Smoke Hole Caverns

May 17, 2013 Friday Smoke Hole Caverns Adventure

Well the “Over the Hill Dogs” rallied up for a 3day ride in the hills of West Virginia on the 2nd anniversary of our Arizona Trip.

Our oldest Dog Richard sold his 1997 Harley Road King, this year and is spending more time with his horses (R I D I C ULOUS). He and his prayers are greatly missed but we did 

talk to him during our trip.  A few new faces this year, starting with the young Pup and Cat, Nick & wife Karen. And I hate to say it and hiding it well, the Over The Hill Cat (>50) Angela.

10 minute road closure for construction

 

Day1 Friday Smoke Hole Caverns Adventure (262 Miles 5:48 hrs)

Tony & Angela, Bill, Glen, Nick & Karen all rode west to meet Dale at Sheetz in Knoxville, MD. We took the long way to the Smoke Hole and enjoyed all 262 miles of it.

Route: 340 Harpers Ferry, 50 out of Winchester, 29S to Baker WV, 259S & 613S in VA, 33W back in WV, 220N, Smoke Hole Rd north to Smoke Hole Cavers.

  

Day2 Blackwater Falls, Canaan Valley, Elkins Valley Bend Wetlands, Handley Wildlife Area, Droop Mountain Highland Scenic Highway loop, Spruce Knob, Seneca Rocks. (293 Miles 7:30 hrs)

As with most of our trips we are going to find a black cloud somewhere. The forecast was all over the place. Two days before we started this trip it look great. The closer to Day1 the worse it got. The rain prediction was > 50% Friday, 80% Saturday, 90% Sunday. With that being said we stayed dry for the most part. I think it’s because Dale finally broke down and bought some rain gear, thanks Dale. 

We did stop and put on rain gear because as we motored up the mountain we got into the clouds. Once we got to Droop Mountain Highland Scenic Highway loop area we stopped at an overlook to take in the sights and remove our rain gear, which I found harder getting off over my boots then putting on.

Overlook at Highland Scenic Highway loop

It was 12 miles up to Spruce Knob but well worth the trip with challenging twists & turns and a great view at the top. There might have been a “PUCKER Of The Day” by one or two riders up and down that mountain. From there it was back up 28N past Seneca Rocks back to base and out for dinner. We ate at 3rd Base Sports Bar & Grille and it was pretty good.

Route: 55/28W, Co 28/7N, 42N, 93W to Mt. Storm Lake & Davis, 32S Blackwater Falls, 55/33W to Elkins, 219S, 219/55S to Droop Mt. & Highland Scenic Highway loop, 39/55N, 150N, 219N, 66E, 28/92N, 28/33N to Spruce Knob overlook, 28N to Seneca Rocks, 55/28W back to the cottages.

 Day3

Heading home we stopped for a good breakfast at Summers in Moorefield WV. We then got on the beautiful highway 55E to its end in Wardensville, WV.  Then we went north on 259N to 50E though the town Winchester where we lost Glen, Nick & Karen. It started to drizzle and apparently Glen’s Face shield was fogging up and he had to pull over. After a fuel stop and some phones calls we rejoined on the east side of town on route 7. Dale pealed off at 340N and we all continued on 15N to the Whites Ferry. It was a somewhat familiar county road trip back to Baltimore.

This really turned out to be a great ride with a verity of highways, county and back roads, hills, valleys, mountains, twists and turns and only a little light rain despite the forecast.  It sounds like everybody really enjoyed it I just wish Richard could too.

Over The Hill Dogs join the Verginia Boys

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It's been a while since the 5 Dogs have been able to run together but we made it happen today. A beautiful Memorial Day Monday mostly sunny skies 85-90'F only a 30% chance of afternoon showers. We all met up at Buffalo Wild Wings in Culpeper, VA where we met up with the VA Boys for a meal before our venture to Skyline Drive. Now that our bellies were full it was time to fill up our bikes. One u-turn latter we found a po-dunk gas station with 4 pumps, 2 of which were diesel fuel... that didn't work. We started out on CR route 729 until we came upon a road closure and had to alter course.

Well it wasn't 2 miles earlier Bill says to me " my Grandfather used to live around here somewhere". When we made the u-turn Bill arose with excitement, right there at that point stood his past Grandfathers farm where Bill spent some of his childhood growing up.  

Our detour eventually lead us to a gravel road. Well it was time to smoke-em if you got-em and think this through so we parked 8 motorcycles on the gravel road for a pow-wow. A passer-by said it was just a mile to the next paved road so press on we would. We joined route 211 to Sperryville, Va and got on the Skyline Drive southbound. We road through the tunnel south for about 20 miles and I think the same black cloud that fallowed us in Arizona was tracking us again because we definitely found that 30% chance of rain. And if that wasn't enough, after getting gas at Big Meadows we turned back north to ride through it again... at least it was warm out. Once we got out of the rain it didn't take to long for the wet Dogs to dry off. Surprisingly there was very little on the park road and it still made for a beautiful ride with fabulous views. When we got back to the 211 intersection the VA Boys jumped off and headed home via 211 leaving the 5 Dogs to continue on the Skyline Drive north to Front Royal. I might add we never saw that black cloud again...maybe we passed it off on the VA Boys.  At Front Royal Dale and Richard headed home on route 522.  Bill, Glen, Angela and I headed home on Rt 66 until we split when Bill and Glen turned toward Haymarket.  Our last leg was on 234 through Manassas on to 95 South to Stafford.

Bill covered 316 miles, Glen 316+ miles, Tony 224 miles.

Great ride in the sun and rain....

--> For more pictures and videos follow this link 

http://s1100.photobucket.com/albums/g403/TFlight/Over%20The%20Hill%20Dogs%20at%20Skyline%20Drive/

to Over The Hill Dogs at Skyline Drive.

Tony

 

Cape Henlopen DE Nov 2011

The Dawgs, minus Richard with a bum solder, took advantage of the unusually warm weather in November for a ride to Cape Henlopen, DE. The temps started out at 47'F for Dale this morning, out in the sticks, and hit a high of 75'F for use today. As usual we like to travel the roads less traveled and enjoyed a chance to ride together. It was all flat land riding with a few sweeping turns, roads lined by trees with the colorful fall leaves floating down, followed by open fields, farmers and their combine's harvesting the fall crop. On the way back we road into the sunset with breathtaking views of a fiery red sky that ended as we came down the peek of the Bay Bridge. The Bay Bridge was a little hairy though, the winds were quite strong up there.
We all had a good time and made it home safe.

Another great ride for the Over The Hill Dogs

Fort Miles was an American military installation located on Cape Henlopen was built to defend Delaware Bay and River and to protect domestic shipping from enemy fire within the capes, particularly from the German surface fleet. The fort was completed days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Battery 118 (Smith) being declared operational on December 4, 1941. The United States declaration of war on Japan compelled the U. S. Army to man the fort with the 261st Coast Artillery Battalion, who days before were slated to leave. Fourteen vessels, including the USS Jacob Jones, a naval escort, were sunk off the coast of New Jersey during the first six months of 1942. Numerous batteries (ranging from 90mm guns up to 16 inch) were installed at the fort and a large mine field was laid in the waters off Lewes, Delaware

Day Ten - Monday - Davis-Monthan AFB Boneyard and Back to Phoenix

We are trying to get going this morning after a late night of playing dice and losing $$ with my buddy Captain Morgan.
We mad it to Davis-Monthan AFB and museum. It just amazing to see how many plans are just sitting around collecting dust.

After finishing the Davis-Monthan Boneyard bus tour we got a nice send off. As we saddled up to ride two F-16 went screaming by with full afterburners than a F-4 took-off climbing nearly straight up. It was very cool Top Gun stuff.


17:00hr
We just got back to our Phoenix hotel all safe n sound.
It was a hot day riding, the temps were in the 90's and we had some heavy traffic with lights then about 70 miles of desert to cross. The winds picked up again and were blowing across the road at about 25-30mph creating little sand devils, swirling clouds of sand, so we backed the speed off a little. This was a small straight two lane bidirectional road and every time a large truck would approach and pass us head on we all got sand blasted.
We stopped in a two bit town of Florence for a break, gas and a drink. After leaving there we had trouble finding AZ-79 again and found ourselves in the middle of the Arizona State Prison Complex. It didn't take long to get the hell out of there and get back on track.
We stopped one more time inside the city limits of Phoenix to fine-tune our directions to the hotel.

After we got back to the hotel we got the bikes loaded on the trailer then went out for dinner and beer.
The Courtyard hotel worked out great and treated us well as always. Thanks to Allen, the hotel manager, for giving me the air crew rate and letting us leave our truck and trailer there for the week.


We road a total of 1,600 miles in wind, rain, snow, sleet, hail, sand, and sun.

We had a GREAT bunch of guys, good bonding, good riding, great views, and an experience of a lifetime we'll never forget.

This is a great bunch of OLD DOGS, or as Richard would say "One old Dog and 4 Pups"

We are all thankful. We didn't have any major breakdowns, flats, dings, losses or speeding tickets that we know of. A very safe ride, now we need to get Dale and Richard back home with the trailer safely.