Day of Riding

After dinner we enjoy some down time

Bernadette at the Oil and Gas Museum

Started the day with a great breakfast and good friends even though it is a small group right now. We gathered in the parking lot ready to leave at 8:30. The plan was to head south to Point Pleasant then cross the Ohio River head north to Belpre and then over to the Oil and Gas Museum in Parkersburg. Our first turn was onto county route 13 which was not much more than a cow path but some of those roads are the best for wondering around the countryside. In just a couple of miles the road gets smaller and then it turns to dirty and stone and is nothing more than a path in the woods for ATV travels. First U turn of the day! We travel south on 68 and 33 which are wonderful roads running beside the Ohio River through small towns and farmland. Reaching Point Pleasant we turn north and have to back track about 20 miles on route 2 but still a pleasant ride. However, to reach route 2 Gabby takes us on a short cut over which starts out like route 13 and George asked if this was an instant replay. The only gravel is about 20 feet at the end but there is also a sign that says ‘do not enter’. Well that’s for the birds! We completed the short distance to get on route 2. Finally crossing the Ohio River the GPS tells me to take a right and as soon as I do there is a sign “no outlet” and a police car sitting beside the road with a radar gun. Now exactly what is he expecting to nab if there is no traffic? We stop and as I approach the policeman he smiles and says “you can’t get there from here”. The road had been closed and we had to go around. He suggested we take Ohio 124 and what a great road. Not great in the condition of the road but great in the scenery. We rode beside the Ohio River and through corn and soybean fields. You could almost reach out and touch the corn and at other times look down the banks to the river. As we pull into a small town and are instructed to turn right we again are greeted by a sign stating it is a dead end – 3rd U turn. Seems roads are closed frequently around here. As we reach Parkersburg George found the Oil and Gas Museum in his GPS so he took over the lead. After circling the general area 3 times and the GPS saying “you are here” we were just about ready to give up when we stopped at a light and low and behold there is was. I guess passing it the 4th time was the charm. And I am so glad we didn’t miss it; the history in that old musty building was amazing. West Virginia was ‘created’ or sliced out of Virginia by oil reach men who did not want to be involved in the Civil War. The state in the 1800’s was one of the wealthiest once they realized this awful black stuff that kept contaminating the water wells was really good stuff. The rest of the group began arriving around 3:30 pm and by dinner we had 25 members present. The hotel has given us a meeting room for the week and it didn’t take us long to start the story telling and laughing about past trips; of course every mistake, U turn and time someone was lost gets bigger with every time the story is told. The cards were brought out for that first game of quarter knock. The rally has officially begun.