Awesome West Virginia Ride... (Honda Shop with OEM accessories)

[hubcapsc]

Hope everyone's home safe... Jess from VA got home wet... Highbinder was there, 3fan4life, Wolf and Candygirl...

I got home about 7:00pm Sunday night, hope to post pictures tonight...

Little black kittie cat went missing while I was gone, I'm bummed... he goes out in the middle of the night
to learn about the world... he might have learned too much, didn't show up Sunday morning, hasn't been
seen since...



-Mike

[X Ring]

Did ya'll have fun dodging the Nascar fans?

Marty

[Jess from VA]

Only saw one at the motel.  He asked me (all excited) if I was there for the race.

I asked if that was one of those races where the cars went round and round (boringly) in a circle.

He acted like I'd farted in church.

Go figure. 

[hubcapsc]

I left on Friday morning, used all backroads to get to Wytheville, Va... the biggest road I took the
whole time was a little bit of 74 into Shelby North Carolina... where I saw E&H Honda sitting on top
of the hill... (828-248-2971)... they had some Valkyrie accessories hanging on the wall!

This thing holds the box of buttons for your OEM CB onto your handlebars...



I am under the impression these little Cobra heat shields are hard to come by? There were two,
$20 each...



Interstate only...



Fender rail!



Fender extender...



I asked these gentlemen out front if they were in the witness protection program before I
took their picture... they liked the Valkyrie...



So on down the road I went, after a while I had to look at my map to make sure I hadn't missed a
turn... there was a cool old antique shop, I stopped there, got some water and a nut-bar out of
my saddlebag and read the map. The owner was on the porch refurbishing something, he told me
I should go to the garage a couple doors down, they had a bunch of antique motorcycles and stuff...

Anyone need a Studebaker?



I forget what this British thing is, but the Indian behind it is serial number 1 of a 1950 model...



Bantams...



This was Steve Mcqueen's Nimbus sidecar...



They are just finishing up getting it restored, it will be ready in a couple of weeks, here's
the exposed-valve in-line four motor...



The Nimbus has a shaft drive...



NSUs were made in Germany after the war...



Sunbeams...



On and on I went, 16, 58... at Independence, about 30 miles from Wytheville, I hit
21 and stopped at the old court house...



I rested for a while in their comfy gazebo under a giant maple tree and drank some water...



Next morning Highbinder and 3fan4life showed up in the fog and the four of us went up the hill
to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, and then out of town. We hit a lot of roads and rode all day...



Most of the roads were good though 







We crossed 460 a couple of times, many hours apart...



We met up with Wolf and Candygirl at "Paint Bank"...



After some lunch we headed to Ronceverte on 219, Wolf and Candygirl split off at Organ
Cave to miss the brouhaha at Fairlea (State Fair is on), but since we didn't go past
Ronceverte we didn't have to deal with it...



It is hard to keep a straight face when you're near those funny black Valkyries, you ever
notice? 



We stopped in Pearisburg to get our bearings...





As the day came to an end and Don headed back to Tazewell, the rest of us raced over the
mountain on 52... I slipped on gravel big time a couple of times headed up, the shadows made
the little pea gravel hard to see... it was a rush... glad I didn't pull a "Detn8er"! Here's the view
from the top of the mountain...



The three of us ate at a fish house, and Mark headed home in the dark... I was glad to get
back to the motel... ahhhh...

Next Day I headed out around 9:00am... great weather all day - all three days - I drove around
in North Carolina for a while... apparently there's parts of North Carolina where you can just drive
crazy, and others where you have to drive safely 



I took 421 into and out of Wilkesboro, with the intent of hitting the BRP. It kind of snuck up on me, and
I was almost out of gas, so I had to go past, into Boone. Got gas at Boone, and instead of
turning around, I just took the side road that lead off in the right direction from the gas stop -
to "Bamboo"... and picked up the parkway back in there... I love the Grandfather Mountain Viaduct...



When I got near Asheville, I had used up around 115 miles of my gas... that's when I usually go to
reserve. I looked down from the exits near Asheville, and they all lead to steaming backups of multilane
traffic, blegghhh... I figured that the mild BRP riding would afford me a little extra mileage, so
I passed them up. I went on reserve at around 130 or so (highest ever for me) and made it down to
Brevard NC to gas up at 149 miles, whew! Brevard is near home, I've been through there before, a
bunch of rich Yankees have retired there, and Brevard supports some fine eating establishments.
I sat outside on the porch of a bistro I've eaten at on a couple of other rides and had some
delish gumbo with shrimp and sausage and fish, oh yeah, good stuff...

It all went down hill from there, literally and figuratively... I came off the last mountain to Seneca,
and found out that Huey was missing, still no Huey... 



-Mike

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Great report and pictures Mike  I'll see you next week for " The Natchez Trace Ride " .

[hubcapsc]

Bump - the read-count has only gone up by 20 or 30 people since I added the real report...
I added "Honda Shop with OEM accessories" to the Subject header, just want to make sure
everyone who might want to know about them does... I think there's a Show Chrome fender rail
for a Valkyrie there too, but I couldn't read the label on it... it seems a lot like the rail on Jess's
bike...



-Mike

[NITRO]

And you didn't clean them out? There's some money to be made there!

[Super Santa]

For what it is worth:  I had a cat went out one evening and did not come back for a week.  Wife decided that he had had enough fun for one life and had him de-tomed and he became a house cat.

[hubcapsc]

And you didn't clean them out? There's some money to be made there!

I like looking for, and especially finding, this stuff - and I have several bits of unobtainium on my
bike to show for it. Dragging it home from a ride and reselling it doesn't sound like so much fun.

I saw some chrome side covers a few years ago, posted it here, and then called back to the
Honda shop in Philadelphia a few weeks later - he said they were long gone and that he had
gotten many calls about them - now that's fun 

I brought home some other bits once when I was on a car trip, because they were on a cut-out
table and were practically being given away... posted about them here and ended up trading some
of them to Big Mike for some risers that I needed... that was fun too 

These chromed billet Cobra radiator side covers came from the cut-out table...



-Mike

[Buster]

Wish I had known you were in my area last week.
I'm about 16 miles from Ronceverte down the Greenbrier river.
My brother lives in Union, told me he saw about half a dozen Valkyrie's
in town last week.
Yes, there is some great riding in our area, but you missed some of the
best on up Rt. 219 above Lewisburg in Greenbrier & Pocahontas countries,
especially the Highland Scenic Highway.
Let me know next time your in the area, come by our little ice cream shop
and have an Apple-Cider Freeze and a great Hot-Dog.
The shop name is 'Talcott Station' in Talcott WV

[hubcapsc]

For what it is worth:  I had a cat went out one evening and did not come back for a week.  Wife decided that he had had enough fun for one life and had him de-tomed and he became a house cat.

I've got some amazing cat-came-back stories too, so I still look for Huey every day.

But there's no cars here to run over him, he wasn't sick, he never roams... I'm afraid the owl got him,
or he found a copperhead or rattler and decided it was as big a chump as the frogs he brought into
the house each night...

-Mike

[hubcapsc]

Wish I had known you were in my area last week.
I'm about 16 miles from Ronceverte down the Greenbrier river.
My brother lives in Union, told me he saw about half a dozen Valkyrie's
in town last week.
Yes, there is some great riding in our area, but you missed some of the
best on up Rt. 219 above Lewisburg in Greenbrier & Pocahontas countries,
especially the Highland Scenic Highway.
Let me know next time your in the area, come by our little ice cream shop
and have an Apple-Cider Freeze and a great Hot-Dog.
The shop name is 'Talcott Station' in Talcott WV

I just looked on the map, we went right past your place. We came out of Ronceverte towards
Fort Spring, and cut through from there to Sinks Grove and hit 12.

My whole family will be at the General Lewis in October (no Valkyries) I'll try to get by your
shop...

-Mike

[JimL]

Wow...this ride report is the standard by which ride reports should be measured!  Excellent, thanks for sharing!

[Oss]

really enjoyed your report and pictures

Need one of those resume safe speed signs near here cause everyone drives crazy in ny, almost as nuts as jersey

[robin]

I resemble that remark OSS we are very safe drivers here in Jersey it's when the NY'ers come to town that screw everything up they are backwards the fast lane is the slow lane and visa versa

[Spirited-6]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wow...this ride report is the standard by which ride reports should be measured!  Excellent, thanks for sharing


I agree Jim. Way to go Mike. 

[hubcapsc]

At Paint Bank there was a guy who had just found a Valkyrie to buy, one of the yellow one's like
Smokin' Joe's halfbreed... he said it was all chromed out, he was going to pick it up soon... he and his
friends were all excited about our Valkyries showing up, they were asking me about the Nickle Trick... I
asked him for a nickle, and it worked great! I've only done it twice, so it still impresses me too 

-Mike

[3fan4life]

At Paint Bank there was a guy who had just found a Valkyrie to buy, one of the yellow one's like
Smokin' Joe's halfbreed... he said it was all chromed out, he was going to pick it up soon... he and his
friends were all excited about our Valkyries showing up, they were asking me about the Nickle Trick... I
asked him for a nickle, and it worked great! I've only done it twice, so it still impresses me too 

-Mike

What Mike forgot to tell is that he kept the guy's nickel. 

[hubcapsc]

At Paint Bank there was a guy who had just found a Valkyrie to buy, one of the yellow one's like
Smokin' Joe's halfbreed... he said it was all chromed out, he was going to pick it up soon... he and his
friends were all excited about our Valkyries showing up, they were asking me about the Nickle Trick... I
asked him for a nickle, and it worked great! I've only done it twice, so it still impresses me too 

-Mike

What Mike forgot to tell is that he kept the guy's nickel. 

That's what I meant when I said "I asked him for a nickle and it worked great!"... what did you think
I was talking aobut? 

-Mike

[hubcapsc]

Wish I had known you were in my area last week.
I'm about 16 miles from Ronceverte down the Greenbrier river.
My brother lives in Union, told me he saw about half a dozen Valkyrie's
in town last week.
Yes, there is some great riding in our area, but you missed some of the
best on up Rt. 219 above Lewisburg in Greenbrier & Pocahontas countries,
especially the Highland Scenic Highway.
Let me know next time your in the area, come by our little ice cream shop
and have an Apple-Cider Freeze and a great Hot-Dog.
The shop name is 'Talcott Station' in Talcott WV

I just looked on the map, we went right past your place. We came out of Ronceverte towards
Fort Spring, and cut through from there to Sinks Grove and hit 12.

My whole family will be at the General Lewis in October (no Valkyries) I'll try to get by your
shop...

-Mike

Just got back from West Virginia. I made a large attempt to get to Talcott Station, and had fun, but didn't make it.

I left Lewisburg for Ronceverte... I had looked at the map, and figured if I did right, I could go down to Ronceverte and
get on the River Road, and wiggle around back in there and come out on 3 somewhere around Sinks Grove. I was back
in there for about 45 minutes, and I was even on Sinks Grove road for a while, but somehow I ended up on
Neffs Orchard road and deposited onto 219 instead of 12... so I got my hotdog at Union instead... some of the roads
back in there are paved, some not. None of the paved ones are wide enough that two cars can pass without both
cars riding with their right wheels off the pavement, and there's a mountain to go over, so it was 45 minutes of
15 to 20 mph... lots of good views...

River Road...



Good colors up top...



I took the time to stop and look at the Confederate Soldier statue in Union...



Here's the hysterical plague:



The house, Elmwood, mentioned on the plaque is one of my favorite houses of all time...



Stopped in Ronceverte on the way back through... Granddaddy always used to stop here and
get us Ripco Bars (you know, ice cream bar covered in chocolate, on a stick)...



Non-Valkyrie form of transportation used to get to and from West Virginia 



Buster - I saw a black Valkyrie, not Ron's, in Lewisburg on Thursday or Friday - was that you?

-Mike

[Buster]

Hubcap,
Sorry we missed getting together.
That wasn't my Valk, mine is black & jade.
I'm only about 30 min. from Lewisburg, up there pretty often.
Also about 30 min from Union, over there about once a week.
My brother lives there, if you saw a crazy guy on a red Sportster
that was him.
Next time let me know ahead and I will meet someplace and
guide you to Talcott, also show you some of the great sights
in our area.
By the way, sorry you missed one of the world's best hot-dogs.
Ride-Safe
Buster