Week Eight - Fri/Sat, Oct 19/20

Winchester VA was our next destination, a relatively short drive from Lancaster PA, though we traveled in PA, WV, and MD, to get into VA (in occasional rain). We’re not far from Shenandoah Nat’l Park and Skyline Drive. We walked around downtown Winchester till raindrops chased us away. The most impressive sight was Handley Library, circa 1906, a beautiful bldg with a stained glass dome. On Saturday we opted for a bike ride to the Shenandoah Valley Museum, with accompanying tour of Glen Burnie home and gardens, all of which took many hours. Plus, we enjoyed a delicious lunch in their tea room, and for desert we split a scone served with clotted cream and jam (hoy!). T'was a sunny day with puffy white clouds propelled thru the sky by a big wind (making for a tough ride back -- into the wind!). Oh yeah, we managed to do another pile of laundry after dinner. Very nice day.

Greenbrier River bike ride, Part 1, 10/8/06

The 78-mile tree-shaded Greenbrier River Bike Trail is another Rails-to-Trails gift. Located in the Allegheny Mtns, it follows the fairly shallow Greenbrier River as it swiftly flows south over rocks and boulders, at turns seemingly placid, with white water sprints.  It looks perfect for kayaking downstream (but we saw no boats whatsoever!). Leaves of green, yellow and red canopy the damp lane.  The quiet was pervasive. We biked alone, mesmerized by the beauty, passing an occasional "camp" or cluster of homes.  We stopped frequently to gawk and admire.

Sunday, 10/8 – Tracy from Outdoor Adventure met us @ 7AM, right on time, at the trailhead near Lewisburg.  We parked our Prius, loaded our stuff on his truck, and drove up the river’s east side, within spitting distance of Virginia, north toward Cass Scenic State Park. The morning was lovely – cool and sunny.  Tracy was a good guide, full of info, pointing out interesting things, inc. a lone coyote stalking a deer in a fallow pasture, a flock of turkeys, deer, etc., as we drove by sleepy villages and farm spreads.  He dropped us off at the Cass trailhead, snapped two pictures of us, and bid us farewell.

Panniers and bags attached on our bikes and we're ready to go!

This first day to Marlinton, following the rapid-flowing Greenbrier River, would be the shorter of our two days on the trail, approx 25 miles.  And it was Outstanding.  We interrupted our ride often to take pictures of exquisite fall color and beautiful scenery.  The sun shone bright.  We spied deer, halted a groundhog in its tracks, picked windfall apples, rode on bridges over cascading creeks feeding the river and thru the dark and scary 511' Sharps Tunnel (work began in Sept 1899), all of it interspersed with meadows and woodlands and farms.

Hello, Mr or Mrs Groundhog!

Discovered a downed young osprey in weeds near the path.  Left it alone.

We ate our picnic lunch on a bridge about five miles out of Marlinton.  The foliage was breathtaking. We located Jerico BnB a mile uphill from the trail on the outskirts of Marlinton, and checked in @ 2 PM – ours was a lovely first-floor room in a 100-yr-old home, situated on one of those cascading creeks, and oh-so-quiet.  We changed clothes and walked into town, visited the Railroad Station, and scoped out a place for dinner – it being Sunday, only one was open – and ate excellent dinner specials on a veranda overlooking the river with begging ducks on the bank below.  After hiking back uphill to the BnB, we parked ourselves in the wonderful Jacuzzi, followed by a leisurely stint on the porch swing in the cool mountain air, playing with the friendly resident cat.

After showering, we hit the sack, to be ready for our the rest of our big ride tomorrow.  We requested an early breakfast.  Slept like contented babies!

What a GREAT DAY!

Greenbrier River bike ride, Part 2, 10/9/06

Monday, 10/9 – After a solid night's sleep, we were up early eating a hearty breakfast at 7:30, and back on the Greenbrier River trail at 8:30, dressed in layers again.  Morning was cool and foggy – temp a chilly 48°.  Damp leaves plastered the bike trail.  The fog burned off quickly on the path, but lingered, to our delight, on the hillsides, swirling among the colorful trees.

Jimmy and I were able to ride side-by-side nearly the entire 78-mile distance.
A real bonus.

We rolled by fields and flowers, forest and meadows, crowded sometimes by sheer rock walls, seeing birds, geese, and deer.  We crossed lots of small wooden bridges over tumbling freshets.  Such breathtaking scenery hour after hour!  With no one else on the trail, we pedaled on serenely, keeping our energy up with homemade oatmeal/date bars, as well as trail mix, apples, and Gatorade.  We gobbled our lunch of PBnJ and string cheese at a picnic table next to the river.

“I brake for caterpillars.”

Clean pit toilets are located every eight to ten miles.  Cool, fresh deep-well water is also provided.  You just had to pump it out of the ground first!

We eased into Droop Mountain Tunnel (402', completed in 1900).
It was even scarier than the first tunnel because of its curve.

  

Always something to see. (huge paper wasp nest)

We never tired of seeing the river, seemingly calm at times, but with rapids on every turn, and watched it widen as we proceeded south.  80+/- miles may seem like a long way, but the miles just flew by immersed in nature as we were on this trail.  Chipmunks repeatedly crisscrossed our path.  Jimmy ran over a three-foot black racer snake, startling both, but hurting neither!  We shucked our outer clothes as the day warmed, eventually trimming down to bike shorts and tees.

We stepped up the pace the last ten miles or so, suffering by this time from the dreaded burning butt bones!  Yet, fantastic vistas kept us entertained right to the end (so to speak) of today’s 53-mile ride, where the Prius awaited us, the cooler still full of ice.  We were tired, but happy.

I was very happy to see the Prius locked and safe, since Jimmy asked me yesterday in the first 500 yards of our ride, “You locked the Prius, didn’t you?”  I couldn’t remember (and neither could he) locking it, but we decided there was nothing we could do and refused to worry about it.  We just enjoyed our grand adventure.  God takes care of everything, even fools like us.  We returned to Room 279 at the Brier Inn around 5:30 PM, showered, ate dinner at nearby Bob Evans, and then crashed.

WOW, what a ride!

Into Virginia ... Oct 10th, 2006

Tuesday, 10/10 – It's no surprise to us that we slept ten straight hours over-nite, following our Greenbrier River bike ride yesterday -- we needed it! This morning we drove the short hop from Lewisburg WV to Roanoke/Salem, VA, on winding roads amid autumn colors, a mighty pretty October drive. In Salem, we hooked up with a Holiday Inn Express for the nite.

We stopped at the Roanoke Visitor Center first, ate Cuban food at the food mart, and then walked to the nearby Virginia Museum of Transportation, where we wandered for two-plus hours, beginning with the model railroad above. So much to see here -- we walked all over the yard, climbed aboard full sized trains, sat in massive locomotive seats, cabooses, and so forth. This museum's collection includes approx 2,500 transportation objects. It's a great place to visit, lots of fun, with much history represented. We recommend! We took lots of pictures, and even bought our condo a present.

My engineer! 

Imagine the power!

When we left the museum, we returned to the Holiday Inn Express and washed our grungy bike clothes (from the past couple of days), whether they needed it or not (haha). At the front desk we asked, "Where's a good place to eat dinner," and we were told about Mac and Bobs in Salem. They had it right on – we had a superb dinner. In bed early, and had a restful sleep.