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In May my longtime friend and colleague Paul Wilson and I took off on a 3-day
mini-tour of SE Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Since our days as PhD students it has been our dream to own
BMWs and tour together. It didn't happen for a long time, but finally this
summer it did. Paul bought a BMW when we graduated and rode it for 20 years
before selling it. When I bought my K75 last summer I called Paul to share the
excitement, and within several weeks he bought his second -- a beautiful 2000
R1100RT in black, to match my R1100RS. Here is a photo of the two of us just
before leaving on our West Virginia tour. That's Paul on the right with his RT,
and me on the left with my RS. The bikes are identical mechanically, but mine
has a sport-touring fairing and setup, whereas Paul's is more of a full-dress
touring bike.
We rode south of Cleveland on Interstate 77 to New Philadelphia, US 250 to
Dennison where we
got on state route 800 south to Ely on the West Virginia border. Route 800 is a great
ride, much of along the tops of ridges in the northern Appalachian region of
southeast Ohio. Here is a shot of Paul on route 800 next to a well-kept Mail
Pouch barn, a stereotypical bit of Americana...
We took route 7 south along the Ohio river to Newport where we crossed over
into West
Virginia. We took route 16 south about 20 miles where we picked up route 47
going east. We got on US 33 at Linn continued to Weston (off I-79) where we
lunched at a great restaurant in an old building that used to be a hardware
store. Great lunch!
We continued east on 33 another 25-30 miles where we turned north on US 219
just outside of Elkins. This is just on the west side of the Monongahela
National Forest. Just past Parsons we got off onto WV route 72 which would take
us due east to the Canaan Valley Resort. Wow - what a road 72 was! Narrow,
curvy, steep drop-offs (see below), more curves, meeting UPS trucks, etc.,
etc. It was a somewhat stressful 18 mile ride which took us at least a
half hour, then north on WV 32 a few miles to the resort.
We stayed at the Canaan Valley resort (below, off in the distance) our second night
out. It was before the start of the tourist season, so we pretty much had the
place to ourselves. We chatted with a staff member familiar with the area who
expressed amazement that we had taken route 72. According to him, 72 is
known as a road for locals only who drive it at speed and do not
shrink from running tourists off the road. Luckily we made it safely to the
resort.
From Canaan Valley we took WV 93, WV 972, and US 220 north to I-68 at
Cumberland, Maryland. We took I-68 east about 40 miles to I-70 north into
Pennsylvania. We cut across country, taking the direct route up to State College,
PA where we arrived late afternoon to visit with Paul's
godchildren. After a bit of a rest, I took off on Interstate 80 for home. Paul
stayed the night and made his way back to Bremen, Maine over the next two days.
It was a great ride. The feeling one gets when touring side roads in unfamiliar
and beautiful areas, taking in the sights and sounds with the wind blowing in
your face, is just indescribable. It's the kind of experience that just as soon
as you get home you want to get back on the bike and do it all over again!
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