A Hoagy, A few hills, A couple of thousand miles and A whole lot of fun

She rides on

Just returned from a great road trip to West Virginia - one of my favorite states to ride in. Why you may ask? Well, if you haven't been there yet... you should go... beautiful scenery, friendly folks, great roads and awesome riding! I had signed up to participate in the Redneck Run for Fun and the HillBilly 1,000 organized by Hoagy's Heroes. OK, I can hear you asking... what is Hoagy's Heroes. It is a great group of long distance charity riders who raise money for charities while putting miles on their bikes, and led by the man himself - Hoagy Carmichael. I "met" Hoagy on Facebook after I joined the IBA riders page (I think, sounds about right) and read up on Hoagy's Heroes and what it is all about, so when it was announced that there would be a Redneck Run for Fun and a saddle sore ride, all within the state of West Virginia, I signed up without hesitation.

Blackie needed to run and I needed to ride so we left Vermont in the late afternoon on Wednesday and rode down to Wilkes-Barre, PA for the night. I wanted to stop in Williamsport, PA to grab a photo of the Whispering Giant that is located there, plus I wanted to take a leisurely ride to Oak Hill, WV the next day and not be in a hurry. The ride to Wilkes-Barre was nice and uneventful and as always, my tank bag carried my riding angel Ardys. We caught a nice sunset somewhere in Pennsylvania. Rolled in to the hotel parking lot a bit after dark and hit the pillow shortly thereafter. I was back on Blackie by 6.30 am the next day and rode some great back roads to Williamsport. Found the park and the Whispering Giant - Chief Woapalanee.

Seneca Rocks

Got the photo, read the plaque and back on the road. A little bit of interstate before I wandered off on smaller roads. I took some of my favorite roads in West Virginia and of course I had to stop by Seneca Rocks. It has sort of become a tradition if I'm in the area. The roads are spectacular and well maintained. There are no frost heaves! And there is something peaceful about Seneca Rocks. I like sitting by the bridge and just looking at what nature has created. After some really fun mountain roads I arrived at the hotel in Oak Hill in the late afternoon. There was only one motorcycle in the parking lot. I figured everyone must be out riding and I recalled having seen a post from Hoagy that they were at Cass Railroad. I checked in, unpacked, gave Blackie some TLC and hit the pool and hot tub. When I came back to my room I found Hoagy knocking on my door. After a big bear hug (our first time meeting in person) and catching up he went to get me the route sheet for the HillBilly 1,000 which I was leaving for the following morning. We went over the route and paper work and then Hoagy introduced me to some of Hoagy's Heroes. There was Rich and Bob from Texas. Linda and John from West Virginia. Lisa and Paul from West Virginia. Engima from West Virginia. Ron from Virginia. Bill and Dorothy from West Virginia. A couple of them had already completed the saddlesore ride the day before. I also got to meet Hoagy's wife Amy. Some of the gang was heading out for dinner but I opted to stay in and go to be early so I could head out by 5 am the next day. Hoagy verified my odometer and signed the paperwork. I plugged in the route to my GPS, got everything ready for the next day and by 9.30 pm I was asleep.

West Virgina Interstate

4:20 am on Friday and I was out of bed - wide eyed and bushy tailed, time to go for a long ride. I guess the 795 miles to Oak Hill wasn't enough... Ha ha ha. It is still dark at 4.30 am you know but since I wanted to make sure I would be back before midnight I was ready to roll. I rode over to the gas station to fill up and get my start receipt. The pump would not spit out a receipt. Ugh! Luckily the nice lady who was about to open the gas station let me in and printed me a receipt. Thank you very much nice lady! Hit the road and remembered what Rich had said the night before about fog on route 612 - and sure enough - there was fog so I opted to ride down to Beckley and catch the interstate. My GPS went all hog wild and wanted to route me back to where I was "supposed" to be. No no no little man inside the GPS that is not your choice but mine. Stayed on the the interstate and figured if it adds more miles to the ride it ain't going to hurt. It was a little cool out and I was glad to have layers on. Of course as the day would go by I would peel those layers off and pray for cooler temps! First stop on the HillBilly 1,000 route was Williamstown in the northwest corner of the state, one mile south of the Ohio border. The ride there went easy without much traffic and even the road construction areas went smooth. Grabbed me a cup of coffee at the gas station and got the required gas receipt before heading south towards Charleston.

The Capitol in Charleston

On this route I would pass through Charleston, the capital of West Virginia, six times! After the stop in Charleston it was on to Huntington in the west, close to the Kentucky border. And then back through Charleston, again, and now to the east and Fairmont. There is some road construction on

almost every interstate but luckily it was not causing much trouble... yet. And the roads are in amazing condition and the scenery so beautiful. Not to mention how hilly (mountainous) it is. I don't think there were much of the miles I covered that was flat or straight! Grabbed a sandwich in Fairmont and figured I would stop at the rest area for a quick break and stretch about an hour later. Rode through a quick rain storm that felt great because by mid-day it was hot out. I saw a thermometer showing 91 degrees!!! Blackie was doing awesome and felt like she was right back in her element. Wohoo! Great day to be alive! Just as I pulled in to the rest area the second rain storm rolled in accompanied by thunder and lightning. Yikes! And it rained HARD! Time to put the rain gear on. A couple of Harley riders pulled in as I was gearing up. One of the guys yelled at me jokingly "now don't you make us look bad by getting back on that bike". Well, of course I did. He he he. 30 minutes later the storm was over and it was sunny and HOT again. Time to peel off that rain gear before I melted. Back to Huntington again and then guess where? Yep, you got it. Charleston, here we come again. And then it was back up to Williamstown. The ride was going smooth and traffic flowing until I was about 15 miles south of Williamstown. That's when I saw the traffic in the opposite lane - heading south. It was backed up for miles. Oh crap! That was the direction I would be heading as soon as I got the next gas receipt. When I stopped at the gas station I checked the West Virgina map I had and there really wasn't any other roads to take that made sense so I got back on the road and sure enough within a few minutes I was sitting in that road construction back up. It cost me 30 minutes but all in all that was the only traffic jam I experienced on the entire ride. Passed through Charleston for the last time and headed south towards Princeton which was the last stop before heading back to Oak Hill. The road south of

Charleston to Princeton is absolutely awesome for being an interstate. For a large part of that stretch it is carved through the mountains in beautiful scenery, sweeping long turns, mountains and valleys along the river. I wish every interstate was like that! It was a pleasure to ride. The sun set behind me and darkness arrived. It felt good to have a little cooler temperatures even though it was still warm. I was feeling good and not the least bit tired. Got the receipt in Princeton and turned Blackie towards Oak Hill. On the home stretch. I was praying that Bambi had decided to stay in the woods and not make a guest appearance tonight. My prayers were answered and I arrived at the gas station in Oak Hill without any issues. Final gas receipt and then to the hotel.

Yours truly back at the hotel after 1,030 miles

When I pulled in to the hotel there were a bunch of "family" waiting and I was greeted by Hoagy with a big hug and a smile. I had made my first Hoagy's Heroes event and charity ride and the HillBilly 1,000 is now in the books! 1,030 miles in 17 1/2 hours. I lost track how many rivers and brooks I crossed but I know for sure that I crossed the same one several times! It was a beautiful ride around the state of West Virgina and I truly enjoyed it. After a glorious shower and some coffee I spent a few hours hanging with Hoagy in the lobby while he was waiting for two other riders (John and Eric from Florida) to return from their ride. At 1.30 am my eyelids got heavy and I left Hoagy to nap on the couch. I barely remember crawling in to bed but I know I slept like a baby.

New River Bridge

On Saturday morning I had a real breakfast - no granola bars and nut mix today! And coffee! With no particular plan in mind I ran in to John and Ron and we all decided to go for a ride together. We rode over to the visitors center for the New River Gorge and got some great views and photos of the New River Bridge, which is the longest arch bridge in the western hemisphere. We rode down to the bottom of the gorge on a single

The New River Gorge

lane road with some tight turns and across the New River. After that we headed to Babcock State Park with a beautiful grist mill. Then John took us on a great ride back to Oak Hill with some classic West Virgina twisties, narrow roads, mountains and valleys. It was awesome! We got back to the hotel just in time before the thunderstorms and heavy rain rolled in. I got to meet Joanne and Mitch from Maryland who had just arrived. The whole "family" went out for dinner at the Pies and Pints in Fayetteville. I shared an awesome pizza with Ron. There were lots of laughter and stories and all the riders who completed the Hillbilly 1,000 got their IBA and Hoagy's Heroes certificates, patch and stickers. Wohoo! After dinner we all went back to the hotel and had a fun time in the court yard. All I'm going to say is... what happens in the courtyard stays in the courtyard. Ha ha ha. I had a fun evening!

Fog over the bridge

Sunday morning the alarm went off at 4.30 am. Big yawn. I looked out and saw how thick the fog was. Yikes! So I made some coffee, took it easy for awhile and by 5.30 am I was ready to roll towards Vermont. There was fog across the New River Bridge which made it look really cool. Luckily the fog had started to lift and about an hour later it was almost gone. Funny enough, it rained in the exact same spot as the day before when I was heading towards Fairmont. Since I had my liners on I didn't get wet. There was no traffic to speak of

Beautiful West Virginia

and enjoyed the ride. I literally had the road to myself almost all the way to Pennsylvania. After that the traffic intensified and by the time I hit New Jersey there was a lot of traffic. It was sunny and hot and I couldn't wait to get back to Vermont with some cooler temperatures. The rest of the ride was uneventful and I was happy to enter the Green Mountain state. While I enjoy road trips it is always nice to come back home. When I rolled in to my garage I had spent 2,625 miles on Blackie and had a fantastic visit to West Virginia. I made new friends and I'm now part of the Hoagy's Heroes family - I will wear the patch proudly! Until next time...

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