Wheels Through Time (5/19/2023 Fri)

So far I had managed to miss all the rain, or at least be able to enjoy it under my tarp writing in the campite. Saturday looked like a major front was coming accross most the US and would hit everyware I could be. It was a forward slash front of rain moving east. So if i rode North West at the correct time I would punch through and be able to continue North for the next couple days without rain. But leaving the Lodge early Saturday would likely place me attempting that punch through at the thickest part of the storm, in the moutains, in an area without NW roads. Those are all problems. The best solution was to clear the mountains before the storm hit, get far enough North to reach the thinest part of the storm. Possibly thin enough to pass during brunch. A new weather alert showing the lowest part of the storm could bring tornados and sever weather. Time to put plan B in motion.

Plan B was to pack up camp and start home Friday. One hour into the route was a museum called Wheels Through Time that I didn't visit yet. So that was to fill the middle of my day, with a few hours of riding to follow.

The museum was very good. It has two really cool features. One is that nearly everything in the museum runs, and they start up many of the bikes and cars during the day. It's one thing to read or have someone talk about how a 4 cylinder Indian is easy starting and quiet, and far different for them to then prime and kick it over. Explain the controls and why it works so well. Very cool. The other really cool thing is how everything seems to be in some sort of full sized diarama that creates a time capsule for it to be displayed in. It really is like walking through time.

The content is Harley Davidson skewed, but there's nothing wrong with that. They are a fitting yardstick for this period of time and participated in a lot of history.

After leaving the museum plan B went off without a hitch. After a quick lunch and fillup, my next fillup and break came just at a state park in Virginia. So I purchased a 2nd campsite for this night (leaving one at Ironhorse). After pitching my tent and getting it settled I went to the local restaurant just outside the park gate.

After waiting for a seat and ordering another lone rider was standing in the wait to be seated line. I told him if alone he was welcome to join me at my table and get seated. He did. He was very interesting. He was heading to the Barber track for a motorcycle race this weekend. He owned a horse farm in TN, and his wife was a horse trainer. He plans to ride up to VT for some horse show in July. Small world. |He was riding a 2019 GS1200HP.

Back to the campsite to write many days blogs. Now I just need to add images to them and publish them.