Our Last Ride for 2006

Slick and I completed our last ride for 2006. We headed off to VA for about a 4 hour trip. The weather was pretty nice. It was about 60 degrees and cloudy. Being cloudy was pretty nice since we didn’t have to battle with the sun in our eyes the whole day. We started off the trip heading on highway 68 which runs into highway 220 toward Martinsville VA. Once we got to Martinsville we had lunch at local Wendy’s. That was a good thing because Slick was a little chilly and we decided to stop so she could thaw out.

After the meal we headed north and further up 220. We started looking for highway 57. After taking a left on highway 57 we soon realized that we were heading off into the past. The short stretch of town looked so old and dead. We felt like we were taken back in town 25 years. After heading west on highway 57 we hit the old town of Bassett VA. That is place where they produce Bassett furniture. That town was also very old. Soon we hit the country scenery of highway 57. It was nice and had some nice curvy roads I could enjoy. Slick and I both felt that part of the ride would be nice in the fall because of the open landscapes, hills and trees.

Not too long into the highway 57 trip, we realized that we were getting a little low of fuel and gas stations were few and far between. We did finalize run into a small and old gas station on “Jeb” Stewart Highway. As you can imagine with a highway named “Jeb” we had to be in the sticks. So we stopped for gas and get this, the gas station was full service station. Some old dude came out to turn on the pumps so I could get gas. I think the only reason he came out was to see the bike. He talked about how he thought the bike was really nice.

Next we headed south on highway 8. We finally hit highway 58 east and rode it for about 25 miles until we were back on highway 220. After hitting highway 220 we headed back home. We finally arrived home just before dark. The total trip took about 5.5 hours.

That trip ended our adventures for 2006. In the end, we looked back on what we had accomplished for the year. We bought Big Red and took our bike course in May and bought the Honda Shadow and sold it after I practiced with it for 2 months. I took some mini trips alone and Slick tagged along starting in later July. Slick and I traveled in many parts of NC and VA. We joined the GWRRA and Chapter-G. We went to Wings over the Smokies. All of these things and more in just 6 months of motorcycle riding! Heck, in this month alone we put on over 1000 miles in the month of December.

All-in-all, we had had a great time in 2006 and are looking forward to 2007. I plan to ride Big Red to the beach in June and to Marysville, Ohio for the Honda Homecoming in July.

It has been a fun year and 2007 looks like a great one too.

Until next and enjoy the ride!

Pappy