We Took A Trip

[carolinarider09]

We Took A Trip

This year has been sort of a slack year for our motorcycle touring.  So, we decided we would try and take some rides in September and October.  Ensuring our dog Zoe has a place to stay is one of the “planning” issues.  We got her favorite room at The Woods for the week of September 23, 2024. 

The trip was planned for four days, September 23 - 26.  And we knew the storm was brewing but it looked as though we could avoid it.  So we went.

Here is the planned trip. 

[carolinarider09]

Day One

Day one was from Newberry to Abingdon, VA., about 230 miles the way we planned the trip.

 Its a place we have visited many times times and the Marriott hotel we stayed at has always been nice and there was a Cracker Barrel near by.  Mondays are not the best to stay in some towns since a lot of the restaurants are closed after the weekend.  So, dinner was at a Mexican Restaurant across the street. 

Here is the planned route for Day One and some videos of the roads we traveled.




Riding North on US 176 in South Carolina - September 23, 2024 (1)

https://youtu.be/Lg4cl-1_e0I?si=WbGV3-VoBLyzSOlC

North on Hinton Creek Rd N of Boiling Springs, NC

https://youtu.be/fB_gmGXcglY?si=Awm2IYSfEEtvXG3G

Riding North on Duncan Creek Road

https://youtu.be/fB_gmGXcglY?si=K0sK3KZhA8ubWbeS

[scooperhsd]

Getting awefully close to the disasterous flooding in the NC mountains. Did you see any ?

[carolinarider09]

Getting awefully close to the disasterous flooding in the NC mountains. Did you see any ?

No we did not.  It was all sort of normal.  I think we were there before the event and left in time.  Still hot held up in VA for a couple of days (just did not want to ride in the wind and rain). 

[carolinarider09]

Here is/are the information and videos from Day Two of our trip last week

First - The route

From Abingdon, VA to Lexington, VA, about 240 miles.  This travel was on the southeastern edge of the Jefferson National Forest and than through the George Washington National Forest.  This was a very nice ride.  We have stopped in Lexington, VA before and the town has some nice restraints within walking distance of the hotel we stayed at.  We did have to walk back to the hotel in the rain.  But we had umbrellas.

Here is the planned route for Day Two and some videos of the roads we traveled.  Very scenic route.



Here are the videos from Day Two

Riding East on the Blue Grass Trail Part 1

https://youtu.be/MNFymiaE3XA

Riding East on the Blue Grass Trail Part 2

https://youtu.be/827DAaGcH5k?si=SmL1CZzU9-vgT91u

VA 42 East toward Sinking Creek

https://youtu.be/xvEkOSeOZsE?si=-bY5xn85vdoMxtvB

VA 100

https://youtu.be/Lcj2-ktv3_0?si=yoPOn0zX0ty35SSS

VA 220 James River Part 1

https://youtu.be/RKyIZcK0xJU?si=-_psA3Go5bXa0cVM

VA 220 James River Part 2

https://youtu.be/NUQdAUMYxY8?si=vzXsWlU0h2oOzwTB

VA 220 James River Part 3

https://youtu.be/_Zz-iqga7zI?si=gb59yBgKNudQtp7f

West on Bluegrass Trail

https://youtu.be/xvEkOSeOZsE?si=YdClOTR175LQXFna

[carolinarider09]

Day Three

From Lexington, VA to Dobson, NC, about 200 miles.  

Nice surprises in the scenery.  I don’t think it was raining when we got to the Hampton Inn near Dobson.  But we did have to use umbrellas to walk to the Coach Restaurant which was just a few hundred feet away from the hotel.  Nice restaurant and food.  

We ended up staying here for a second day to try and avoid the heavy winds and rains from Hurricane Helene.  Probably could have ridden the bike but, since we had the opportunity we stayed a second night.  

Tried to stay a third night, just to be sure we would avoid the rains and winds that were still in SC but the hotel would not honor the online reservation.  So we found a nice hotel just 70 miles down the road in Sainsbury, NC.  

Here is the planned route for Day Three



Hear are some videos of the roads we traveled on Day Three  (Note on Rumble you have to manually select the 1080P resolution for best replay)

Video One. South from Lexington, VA on US 501 through the George Washington National Forest

https://youtu.be/4ZIb8LkHocw?si=aC14Xxfl6SgnNb2o

Video Two:    South on Climax Rd toward Climax VA

https://youtu.be/G46QKKTi9QM?si=NUzkfKFb5FNfH_lh

Video Three:   South on Calends Rd (VA-57).

https://rumble.com/v5h7b2j-south-on-callands-rd-va-57.html

Video Four:     South on Ayers Orchard Rd Near Palmetto VA and NC border

https://rumble.com/v5h7bd1-south-on-ayers-orchard-rd-near-palmetto-va-and-nc-border.html

Video Five:  Zephyr Rd S Leaving Dobson NC to the evenings hotel

https://rumble.com/v5h7bl9-zephyr-rd-s-lvg-dobson-nc-to-the-evenings-hotel.html

Youtube said I reached my limit.  So I posted the last three on Rumble.

[carolinarider09]

Day Eight

We stayed two days in Dobson, NC.  Could not get a room there for the third night so we traveled about 70 miles south to Salisbury, NC.  Nice ride no issues. No videos.  

The route for Day Eight (Note I had to use Basecamp to generate the route and map and it's not a really cool map).  



We did this just to be sure the storm had cleared out.  The house was not really an issue.  We have a Kohler Generator which was online.  Only other issue was the lack of communications with the house for a day when the Fiber Optic cable was damaged.   It was back on line about one day later.  We could monitor the house with video as needed.  

We also have a security system.  The only issue with that system is that it needs a phone line to notify the monitoring group (now using fiber optics instead of a twisted pair phone line).  With the internet out, there would be no communication of an event.  Something I might have to consider addressing.

Here are some videos from the ride home.  Again, remember you might have to manually select the highest resolution on the Rumble playback.  

https://rumble.com/v5h8klh-south-on-millingport-rd-nc-part-1.html


https://rumble.com/v5h8ksc-south-on-millingport-rd-north-carolina-part-2.html


https://rumble.com/v5h8mpx-south-on-nc-206-toward-new-salem-nc.html

https://rumble.com/v5h8mux-south-on-pageland-highway-toward-lancaster.html


https://rumble.com/v5h8n0s-sc-34-newberry-highway-part-1.html


https://rumble.com/v5h8n4l-sc-34-newberry-highway-part-2.html

And arriving home, finally.  

On this video at the One Second Mark you will see a downed tree and the downed power line (right side of screen).  A broken power pole can be seen at the Four Second Mark.  Again on the right of the screen.

One more broken pole can be seen at the Eight Second Mark (again right side of screen). Another partially broken pole can be seen at the Eleven Second Mark.  

https://rumble.com/v5h8pwx-home.html

Power was restored to our house about a day later.  We lost it again for a few hours and then back on.  Expected but.... one never knows what has to be done to put another group back online.