Virginia Mapping Trip - 4/8/19
I'm tired. It's been a couple months of work building new maps of the areas in Virginia I already cover. It's time for an update.
Map 1 - Great roads Near the Start of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia
I've not visited some of these roads for nearly a decade. Others are old friends, ones I use whenever I pass through the area. The focus of this trip is the more than 75 new backroads I've identified for exploration as I revisited and rebuilt my previous efforts.
Map 2 - The Roads of Roanoke and Beyond
It's unlikely we'll hit them all in the 3 full days we have this week. Monday and Friday are spent commuting, Yermo meets me Monday night to share the experience. We'll do what we can, the rest to be logged on another trip.
Map 3 - North Carolina / Virginia Border Rides
As important as the riding is, so is evaluating the places we stay before they get permanent representation in printed form. We start from familiar territory, the Ft Lewis Lodge near Millsboro. From there we hop south to the Historic Natural Bridge Hotel, then to the Mountain Lake Lodge made famous by the film "Dirty Dancing". Our last night furthest south is in a small Hotel in Pulaski, the Jackson Park Inn. Yermo and I visited there last year for lunch, the Hotel looked nice. This is a chance to check it out.
Wayne Busch
Packing is no big deal, now it's just time to wait for morning light. I'll need to swing by the post office on my way out to ship orders, the remainder of the day will be spent droning north likely in wet weather. This break from the office will do me good.
The drone up the interstates was uneventful. Warm and dry.
I exited I-81 when I hit the traffic coming in to Roanoke. Heading west on US 311 I quickly found my way to new backroads. The first was decent, but of the half dozen I looked at only two will make the maps and then just as good connector roads.
My plans to continue working my way north on virgin turf changed when I crested a hill and viewed the apocalypse rainstorm rushing my way. I dogged it back to US 220 and lost the race to stay ahead of it.
Arrival first night
It was a deluge for an hour or so but then eased and abated just as I reached the Fort Lewis Lodge. It was good to see Yermo’s bike parked beneath the pines, now we’re a team.
There are reasons we return to the Fort Lewis Lodge near Millsboro,VA. Practically speaking the location is seemingly remote when you are there, yet it is surrounded by some outstanding riding. The setting is a beautiful valley, green rolling pastures, the Horsepasture River nearby, mountains on the horizons. The lodge, it’s cabins, and outbuildings blend with the surroundings. It is quiet, relaxing, accommodating and luxurious
The Mill House
Your stay includes dinner and breakfast The little bar opens an hour or so before dinner is served. The wine selections are good .
The bar
Meals are buffet style with a variety of foods some raised at the Lodge’s farm. Yermo has some pretty specific dietary needs and they go out of bounds to insure he is catered to and well fed.
Yermo at the bar
The Fort Lewis Lodge is a great start to our mapping trip. We’ll see if any other places we visit can match the quality. Now for a good sleep. Tomorrow we get to work.
Dinner
Long day riding some Tigjt little mountain roads. We had the company of Jay Gwaldis, a good friend for the day. He met us at breakfast then rode with us contributing his knowledge of the area and one of the best roads. Now at the historic Natural Bridge Hotel. More story and photos in the morning. Need some rest.
A good long day yesterday. We arced east from Natural Bridge through Big Island then worked around a closed section of the Blue Ridge Parkway to Buchanan. Then it was out to WV exploring roads off 311.
Ultimately we worked back down along I-77 to the Mountain Lake Inn outside Pembroke. The list of good news roads is growing, I’ll have plenty of work when I get home.
We arrived this evening at the Jackson Park Inn, Pulaski, VA. The day went well with a good number of new roads collected and another good bit that did not meet the bar.
There was a small delay when Yermo’s bike needed some minor mechanical attention but otherwise we covered a good deal of ground.