11 hours and 400+ miles of mainly back roads, 2-lane byways at 3200+ feet.
Last Friday being my alternate Friday off I decided to get in some time on the new machine and give IT and Me a good run for our money…
Headed out on the slab known as I66 just to some distance between me and the city then jumped off at Front Royal onto Rt. 55.
First glimmer of the Plateau ahead…
With all the rain and snow from last winter this has been a very green spring season, haven’t seen greens this rich in several years…
Got to the road taking me up to the top of the Plateau and stopped to marvel at the size of these windmills placed along the eastern and western edges of the highlands. This picture doesn’t do it justice really, they are Huge, the fan blades, where they attach to the main rotor are a good 10 feet in diameter.
Rode along Rt. 93 past Mt. Storm Lake and power plant that sits in the middle of the wetlands on the Plateau then on to Blackwater falls.
The vegetation up here is several months behind the lowlands I just came from, pretty much still early spring and besides the evergreens, most trees are still bare or just beginning to flower. It’s a great place to ride on a hot summers day, always a good 10 to 15 degrees cooler up here.
A few pics of the falls, they are a nice easy walk from the parking area and while on this visit the water was pretty clear at other times of the year the water turns a muddy, rusty brown from the tannin in the pine needles that fall into the river, which is how the falls got their name.
you can see a little color in the middle right of this close up shot..
Playing around a bit with perspective… they aren’t as steep as it looks…
then it was off again north to Rt. 50 right at the WV/MD line where there is a little town, almost completely abandoned…
an old bric-a-brac store, couldn’t tell if it was just closed for the day or closed up for good, though this was a Friday ..liked the pig in the window..
Besides old buildings and abandoned things in general I really like old carved wooden doors
Right next door I met this sexy thing.. she tried to entice me up to her room, but I think she was more interested in the IT than me…Hmmm guess there are Two sexy things in this shot..
other old things I like are these old signs you find from by-gone days painted on brick buildings, Mail Pouch Chewing Tobaci ads being one of the most prevalent.
and a close up… wonder if the threatre is still operating? Didn’t drive around to the front to see; the road thru town was split into two one-way streets due to the hillside it sits on..maybe next time, bet it would make a good shot as well.
It was an interesting perspective from this, upper roadway looking down on the buildings lining the other half of the main street.
More windmills these were further north than the other one almost at the MD border
Not as big as the others near Rt. 42 and 93..
Finally it was time to tumble back down into the afternoon heat… Hmmmm 5 miles of slope with lots of twisties, Oh Yeah..good way to end my visit..
Got bugs?? Will travel…
RM
