock cliff top and drilled another 75 feet under it and the bottom of the whole thing is on the trail which at that time was the railroad where they loaded the shot onto a car headed south to the Confederate Army.... View I-77 from the back of the tower: We took back roads up there on something like Poplar Camp Road which is off Main street in Hillville. Then I took some dirt roads east which were a hoot and very scenic. I do not remember the numbers but you can find your way if you study google maps and we then worked out way back down to 58. This series of dirt roads began very near and just prior to the entrance to the New River State Park there: On the way we found a neat store and the old timer running it told us that it was started by his grandfather who ran a lead mine there and the employees got there wares and food from the Company Store. Remember Ernie Ford's song " I Owe My Soul To the Company Store"? Well...here it is. The old timer running it now was so nice and just welcomed us like we were his long lost kids. What an awesome nice man to meet and he told us the store history, and memorabilia from the mine era...even one of the old ledgers showing purchases and total owed by the employees. This is exactly what my adventures are about, meeting great people and hearing their history! Look at the neat old store! Even got fresh pickled aggs! Had to put his dog to sleep due to old age and the old dog knew all his customers by name...he misses his dog! See the date on this old ledger....1913!!! He came outside with us to see my "fancy" bike. He was really interested in us. Told us about a Civil War lead furnace about 3 miles away across some dirt roads and farms so.....we are off to see the furnace! Want some Klews? this is what we love, just ride and find out where the road leads and no real plans other than generally east so we head back down toward 58 to continue eastward and its getting near lunchtime now....so lets get on 58 east and go find a good winery for lunch! Here are a few sights back down to 58....and a detour on a short but fun Greenbrier... I bet some hard times happened on this road.... Ever wonder what's at a dead end? I am always finding them....... Oh yeah,I bet many of you recognize this...nice camp! Next up is Lunch at Chateau Morrisette...
Love reading your adventures! Now if I can grab the SouthEast tag tomorrow I know where it is going. Thanks. Some of the photos are just up the road from me.
We did a little wine tasting inside and then decided on what to purchase and take with us. There is room in the top case for a nice bottle. We then enjoyed the balcony while we waited to be seated outside for lunch. What a nice day with my Sweetheart! The manager enjoyed taking our photo together... After a few drinks, mtngal kept pointing at this little white square that was floating over her glass KIDDING!!! we did some tasting but I do not drink then pilot a two wheel machine...same with her as the pillion...50 years of motorcycling has been survived by me with this rule. it was a fun lunch and nice break from riding. Here is a happy gal... Bon Apetit! Note the coffee and ice tea but we will enjoy our wine at night.... Haulin butt for Franklin down near Suffolk, VA where we got a room reserved and it's lookin' stormy behind us.. We made our leap already... Storm clouds gather behind us... Still looks good to the south. Hmmm...could be a message in this cloud....I'll let the reader decide on this one... A blue bird house or Bluebird house or.... These folks had a wishing well. Maybe they should wish for some paint? I think that cloud earlier was giving us the finger.... And I did not bring rain gear so that's why it's raining. Our weather person told us it was going to be perfect weather all week, actually it was except this one incredible cloud burst and my suit is not water proof at all but a good thing for hot days...oh well...it will dry in the wind and not stink too bad if I dodge the possum grease. They smell like fresh bacon to me anyway after a hot day in th' sun My helmet was getting a bit foggy and we needed fuel so I pulled in a little station to gas up and wait out the rest of this down pour. It was raining so hard that cars had pulled over but me and mtngal just kept going...better than be a sittin' duck in the rain! I clean my helmet lens every night with a product that sheds most of the water anyway. Now here is another person we met....this old fellow was standing in the pouring rain, totally drenched, freezing, and could not apparently walk away from his mower. While I was gassing up, my sweet lady goes over to him, in the pouring rain, to see if he was OK. He could not walk at all but was trying to get under that awning..... We did not have a camera out in this rain but he was holding onto that mower! I went over there realizing that mtngal could not get him to move....he needed assistance on both sides. I got a chair that was near the door, helped her get him over to it and sat him down. Poor guy! I went inside to see if anyone knew him as we were afraid to leave him freezing like this. He told us that he had nerve problems in his feet. I believe him, but he also had been having a good day too That still does not mean he did not need help. The store lady said "oh yeah...that's old ........., I'll call his wife to come get him Oh-Kay....guess he'll get a whoopin' fer supper. After we left, I realized that he drove that darn lawnmower up the road in that rain! Wonder if he was weaving any.....dang, how dangerous is that? He waved bye and thanked us as we rode off in the slacking rain. .....so I don't know if we helped him or just got him in trouble My wonderful buddy in the mirror recording our trip. ....looking a little better now as the day gets late and we approach Franklin, VA. haulin' arse... As the sun sets behind us, we'll enjoy some good wine tonight and have a laugh or two about our lawn mower buddy...hope he is OK Til the next installment in a couple days....
Thanks Buddy! I keep a check yor taggin too. Looks like a lot of fun has been had on the NCTOR. I just been into traveling this summer and will probably get back to playing some tag after we get firewood ready for winter...take care!
It looks like you and mtngal had a great time. Thanks for sharing with us. NW NC and SW Va is riding heaven for me. It is a good thing you didn't throw a top water plug in the water at Mouth of Wilson. It seems that Va lets these pesky things do their best to steal them from you. <>< Fish
Nice catch Travis!!! Good to see you in here! That is a wonderful area to explore. Give a holler if you come this way riding and we'll meet up fer sure! Take Care! Ed
Thanks! It is a great area! We have 6 more days of fun to post up and we will probably post another day or two over the weekend. Its fun to share and I always enjoy reading your trips too!
Carpenters Grocery. What a nice find. I did not know any shelf behind the counter stores were still in operation in the non gift shop form. Looks like your having a great trip.
I think I traced most of your steps today And I will look for the rest next time I get a chance. I must have rode by Carpenters 200 times over the years and never noticed it. Shot Tower, the same. Usually I am in route to home or WV with nothing but getting there on my mind. Thanks for your ride reports, makes me now want to slow down and smell the roses.
Yeah and he is a neat fellow too. He knows a helluva lot of history about that area. A very interesting place to look around. me and mtngal bought some bottled waters and crackers and a few goodies we needed too. Thanks for your comments!
I was just over on the SE Thread and saw your new tag...glad I gave you an idea. We have a bunch of neat stuff coming up on the rest of this trip too that may give you some tag ideas so check back in a few days. mtngal has a knack for finding interesting photos and subjects. Have a good weekend and ride safe!
Nice yarn yer a spinning' , Aarrff. You enjoy riding the Marlinton WV roads some day. Lotsa VERY small, old "towns", mn roads, old barns and unfortunately abandoned old buildings
Hey thanks for the idea KHVol! I have been through that area quickly on 55 I think it is but I know its a great area and would like to explore more. I have been on some neat roads north of Clifton Forge and west of Staunton but not enough. I know there are some nice dirt or gravel roads around there that would be fun so I'll do this someday. Thanks for stopping by and the info!
Posting up day three of our trip which was 9/23/12: We left Franklin Va and headed south east toward Elizabeth City NC on some back roads that I had studied on Google Maps. We could have gone on east toward Norfolk and then taken a toll road down that way but why do that when you can ride through the eastern farm lands and might see something interesting. We even found a curve down here We started passing quite a few impressive cotton fields: I guess this place is for sale After passing Elizabeth City, we head east toward Kill Devil Hills and the Outer Banks: Not sure about the order of some farm photos as there were farms both north and east of Elizabeth City... Hole in the trees for the power lines I guess We had both been in Elizabeth City several times before so we rolled on through and decided to find somewhere to eat perhaps before we reached the OBX. Hmmm....I dunno about this place ??? Might get more than we bargained for Now this is just off the beaten path ( highway 158) but it may have possibilities so we'll check it out... Turn here I bet Now this is looking pretty cool so we go in! Easy to find your way around here Oh yes, this has possibilities Bon Appetit! This turned out to be one of the best meals on the trip, fresh seafood, and just awesome! Go there!!!! After the big meal,we walked around the marina. Nice people there and we saw this boat full of decoys: And this must be Coinjock himself....dirty stinky little dog They had a nice gift shop there with neat t-shirts for Coinjock Marina so we picked up a few and found this whole thing to be a really nice place to stop for lunch. Not crowded, laid back lifestyle, just our kind of place on Coinjock Bay. We asked our waitress, who had spent the summer near us in the mountains, about the name "Coinjock" and she thinks it has something to do with a plant growing in the area.. At any rate, a fun stop. This was a big day with lots more to come as we ended up the day on Ocracoke with a sunset ferry ride. We were also as far north as Corolla to see the horses so I am taking a break here and posting this up as segment one of the day.
Good choice with the Coinjock Marina. Frog Island Seafood just north of there at Barco, NC is another good local choice. <>< Fish