Did I mention it was hot today?

Holy mackerel was it hot today!! Everyone we talked said it was going to be a record and I assume it was. Fortunately, it was pretty bearable on the bikes. We rode for an hour or so and found Betty's Diner in Parkersburg, WV. Classic dumpy roadside place with where the old guys go for coffee in the morning. The waitress (didn't ask if her name was Betty) commented on "the BMWs" but said she wanted a Harley or as she put it "something that makes my guts rumble". I think the most we could get out of a BMW would be a tingle. Speaking of Harleys, about 80% of the bikes we see down here are Harleys. Yes loud ones.

So after Betty's we decide to go to Athens OH to the only BMW shop around so I could get a spare key. We found the shop (Holts BMW) just east of Athens. Small but nice shop that has been in business since 1991. I now have a spare key. After Holts, we went southwest to Ironton OH and hopped the Ohio River (again). From the Ohio side we can see coal plants and chemical plants along the River where it is easy to load and unload coal and whatever stuff those other plants use or produce. There are also railroad tracks in real good shape for hauling coal to the plants.

After crossing back into Kentucky at Ironton, we let Dave's GPS figure out where to go to get us as close to Corbin KY as we could get. After a day "trusting" the GPS as it took us up unbelievably unbelievable roads, we decided that it can be trusted, no matter how tiny the road is. The only road we said no to was a narrow gravel road with a big sign reading "Used GPS systems for sale. Hundreds to choose from". That road did not look like something I wanted the RT to adventure down. So the fun part tonight was using the "bread crumbs" feature to figure out where we went. What is really cool is that a lot of these little grey roads in Kentucky are a little more than 1 lane wide but paved. Actually all the roads are in really nice shape here. So we can highly recommend this "minimum distance" mode here. We saw some fantastic country today and no traffic.

The only issue we had with the GPS was it kept telling us things were in the wrong place. We used Google Maps to find things (which it got wrong a couple times as well), but between them we found everything we needed. The other thing to mention is that where we were today had very poor cell service. Sometimes none, sometimes voice only, usually "Enhanced" which allows maps to load slowly and occasionally 3G which is really fast. Between the headsets and the GPS, this trip is completely different than last trip. We are seeing a lot more of the really remote parts of these states so far. The towns we shoe up in do not normally see outsiders so we stick out (especially with the BMWs).

We passed a couple of correctional facilities which are brand new looking high tech places. I think some of our Vermont folks may be down here?

There are a lot of towns that look like they at one time had some kind of mill or plant that had left and so the economic situation looks pretty sparse. But everybody is getting by. There are a lot of really big elementary schools so I am guessing a lot of buses collect a lot of kids from all the small little towns. Not too many small town schools.

We landed in Manchester KY around 7pm and after looking at the run down motel on one end of town, opted for the slightly nicer one. Found the only none chain restaurant in town to re-hydrate. Hope it cools off tomorrow!!

The (Hot) Banks of the O-hi-O

Today we left at a leisurely 9:00 (bums) or so from Johnstown, PA after a continental breakfast fitting the place we stayed (you get what you pay for). We ran without the GPS the first part of the day since we knew where we were going Rt 271 to 711 to 381 ending up in West Virginia. The accents started getting a tiny bit more southern as we went south through southwestern PA. Nothing spectacular but more of the sort of bedroom/rural feel found maybe a bit beyond commuting distance. As we pulled into West Virginia we stopped at the first little store (really little) and had a nice chat with the older woman who ran the place. Not much in the store but a couple coolers. She and her sister ran the store her father (now 89) bought in 1946 after the war. The town used to make a wood stove of some kind ( according to a sign outside town) and the women told us they had an iron works way back when. There are about 100 residents in town and she could see the beginning and end of town from her store. She said this coal country and there used to be a couple "strip jobs" nearby, by which we assume she meant strip mines. Now everything is underground. Very pleasant woman.

We went west to Morgantown where the University of West Virginia is. The school is sort of the whole town, and it must be out for the summer 'cause it was pretty sleepy. We kept saying this was just like back home as far the road and greenery, but as we went west, the hills got bigger and bigger and it felt like riding through Smugglers Notch back home. Dave's GPS recorded altitude and we climbed a lot of big hills today as we looked back at the GPS log.

Did I say it was hot today? Wow, Daves bike (the Millenium Falcon) showed highs up to 97 today and it was humid as well. We kept stopping for water and did a good job hydration wise unlike yesterday. We stopped for lunch in a small town (wide spot) somewhere and watched some guys with one-lung engines across the road showing left over parade goers how the engines work. We must have just missed the parade. Must have been a small one.

So this route 7 looked like a major road on the map but it was really narrow and really twisty with frequent "15 mph" signs (and they meant it), a little gravel in the corners, a couple good sized rocks and deer in the road. The homes along this road are tucked away down in hollows and we had no idea where the kids go to school or where anyone works. The woman we got lunch from (gas station place said she had 5 brothers and 4 sisters (and 1 bathroom).

The country side is beautiful but you can see a lot of hardship over the years at these tiny hill farms. We assume there is a lot of folks working for the coal company given the signs and road names. I am not sure I would want to wander down the "grey roads" after seeing how small and remote Rt 7 was.

So hot and fast across West Virginia until we ran into the Ohio River at New Martinsville. There was no bridge there so we headed south, crossed the river at Saint Mary into Ohio, and then south to Marietta. There is a really big coal fired electric plant across the river in West Virginia with coal barges feeding it. Also saw what looked like some kind of plastic or chemical plant also fed from docks on the river.

Anyway, we were once again beat from the heat and twisty roads, do some laundry and off to bed.

Farms in PA (Wind Farms too)

Sunday, our second day out.

We had the Continental Breakfast at the Hotel Hoity-Toity and headed out around 8:30. My back was cranky so I stopped for Ibuprofen (Vitamin I) which did the trick. I got really dehydrated yesterday so pledged to drink more today. I decided that after yesterdays adventure we were re-naming Dave's GPS Pocahontas. She had us worried several times but she also took us on some amazing roads we would never have found ourselves. The headphones are actually really nice. They work well and I think we see twice as much with them. We also get lost less, which may be ok or not. Getting lost is half the fun.

We decided to go southwest and found a very crooked road (Rt 307) that was sort of ok. We crossed the river and took Rt 29 south to 118, which again was not so great. So we went south some more to Rt 254 and finally hit pay dirt. Beautiful rolling farms in really wide valleys, and just as the valley got it's most fertile and widest and flattest, we saw the tell tale signs of twin streaks in the pavement, soon followed with horse droppings and soon after that, the Amish. Cute kids waving from the back of the buggies and being Sunday, all dressed in their best and out "visitin". Nobody was working in the fields and the mules and horses were just being lazy on their day off. There was no traffic or tourists in this part of PA so 2 guys on motorcycles got big waves from all the Amish kids and teens.

We saw a small road that went to the other side of the now really wide valey to Rt 45 which let us bypass State College where Penn State is. This again was beautiful farmland and also is where the Penn State Research farming area is. We could not begin to figure out all the stuff being grown there. It looks like a whole bunch of experimental plots of all kinds of crops. Also appeared to be some animals being raised there.

The weather was warm and humid but by no means unbearable. No sprinkles all day.

Yesterday we were surprised to run into a wind farm near Forest City. Looked like 20 to 30 turbines turning slowly in the light winds today. Very beautiful.

Pocahontas found today's 20 or 30 turbines this afternoon as we climbed the ridge just east of Hollidaysburg. We drove right under them as we crossed the ridge. Sure looked like NRG heated sensors on top!!

We skipped lunch again today so stopped in Johnstown for dinner and then to the hotel, which we had called in a couple hours before after yesterdays "No Vacancy" dilemma.

We are both really beat from the heat and intensive rubber-necking so off to bed. No idea where we go tomorrow, but we are close to the Maryland border.

"Houston, we have a problem"

So this is a picture of Dave after we installed and tested the new helmet mounted communication kit this morning. They are 2 clip on little boxes that we each put on and in our helmets. We can talk back and forth (or eventually could) and Dave linked his headset to his new GPS system (more high tech stuff) so the GPS talks him through traffic and directions. The GPS asks if you want it to figure out the quickest way (interstate, no!), or the shortest way (remember not quickest), The third option is what I call "Machete" mode which requires occasional excavation and/or tree clearing skills. He chose the seconds and it turned out to produce some confusing but fantastic directions.

So after a half hour of failure with the headsets we suppressed our MAS (Male Answer Syndrome) impulses and read the manual. That got it mostly working. So that was it, last goodbyes and we headed north toward Bratleboro with a destination of Albany NY so I could get a new key cut for my bike (down to the last one). So all the way to Brattleboro, Dave could talk and I could listen, but when I talked he heard nothing. We quickly realized when we stopped that they were in "spouse mode", corrected that and then they worked perfectly.

We went to Bennington over Route 9, Rt 7 to Albany (Max BMW was closed for the weekend, hence no key), and then Rt 10 and lots of beautiful tiny back roads (really beautiful) to Deposit NY. From there we went south into Pennsylvania landing in Forest City for dinner at a restaurant that also sported a bar, a motel and a used car lot. We asked about a room (all 4 were booked) and got the impression (correct as it turned out) that there were no rooms to be had (remember the Memorial Day thing?). So we got on 81 south and headed for civilization where there were lots of hotels. We dodged some rain and stopped at Clarks Green where we serially called every hotel in Dave's GPS told that there were graduations going on at the 3 area colleges and our best bet was driving an hour away. We finally found 1 expensive, really nice room in Dickson City.

We discovered today that southern NY and northeastern PA have some hidden beautiful valleys and rolling hills with lots of medium size dairy farms, and what looked like veggies being grown. So nice to see the land being used. We also passed a huge reservoir for New York City that was tucked away in a valley. And no traffic at all once we left Albany. The GPS and radios work great and reduces the stress of not knowing where you are going. And Dave lets me lead now (as long as the radios are working)!!

OK, plug in all the gadgets, scrub the teeth and off to bed. Free breakfast in the morning, woohoo!!

Off with a bang!!

So it has been a while since my brother Dave and I did a trip and we had such a great trip last year and decided to do it again. This year our plans are the same as last year. To ride somewhere for 2 weeks with absolutely no plan. For a while we have been talking about where to go and we sorta talked about going down the coast. Dave sent me some trip prep items like the above and below.

So this year no camping stuff, and other than that the same stuff. Except Dave has been dabbling in technology and said we might add some goodies to the trip this year. I met him a week before the departure date in Montpelier and he handed the new space age stuff to me. More on that later.

So we planned on me coming down Friday the 20th and leaving Saturday. When we looked at the extended forecast it was calling for rain all up and down the eastern seaboard so we postponed for a week.

Sure enough the weather was crappy all week down south and the final big storm blew through at the end of the week. This of course meant the night before I was going down we had a huge wind, lightning storm that took our phone and internet out. My new proect got hit by lighting (as I found out after we left (thanks Seth for handling that) and Dave had his own issues in southern Vermont managing crews on storm damage. I called him Friday afternoon on my way back and he was still in the office putting fires out but it sounded like his stuff was settling down enough to meet me in Vernon for supper.

So the weather guys had a forecast for "severe" weather in southern Vermont Friday afternoon, which was when I planned to drive down. I put on every layer of everything I had to stay dry and headed south. As it turns out I got a tiny bit wet in White River and a few sprinkles in Brattleboro. The moist moisture I got was the pint of sweat that dripped from under the layers of rain stuff because it was really hot and humid.

So I was ok organized because I had packed the week before and Dave claimed that he wasn't organized but he actually broke tradition and made a list. And it had check marks on it. Show off..

So had a nice supper on the grill and off to bed. Thanks Irene!!