Day 2
The plan was to leave at 8:30 but we were up and ready by 7:30. We had enough of super slabs yesterday so today we headed south on route 11 which is a very good road with little to no traffic and wondered through small towns like Christianburg with more churches in one town than I’ve ever seen and Redford the home of Redford University. It was surprisingly cold and I was wondering why I had not packed the heated jacket. When it started to rain we pulled into a gas station to wait it out and noticed the bank sign was reading 55 degrees. Thank God the rain was short lived and we got back on the road. In order to reach Paintsville KY the plan was to travel 81 and 11 to Marion and then take 16 through Hungry Mother State Park to Tazewell. The road looks like a great motorcycle road on the map and any road up and over mountains has to be good. Well how do I describe this road? It climbs at grades that require you to gear down to second for my bike; there are hairpin curves that begin a sharp climb instantly; first you curve right and then immediately left you can hardly get the bike back up straight before you have to lean in the opposite direction. Many hairpins were so sharp me, God and Abigail were talking “come on girl you can make it” I would say as she leaned and then began to rumble and climb the grade. Hairpins, curves and more curves and we reached the top and then down we headed so steep we had to stay in 3rd gear in order to avoid riding the breaks and overheating them. The last thing I wanted was to burn out the breaks and have a runaway bike. No guard rails on the roads and you don’t dare look at the view I kept reminding myself to look where I wanted to go because you’re going to go where you look. Not a mistake to make on this road. I have ridden the Tail of the Dragon and I honestly think this road is more challenging; the curves seemed closer, non-stop; at least a half dozen or more hairpins that immediately require you to climb; curves so tight you cannot see through them; falling rocks to watch and gravel to avoid and it seems to never stop. The road is wet but I’m not sure if it had rained for if we are just so high it is always wet. The Dragon is 11 miles this is 30 miles and I was ready for it to end.
The next road we ride is 460 and I think whoever designed this road made it for play. Sweeper after sweeper rocks you back and forth; the view is fantastic and you can actually take a second to look to the left or right. The road is a duel highway until you reach Grundy so you don’t have to worry about on-coming cars and the speed limit is 55 and it was easy to take these sweepers at that speed. As we travel along the mountains are so close you feel like you can reach out and touch them on both sides of the road. We see signs to watch for deer, elk and moose crossing; groundhogs run for shelter as we pass and cattle dot the mountain pastures.
We arrived at the Ramada Inn in Paintsville by 3:30. This is the hotel for our UTR rally and I was very interested in checking this place out. We are not disappointed! This place is even better than pictured on the Internet. Not what you would expect in a little Appalachian town.
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| Shops in the atrium |
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| Indoor pool area |
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| Andy playing in the glass elevators |
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| Lovely Lobby |
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