Day 12 - Almost Heaven, West Virginia!

Yes it may sound like a line from a song and it is...but I typed it as an address because this is definitely a destination.

220

We left Roanoke this morning heading for the 220 going north.  This took us on the interstate for about 5 km and then on the first part of the 220 was 4 lane for about 50 km.  It then narrowed to a beautiful 2 lane road which took us through Douthat State Park and George Washington National Forest..  The Douthat State Park was like being in the middle of forest with no one around.  Occasionally you would come out to campsites or a lake, cabins but for the most part it was just forest.  As we rode through the State Park we also entered the National Forest.  It was like riding through solitude, cool and relaxing, quiet and serene. 

Douthat State Park Waterfall

Approaching State Park Gate

Babbling brooks!

Gate at Douthat State Park

We stopped for gas and lunch in Monterey, Virginia.  The girl at Hull's Hideaway was very helpful and gave us a recommendation for our stop of the night in Keyser, West Virginia.  Shortly after leaving there we crossed from Virginia into the state of West Virginia.

We spent the rest of the afternoon riding through West Virginia...these roads were the best of all the roads we had ridden since we left...rolling hills, sweeping turns, tree canopies, open meadows, huge farm fields and farms and the occasional small town to stop for a bum break....add that the temperature for most of the day was a steady 23...it was Heaven.



Larry said it best - if you wanted to create a road for someone who loves to ride motorcycles, this is exactly what you would order.

We made one more stop in Petersburg at the DQ for a bum break.  We met a lovely man at the DQ who asked us where we were from.  Apparently he was originally from Chicago and thought it was funny that he didn't detect an accent from us.  Not sure if it is because we have adapted our speech or we didn't add the obligatory "eh" at the end of each sentence.  Glad to hear that we were from Canada, he announced that he was going to charge us Canadian tax on our ice cream, which apparently works out to a 5% discount.  He really was lovely. 

We stopped for the night in Keyser, arriving at the Keyser Inn just in time to relax, pick up a few "supplies" next door at Sheetz, start the blog and then....the rain came.  We finally ordered a pizza that could be delivered (long story) and settled in early for the night.  Hopefully we can get out before the rain in the morning....Faith & hope!