Good morning, all you out there in the blog-o-sphere...   Haven't posted in a couple weeks due to active agenda and putting thoughts together.  Now I have settled in Carterville, IL with my new sweetheart and almost feel like a resident again.   (Formative years were 20 miles east of here in Herrin.)

Once the yard sale wrapped up (see earlier posts) I loaded the bike, turned off the power at the house in PA and headed south for the Horizons Unlimited Rally at the Iron Horse Motorcycle Resort near Robbinsville, NC.   Traveling west from home (17967) across PA on 2-lane roads I sensed that these roads would be sorely missed...   Cornfields, Amish wagons with kids in coveralls, mom-and-pop cafes in small farm and river towns...   Part of the culture and heritage of Central PA.   

West to Juniata county I reached a 4-lane south but wanted to find a quieter option.   Pulling into a Turkey Hill I just waited a couple minutes

until an interested passer-by opened a conversation.   He was headed to his fishing camp (Labor Day Monday, mind you) and suggested I follow him south on Rt 103.  This turned into a 50 or so mile tour along the quiet Juniata river while campers were spending their last holiday morning cooking and hoping for that last nibble on the line to fry up for lunch.   

I figured out last Thanksgiving weekend that holidays aren't bad for traveling if you pick your days and hours carefully.   I had planned to start on Sunday but received a last minute call from someone wanting to buy my greenhouse so I hung back a day.   I figured Monday would be OK for light traffic until at least noon.   That was right on the money, and sticking to back roads worked even better.  

Somehow I ended up on a 4-lane anyway and crossed over into MD further east than intended.   WV was my southbound tour of choice so I needed to head west.   I hopped off at the next exit and just started winging-it west until I would find Rt 220.   

Hopefully I can get back to my tracker maps and find the route numbers, but it seems that a county rt 705(?) took me across great winding valleys and eventually I made the connection to 220 and down to Parkersburg.  Found a motel called Fort Hill and overnighted with local pizza and a couple brews. 


Work in progress... please come back later for more detail.