NOVA Weekend Rides

Started this thread so we can hookup for weekend riding and posting pics from those rides. Ride safe!

Met up with Elkhound in Herndon then rode out to meet bbooker at Whites Ferry. Almost hit some of the fog I heard about on the news this morning, but it wasn't bad.


Elkhound


Elkhound (L) and bbooker payed up. (hey no one covered my fare??)


Trying to make this a hardtop-only ride but we couldn't avoid the gravel but we tried. bbooker made it look easy.


Ahh the good stuff!


Getting back into Virginia across Point of Rocks.


Nice morning fellas Post up some of your pics if you want

Donnymoto, your first picture shows why its best to
go early in the morning. Coming back on that same road early this
afternoon was miles of cars.
They raised the fee for the ferry from $2 to $3 - still a good deal.

On White's Ferry BBooker, Donnymoto, Elkhound



Donnymoto and BBooker

nice.

I would have expected more traffic at the Point of Rocks bridge on a Sunday.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pics (and I even had my camera sitting out in the kitchen for this), but I found a nice route near The Plains. I even ran into somebody on a 640 Adv that I assume is on this board but I forgot to ask.

Anyway, I took Rt 55 west out of Gainesville then turned North on Bust Head Rd (Yes, Bust Head Rd), aka Rt 628. It is a very scenic gravel road. Very technical (for a gravel road) in that it had some steep ascents/descents, and is pretty rough and loose with some mud due to the recent rains. But it is VERY scenic too. I continued North on 628 (it changes names and made my way to Burland Lane (Rt 705) to Coon Tree Rd(Rt 706) and back on Halfway Rd (Rt 626) into the plains.

The route goes through Horse Country with lots of farms and beautiful homes (it seems like everyone one has a handbuilt stone fence). Two thumbs up for Bust Head Road. Now, if I can just find a Bust Balls Rd in VA, it must be awesome.

Busthead is nice!

Yes, it was a good ride today. Here a few of the shots I got.

Elkhound and Donnymoto arriving at Whites Ferry.




Donnymoto and Elkhound riding the ferry. For those not familiar with Whites Ferry, it's the only currently operational ferry across the Potomac. A little history about it that I dug up on the Internet (so it must be true )

Early settlers recognized that the relatively still waters of the Potomac River at the location would provide an ideal location for a ferry. The first known ferry operation at the location was Conrad's Ferry in 1817. After the Civil War, former Confederate officer Elijah V. White purchased it and made many improvements to the service. He named his ferry boat in honor of his former commander, General Jubal Anderson Early.

More than a convenient river crossing, the ferry provided a place of commerce between the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the surrounding community. Farmers from Virginia used the ferry to get their crops to markets in Maryland and Washington, D.C. via the canal. In the days before modern refrigeration, a farmer's access to reliable transportation meant the difference between prosperity and watching a year's worth of work rot in storage. Together, the ferry and the canal shortened the time it took farmers to get their goods to market. To further assist them, White built a granary along the canal to store grains until they could be loaded and shipped via the canal. Its stone remains can still be seen in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park near mile marker 35.5.



A little map consultation.



Awesome ride guys, thanks!

Well, BBooker appears to have at least one fan.

oser

Looks like the Northern VA Kawasaki club to me LOL

Don told me to create a diversion while he hid Ali Gator. That was the only thing I could think of to do. (I guess it worked.)

Donnymoto, Ride a KLR and don't like unpaved roads?

I was camping this weekend at GW National Forest and had 4 miles of this to get into and out of the campsite. BTW in WV they call this a 'public road'. :eek1






Wasn't much fun on a VFR/Interceptor.



Rode on a lot of this. Old rt.55 ,highly recommend this alternate route to avoid the Senator Byrd Pork Expressway portion of New 55.


Saw a lot of this


Headed up 29 in WV to Paw Paw


I hit a stretch on rt.29 that had yard sale, after yard sale, after yard sale. I was scratching my head on the way back through south. I was calling it Yard Sale Alley. I came to a stop sign to turn left to stay on 29, I saw this.


This was on 220. Sleep, get drunk and eat.

Mica, you had some nice weather for sure. I think I recognize that campground road, can look like many others but I tried to ride down it a few weeks back and it was gated off as a side trip to Wardensville. Just on the other side of the WV line, off Rt 55 where you pass over a small ridge?

Surely you can't be serious




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Usually I do those things in the reverse order.

Your words not mine.

Yes this campground was about 1 mile into West Virginia on 55, about 5 miles east of Wardensville. No sign for the road when headed west, I went past it the first time. This road would have taken you north to Capon Springs not Wardensville.

No pic but I was cruising on 55 and I look over as a metric crusier is coming to a stop from a side street(unpaved). They came to a stop and fell over hard. I hit the brakes and made U-turn. Turns out it was a female and she had pulled way to the right of the road and put her right foot down 'off the road' and into a big hole. She must have dropped it before as she had huge crash bars on the thing. She had stood it back up by the time I got to her. She was on the right side of the bike so I put the kick stand down. She wasn't injured and the bike looked ok.

and

Yes that's the one, I didn't remember where it let out on the other side. Have pitched a tent there before. Tucked away back there alright.

Oh yes, fair enough. For this group ride we wanted to avoid gravel to accommodate all riders. I'm in a good spot because I like everything from light singletrack and forest roads all the way to racking up miles on the slab and everything in between.

(segway... )

Speaking of gravel vs slab, this weekend I'm loading up the bike and going for a 2 day trip. Will be trying out some new camping gear and checking the bikes mpg pretty closely. I'm taking a longer 2-week trip in August that includes a 300 mile stretch of gravel and 235 mile service-free stretch of road. Extra fuel will be needed at least for the gravel stretch but I want to get a very good idea of my loaded bike's MPG with various road conditions, ie do I need to carry 1, 2, 3, etc gallons?

So for the weekend I'm not sure where I'll end up yet, but want to do a fair amount of slab and offset with some good stretches of gravel roads. I'm looking at 81 down to SW VA into Kentucky or go up north through PA to NY state. Any suggestions welcome. Riders? I'm open to company as well but timing is the thing, I might leave EDIT: Saturday AM, return Monday, it's work dependent. Leaning towards PA/NY. Will know more by Wednesday PM.

Cool, I am in for the next ride! Been wanting to cross Whites ferry and KLRs have to stick together!

TAT or Dalton Highway?

Mica, part of the route....

oh yeah, I think you mentioned Canada before. Can't wait for the ride report and I am sure you will get some excellent pics.