BACKROADS • NOVEMBER 2021
Page 22
Colonial Beach Bums
words and images: Brian Rathjen Derecho: A widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm that is associated with a fast-moving group of severe thunderstorms known as a mesoscale convective system. Derechos can cause hurricane-force winds, tornadoes, heavy rains, and flash floods and can last up to 20 minutes or more. On July 6th the skies above Backroads Central went from sunny and hot to dark and then dangerous in a matter of minutes. Shira called from the Durango in the Shop Rite parking lot where she was waiting it out, to warn me and to get Spenser T. Cat inside. I headed outside as the derecho hit. Insanity. I was drenched in seconds as I looked for the tabby. A small (thankfully) branch came zipping in, nailing my head. Spenser was smart, he’d hide till this was over. I heard one, then, three trees come down on the property. Time to retreat, was my thought. With everything soaked, and taking off my sneakers, I spotted Spenser dashing around towards the back of the house. I took off to get the back sliding door open for him but, as I hit the three recently refinished wooden steps, I kinda high-sided and came down hard on my left side, tearing my left lat, oblique, and seriously bruising my butt while bashing my helmetless head on the steps. I am not sure when I made it to the couch where Shira found me – but it was obvious I would be off the bike for a few weeks at least. With the damage to the property and myself, and not any real ‘wins’ in a week or so, we thought we’d need to escape for a few days and we knew just the place.
Day One
Colonial Beach, Virginia is considered the playground on the Potomac. This funky river and beach town are located in the northwestern part of Westmoreland County on Virginia’s Northern Neck peninsula. It is bounded by the Potomac River, Monroe Bay, and Monroe Creek and is home to the second-largest beachfront in the state. We have been here before and had discovered the neatest beachy hotel – The Riverview. Think art deco, add a squeeze of history and a dash of Key West, shake and pour right near the point the Potomac empties into the Chesapeake Bay and you get Colonial Beach. We had our fill of the storms and the heat was about to come on strong. Although I thought bikes, Shira the Redhead nixed that idea and pointed to the Audi A4. Her reasoning being it was comfortable, German and a convertible… and I was on the IL (injured list). I threw my bag liner, the same one I use on my bike, into the trunk and painfully settled into the passenger seat. Hey, we say motorcycles, travel & adventures – this trip would be the latter two. It was a great call as we hit heavy rains at times and temps in the very humid 90s. But, like most road trips, we had issues. It is the small issues and overcoming them that makes any journey memorable. Talking Shira into closing the top, we quickly discovered that the AC was not AC’n very well. I googled the next truck stop and we vectored off the highway to picked up an AC 134a Refrigerant Kit. 15 minutes later we were back on the road south in a now very cool, almost chilly, A4. Finally, a small win! We arrived in Colonial Beach in the late afternoon – and checking into the Riverview we were met by Kelly, who owns the place with her husband Bob. Plans were made for dinner with them later that evening.
