Lost, but there were cows!

Cold and wet?

Though it didn’t rain in the night, I woke up feeling cold and wet. Since I knew there had been no rain, I ignored the feeling and tried to go back to sleep. No dice. I got up and, sure enough, my down sleeping bag was definitely damp. Not soaked, but wet for sure. Of course I did what most people with anxiety do, I panicked.

I scrambled out of the tent and checked inside. The sleeping bag was damp but there was no water in the tent and nothing else appeared to be wet. The outside of the tent was soaked with condensation and it was coming through, but not in a significant way. I couldn’t figure it out.

Dryer

Normally, I throw my sleeping bag over the top of my tent or my motorcycle in the morning to air out, but in this trip it was always raining or wet, so I hadn’t been able to do that and today was no exception. The campground happened to have a laundry room though! I took the sleeping bag and the still wet laundry and threw it in the dryer. Thank goodness!

While the bag and laundry dried, I made coffee and started packing up. Again, packing everything while it’s wet takes longer, but I was still in the road by 0800.

Cool roads, but…

I was excited because I would hit West Virginia today and I’ve heard about what fantastic roads they have for riding. My destination for the night was Fairfield, Virginia so I would get to ride a lot in WV.

I programed my phone to take me where I wanted to go and headed out. I liked the riding in Kentucky. The roads weren’t fantastically maintained, but they were twisty, fun, and it was really pretty. I also saw a ton of quilt shops! I do love to make quilts and I would have to come back someday in a car with a big trunk and my BFB to visit them all.

No service

Not long before I figured i would cross into WV, I lost my cell signal. This meant no directions. I wasn’t initially worried because I knew the roads i was supposed to take. There was no Welcome to West Virginia sign though, so I actually had no idea I was there until I passed a trailer that served as a post office with a sign outside of it.  Holy smokes!

Although this didn’t pop up until later, there’s my welcome! 

The roads were narrow and curvy and followed a gorgeous river. Okay, WV was pretty nice to drive in.

Things go sideways

I ran into some construction and was pulled from the route I knew I was supposed to take. Now I was lost. There was nowhere to pull over so I couldn’t really program Lucille’s navigator so I keep going. There would eventually be a shoulder or gas station or store or something, right?

Afraid

I continued to follow the river. The few people in vehicles that I saw passed me on curves and his and looked really angry even though I was going the posted limit. I found this nerve wracking, but as I still hadn’t found a place to pull over, I kept going.

One thing I noticed were the confederate flags. I have never seen so many in my life. Almost every house had one and in one instance there was a flag flying above the U.S. flag. Though it was a weekday and during work hours, many of the houses had people sitting out front, drinking and smoking. There was huge amounts of garbage in land and on the roadsides. I didn’t see a single happy looking person.

On track

I finally found a business I could pull over into. I grabbed a paper map and determined where I was. I was far from where I’d intended to be, but I could still get to my destination without backtracking. The business I’d stopped at turned out to be a mortuary, but they had a small bit of shade, so I decided to have lunch. Of course, I needed the bathroom after, so I went in to use the facilities. The man working there seemed surprised to see me, but he was friendly enough.

I programed the navigator and went on my way. It took a while for it to get sorted, it kept routing me in circles initially, but eventually we were in track.

I was close!

More trouble

The navigator took me where I needed to go and I ended up on a short stretch of interstate on my way to Fairfield. I found an exit with gasoline and pulled over to fill the tank. I was only about 75 miles from my destination when my low oil light came on. Seriously?!?

I read the warning and it said to check the I’ll level at my next gas stop. That didn’t sound urgent, so I continued to the bunk a biker home of Fred and Christie Huger. Hopefully they could help me.

Dirt road

When I arrived to their road, I found it to be dirt. After a moment of worry, with rain closing in yet again, I drove down the dirt like I knew what I was doing. I parked Lucille in a hill in some gravel and decided I’d figure out how to move her later.

Greeting

Christie came out and welcomed me. She told me i could probably park Lucille in one of the bays they had for farm equipment and said her husband would be here in a minute or two.

The view from Fred and Christie’s place. 

When Fred came, I explained the oil problem and we checked it. It looked okay to both of us, but I would read the owner’s manual to verify. He actually rode the bike around in the gravel and put it in the covered bay. What a relief!

Dairy

It turns out, Fred and Christie own a dairy! And I LOVE cows! Christie put me up in her office and went off to work i showered and talked to the family and got sorted for the morning.

The sign for their dairy. 

A search for the cows led me to the barn and here they were!

They were adorable! 

Only one let me pet her, but I was happy just to see them!

A tan one! Isn’t she beautiful? 

The cows made my bad day of lost and fear better. Tomorrow I would ride the Skyline Drive and see my friends in Maryland!