April 11th, 2015
Day 1.

It was a cold April morning. Temperatures were in the 40’F (5’C) range but forecast to warm up as the morning and the rest of the day wore on. My return day weather conditions were also forecast to be much warmer, so I felt that if I could brave the cold on the outward leg of the journey, returning home would be a lot more comfortable.
I was packed, loaded and ready to set off at 8:00a.m.
For this trip and today in particular, I had set a destination – Front Royal, VA., via Parkersburg, WV – a distance of 426 miles (682 km). A very conservative distance for the day in relation to my daily mileage of trips gone by. I felt confident.
Front Royal is the northern start of the Skyline Drive which then becomes the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway, 105 miles at its southern end.
So leaving home after farewells, it was a cool 48’F (9’C) at 8:45 a.m. when I headed east on interstate 90 and merged onto interstate 77 southbound towards Parkersburg, WV, for a distance of 200 miles (320 km) which came and went by in 3 hours that seemed like no time at all.
As the morning wore on temperatures began to rise and after having been on the road for close to 3 hours, I opted to take a break. I needed it.
I was feeling warm and needed to take off a layer or two of clothing.
I also was feeling rather dehydrated, so this would be a beneficial break/pause in the journey.
So pulling off the highway I found myself in Worhtington, WV where I planned to catch Highway 50 and continue eastwards on my journey.
I pulled into a Gas Mart Station, found some shade under which I parked the bike, got off to stretch my legs and reached into my bag for a snack.
What I found in there was a rolled up Roti with Chicken Curry. (It doesn’t get any better than that!)
what a pleasant surprise from my wife. Bless her soul. I said a quiet prayer of thanks for her.
I then washed it all down with a Cherry-flavored Pepsi.
I was set!
I looked around and took in my surroundings and could not miss the blue sky above me.
What a contrast to the dull, grey skies of Cleveland.
I was enjoying this ambience.
So with my belly now filled again and feeling re-charged, I then turned eastward again to start my ride on WV Highway 50.
This was a familiar road to me as I had traveled it before on a return leg of an earlier tour from the east coast.
In this part of the country, it ranked and continues to rank very high on my list of favorite roads as measured by my criteria of safety, road surface quality, thrill factor and scenery.
This route winds its way through the hilly and somewhat mountainous area of West Virginia, snaking its way, twisting and turning through several small mountain towns and offers sweeping views of the mountain country of West Virginia.
This early in the year the weather was still crisp and cool with very little to no spring growth on the trees.
It’s fascinating to me how the trees can look so “dead” at this time of the season with almost no leaves on their branches. But with the pending warmup, there will be an almost instant explosion of growth with leaves sprouting literally from one day to the next.
On this day the trees are void of leaves, soon they will be clothed in a shroud of green.
But today, the trees being bare, I get a unique view of the peaks and valleys along the roadway.
The air is crisp and cool, the temperature gauge on the instrument cluster reports 50’F (10’C). I was well padded with the inner cold-weather liners of my riding jacket. I had on my long-johns and my balaclava to ward off the cold breeze and accompanying colder temperatures being generated from the wind chill factor. Underneath all this, I had 3 separate layers of regular clothing.
I was ready to do battle against these cold conditions of the early morning of this day.
So I got on with the journey and although needing to concentrate totally on the road, I occasionally stole a glance of the views way out on the ridges of the mountains through which I wound along.
the ST got on very quietly with its job, laying the miles down with each passing minute.
Quiet, smooth, powerful and comfortable the bike allowed me to begin relaxing. I could slowly feel the stress reduction. Stress that I always seem to carry on my first day of each journey/ride.
I was looking forward to riding the Skyline Drive and being in the Shenandoah Valley. A place I had read so much about and had been dreaming of visiting so long ago.
Now the time had come that allowed me the privilege and blessing of being able to make that dream come true.
so I pushed on, relishing each twist and turn in the road. The Honda ST13 is truly a delight to ride in these conditions.
The plan for this leg of the journey was to make it to Winchester, VA where I would then catch highway 522 and drop right into Front Royal, VA and find a place to bed down for the night.
(I typically do not book my lodging ahead of time. I prefer to “roll” into a town and then search for a place.
I get the chance to ride around, see more of the different parts of town and people, get a feel for the areas/neighborhoods and then make a judgement call on where to stay after comparing prices.
It has worked well for me so far.)
I settled in for the ride and continued to enjoy the twists, turns and elevation changes of the road.
The day continued to wear on. Temperatures climbed gradually.
by mid-afternoon, I began to feel the effects of fatigue beginning to set in.
Soon I began to feel like I would not be able to make it to Front Royal.
I was aching and really tired.
I realized it was the effects of tiredness at work and the need to for some “time out”. Some much needed time away from work. This was it. And now I needed rest.
At this point the GPS unit directed me to take an exit.
I now was on a narrow, lonely, country road that began to wind its way through a forest, with trees pretty void of leaves.
the late afternoon sunshine filtered through effortlessly, directly into my face.
This meant I was facing west.
But wait a minute. I was supposed to be heading due east!
I looked down at the clock on my instrument cluster. It would be getting close to early evening pretty soon.
I began to get nervous. I had no clue where I was. My fatigue did not help much either. I had to keep backing-up my mind in order to verify all my thought trends at this time.
All of a sudden the reality hit me hard. I was off track!
Having spent so much time planning this trip, I had a pretty fair mental image of the map and an exit at this point was not what I recalled.
Somehow or other I had strayed off my route.
But the unit had not instructed me to turn around or make a U-turn.
I found myself on Highway 48.
I was supposed to be on highway 50.
The sun continued to sink in the afternoon sky. This was not good. The last place I needed to be was here in the “Boonies” when the sun went down. I found a safe enough place along this forest road and made a U-turn. I wanted to find my way back to the point where I exited the previous highway.
The GPS unit still did not instruct a U-turn. I began to feel unsettled. I did not know where I was.
I decided to make another U-turn and stay with GPS guidance.
So I stayed with it along the current path.
The road wound around the side of the mountain I found myself on, going up in elevation, flowing me by some wind turbines and finally filtering me back into a valley, where I promptly pulled into the first gas station I came to. I had just come off Mt. Storm.
The bike needed gas anyway.
Good chance to fill up.
Wise to do so. Plus I needed to shake the cobwebs of fatigue I was experiencing.
It was close to 6:30 p.m.
The evening was rapidly approaching.
I used the opportunity to refer to the map function on my iPhone. This gave me an overview and location of where I was in relation to my originally planned route.

So leaving the station with a better grasp on my current bearing, I got back onto highway 48 where it opened up into some good quality pavement.
I was ready to make up some time. Time I had spent running through the “boonies”.
I took the opportunity and pulled into an “Overlook” parking area to don some additional warm-weather riding gear.
With the evening rapidly approaching, temperatures began to plummet.
The sun started to cast its long shadows and in this part of the mountains where I was, the view was so captivating.
So out with the camera ……………..

The mountainside was lined with wind turbines. A feeling of being back in civilization washed over me, making feel that much more relaxed and ready for this leg of the journey.
Next stop, all things being equal, ought to be Front Royal, VA, my overnight stop for this day. GPS reported that I had 88 miles (141 km) to go.
As tired as I was feeling, I was not too sure I would make it. I was fighting the fatigue/tiredness.
I was literally far away from any major township/city and there was nothing around me or close-by otherwise this would have been the time I would have succumbed to cutting the planned days’ trip short and bedded down for the night.
So I pushed on.
Highway 48 ended up being a pleasant part of the trip/ride. Great asphalt, great evening scenery and several lovely sweeping turns as the road wound its way around the mountainside and through the valleys.
Highway 48 at this time was a welcome reprieve from the “Boonies”.
My shadow was ahead of me, pulling me along, giving me the energy to keep going. From its position ahead of me, it assured me that I was heading in the right direction, eastwards.
As the miles wore on, the traffic got heavier.
I approached and arrived in Front Royal that Saturday night just after 7:40 p.m.
Pulling into a Mickey-Dees, I had a meal and took advantage of their “hot spot” to search for lodging for the night.
I found and booked a room for the night at the Quality Inn Skyline Drive, which was barely 2 miles from where I currently was.
so with formalities dispensed with, I “asked” the GPS unit to take us there.
Much to my dismay, there were no ground, first or second floor rooms available.
This meant I would have to do 3 trips lugging my gear/luggage back and forth from the bike to the room.
As tired as I was, this was a chore. But I had no choice.
At the very least I had a room, it was clean and comfortable. For now that’s all that mattered.
I was off the road and ready for a good nights’ rest.
After a hot shower, sleep came on very rapidly. I was out like a light, but not before checking in with my loved ones to let them know that I was safe and sound. It was now 9:30 p.m. and when I had checked my odometer reading upon arrival, The bike had transported us 477miles on this day. It was 50’F (10’C) a gain of only 2 Fahrenheit degrees (about 1 centigrade degree and a “smidge”) since the start of day.

Next - APP Day 2.