It came down to which way do we have the best probability of not hitting rain. The forecast indicated a rain everywhere from Kentucky to North Carolina and above and below. Heading north towards Parkersburg seemed to be the best chance. It would be a nice ride along the Ohio River for over 2 hours ( 40% chance of rain ) but we'd be heading away from central West Virginia, an area we hadn't really got to see.
As we were packing the trailer a couple of guys struck up a conversation about the bike, hunting in Canada.....they were working on the power lines but were hotel bound until the rain held off - can't do hot work in the rain!
The next thing one of the guys shows me an app he has on his phone for checking the weather and tells us going north would be the best probability. Then he asked us if we had ever seen the the bridge over the gorge in Fayetteville ( it took me some time to figure out what the name was he was saying ). It use to be the longest arch bridge in the world ( there is one built in China that has now bumped it from the top position ). Fayetteville is to the south east.
Well, so much for the River drive along the Ohio, and, it put us more in the centre of WV.
It was about an hour and a half drive according to google. That's about 2 - 3 hours for us as we like the back roads.....and you never know what you'll see
We were just about to stop at a traffic light in St Alban's, just before Charleston, when on our right was a familiar sign - Tim Hortons ! We had to pull in for the fun of it. It was the only Tim's we'd seen since Maine. And who would have guessed on this back road in this small town.
After a coffee it was off to Charleston, the capital of WV. We did stop downtown to go for a walk but the rain was falling and it was time to move on. Karen did manage to get a couple of pics.
From Charleston we decided to say on and take highway 60 to Fayetteville. The first half of the trip was fine, but the second half was a fantastic ride under the trees, sharp turns between the hills and up and down the slopes. There were parts that ran around along a River, next to a small falls and some rapids. If only it wasn't raining so hard - just about all the way. The hard rain didn't afford us being able to get many pics. As well, Karen said she couldn't take any pics - there was a couple of times she didn't breath until we were around the turn !! It's a ride that has to be repeated someday, but unfortunately not on this trip.
( as a side note, the server at supper told us that part of the 60 is worse than the Deals Gap run)
We made it to Fayettevile. And we did get to see the bridge, even if it was in the rain and fog. This is the bridge that people parachute from !!
Again, maybe on the next trip.........
Attached in the next blog to follow there are a couple of postings of the bridge and of the back half of the 60.
