Dual Sport Riding Southeast Ohio and West "By Gawd" Virginia

Old buddy Nick and new friend for the past year, Borneo....who has done more adventuring, including International Mountain Climbing in his life than I would want to or could, in 3 lifetimes, decided to make one final Dual Sport Run before the cold weather moved in to stay for the next four months....

So the first day of November,  a Sunday, Borneo{Kurt} left from his ranch near Auburn, Indiana, and we met at Nick's place on the southside of Grand Lake....and off we headed, not sure where we would end up, but we took some back roads before I hooked us up with St Rt 29 and we blew past Sidney and continued south and east, before picking up Ohio 56 east of Urbana....we were heading towards Athens, where Nick and I had roomed together at Ohio University, while attending Hocking Technical College back in the Mid 1970s....Athens, despite it's brain dead Liberal residents, was fun those days 40 years ago....but no downtown visit was in store, we were more interested in a meal and a motel, arriving in the dark, we managed to find both.  Sadly the Mexican Restaurant we dined at...didn't sell beer or alcohol at all, I did finally pick up a six pack of Extra Stout and downed a couple while watching the final game of the World Series and back and forth with Sunday Night Football.

Fog greeted us the next morning{Monday} at our Motel 8...we delayed awhile our trip towards Marietta, Ohio on the Ohio River, but not for long and we headed the back roads and by~ways towards what we hoped would be a ferry crossing at the tiny berg of Fly, Ohio.....foiled we were, the ferry doesn't cross on Monday.  Only 4 days a week, it seems they need a extra "Captain"...anybody interested in a part time job?

So we bridged it into West Virginia by Monday Afternoon, and spent the next 24 hours riding the routes and runs of the Mountaineer State...a great ride it was, with another Motel 8 stop in Weston, West Virginia....

By Tuesday Afternoon, we were back in Ohio, and took the Ohio River Road towards our Tuesday Night destination, the city of Chillicothe....where we moteled it one final night before heading home on a cloudy Wednesday.

All in all the 72 hours or so was done in great weather, a couple of cool mornings, especially Tuesday in Weston, where we started out in 37 degrees, as well as the fog in the Athens area...the trip itself was great, even the mud fill "run" along a railroad track, where we were greeted by a train...no disasters, although Nick did come close when taking a curve down a West Virginny Mountain road a bit to fast...but he pulled out of it in fine style.

So now home, we have chains to change and some work to do on the TWs{I already have changed out the bent gear shift lever, for a parking lot laydown along the Ohio}....Borneo by the way was riding his new purchase a 400cc Suzuki and despite his better{much better} riding skills, I thought the Jeep like TWs did a great job, off and on road.

Probably the TW riding days will be few and far between from now to the next Moab trip in March....

back later>>>>>>

Photos from the Trip.....{1} Borneo in Central West Virginia along Indian Trail Run Road{2} Covered Bridge on Rt 26 north of Marietta, Ohio, {3} Monday morning Fog near Strouds Run, east of Athens, Ohio...{4}Nick checking out the local train off route 20 in WVa in our lone "off road" portion of the ride...{5} A Tuesday stop at Cox Mills, West VA....{6} We arrived back at Nick's early Wednesday afternoon for a BS session and a few beers...left to right:  Nick, Borneo, and PRH