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Going where the orange sun has never died And your swirling marble eyes shine Laughing Burning blue the light Bittersweet the drops of life Memories only fading Fancy Colours – Chicago
Introduction:
Each year, when the Earth spins around to the autumnal season, we look to piece together a number of routes that will highlight some yearly blazes of reds, yellows and orange that swing us towards the dreaded winter. This year we try to follow a somewhat odd theme. So, follow along and we hope we… make you smile!
West Virginia Fantasies
We will start and finish this Mountain State loop in the small city of Buckhannon and it is our hope it is a great ballad of superb roads and bright and vibrant colors. From, more or less, where Route 20 meets Route 119 we’ll be heading south on Route 20. In a state full of outstanding roads, Route 20, running north and south, is its longest at nearly 260 miles. Densely forested in most places, it runs through many little towns. We will be riding along just 50 miles, but a great 50 miles to be sure. Along the way we’ll be passing Holly River State Park. With 8,101 acres of dense forest, Holly River is West Virginia’s second largest state park. Located in a narrow valley in the Mountain Lakes region, the park is surrounded by heavily forested mountains, some reaching more than 2,800 feet in height. The dense forests of Holly River provide riders with a natural setting where they can find peaceful solitude…. before getting back to throwing gears in a vibrant manner. Down the road make a left onto Route 15 in the town of Addison, which the locals call Webster Springs. I am not sure if it is named after the character in Moonlighting or Emmanuel Lewis?
BACKROADS • OCTOBER 2021
Truth is, the town was famous in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for its numerous salt sulfur water wells. People believed that the water from the wells had medicinal qualities. Many still do. Banking onto Route 15 in an easterly vector, we will ride the entire 65 miles of this West Virginia nirvana. At the Tygart Valley River which, if you seek it out, actually could be called part of the Mississippi River. Go figure. Banging right on Route 219 we’ll be heading south, but then tilting left onto Route 66 through Pocahontas County – one of the nicest regions in West “By God” Virginia. Ahh, Route 66 I know it well. I rode it four times in one hour in May. I suggest to gas up at this turn off and, if you have time, take the railroad at Cass. It is phenomenal. The ride to Bald Knob will give you a completely different view than the road. The Cass Scenic Railroad is the same line built in 1901 to haul lumber to the mill in Cass. The locomotives are the same Shay locomotives used in Cass during that time, and in the rainforests of British Columbia for more than a half-century. Many of the passenger cars are old logging cars that have been refurbished.
