Freedom Fest - Snowshoe WV

Another trip to West Virginia and another adventure to report. The spousal unit and I loaded up E-III and headed to Snowshoe, West Virginia for the annual Freedom Fest All-Brands Rally. The weather cooperated with 5 glorious days of sunshine and moderate temps. We left on Wednesday heading from Fredericksburg, VA through Orange and Standardsville where we picked up US-33 across the Blue Ridge into Elkton. From there it was back roads south of Harrisonburg until we picked up US-250 west of Stanton. Then it was on into WVa to Snowshoe.

On Thursday morning we rode in the Bike and Hike Tour that took the group to a number of WVa State Parks in the area. The trail took us south on US-219 out of the Snowshoe area to the Highlands Scenic Highway (WV 150). The first stop was the Cranberry Glades Botanical area. Then it was a few miles down the road to the Falls at Hill Creek Scenic Area. Here we hiked down a trail to view a series of 3 falls of which the Lower Falls is shown below:



Of course, we then had to hike back up to the parking lot which was quite a challange for a fat boy like me in riding gear.

Next up was the Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park where we got some great views from the lookout tower. This is looking out over the valley:



And this one of the group from the lookout tower:



Next up was the Beartown State Park where a series of huge blocks appeared to be separating from the side of the mountain. The Park Service had built walkways between the blocks:



Last stop was at Watoga State Park for lunch before heading back to Snowshoe.

more to come...

After the Bike and Hike Tour it was off to nearby Cass, WV for the Cass Scenic Railroad Fiddles & Vittles Tour. The locomotives in Cass are primarily of the Slay gear drive variety where all wheels on the engine are driven via a series of side mounted gears and driveshafts. No 11 was our host that evening:



Notice the side mounted pistons with the driveshafts below leading to each wheel truck. All six axles are powered. Here's a closeup of the 3 drive pistons:



Looks like an R3 on steroids.

The train left at 5:00 p.m. sharp and we proceeded up the mountain for about 3 miles. We had to negotiate 2 switchbacks where the train had to stop while an engineer threw a track switch. The train then reversed course to continue up the mountain. At the summit was Whittaker Station where dinner was waiting for us:



After dinner, my wife and I were taking pictures of the engine and the Fireman asked if we wanted to come up and take a tour. We just about knocked each other over trying to be the first to the steps! As you can see, my wife made it first:



It was an absolutely beautiful evening on top of the mountain. We couldn't have ordered better weather. After about an hour and a half on top we made our way back down the mountain to the Cass Station. Just a wonderful experience.

more to come...

On Friday, we left with a group of about 40 bikes for a 100 mile trip to Fayetteville, WV to go whitewater rafting in the New River Gorge. We had a great guide and all of us had enjoyed ourselves.

On these trips that my wife and I take, we always seem to have something unusual happen and today was the first for this trip. While on the river, our guide set us up to tip the raft over dumping us into the river. Of course the raft landed on top of me so I made the mistake of opening my eyes. My contacts promptly floated off leaving me half-blind. After the raft trip we still were faced with a 100 mile ride back to the resort. We laugh about it now but it was an interesting ride back having my wife call out the speeds posted for the curves. We made it back safe to the resort where I had an extra set of contacts.

Saturday we made our run on the $10,000 Poker Run. One of the stops was in Durbin, WV where they also run a scenic train. One of the engines is shown here:



I couldn't help but take a picture of how they market the train:



If they only knew we were already riding our Rocket!!

On the way back to the resort we stopped and took some pics of the Roc in front of the larget free-standing radio telescope in the world located in Green Bank, WV:



This was about as close as we could get to the telescope due to the fact that gas engine ignition systems interfere with the telescope.

We made our way back home on Sunday. This was our first trip with a darkside tire and I have to say that it performed flawlessly in the mountains. Many curves were taken at a good speed and lean and there was no problems at all. I probably got asked a hundred times about the tire during the weekend. Here's a shot of me and E-III on the way home:

Looks like a good time. Thanks for the photos, the train ride must have been great.

Can't say enough about what a great report tdragger, when my stint with the judge is over I will be enjoying those sights and sounds with similar reports, soon as I get the picture thing down.

It appeared that we were the only Rocket on site. We ran into another couple from Ohio that reported to have a new R3T. He was on a Valk while his lady was on a great looking America. He admitted that he had dropped the R3T a week earlier and the replacement parts hadn't arrived in time. Didn't get his name (something that I'm really bad at).

Within a minute of arriving (didn't even get my helmet off) we had folks coming up asking if that was a car tire on the rear. I probably got asked 200 times over the weekend about the tire. "How's it handle on the mountains?" "Can you really mount a car tire on a motorcycle?" blah blah...

Maybe next year we can get a few more Rocs to show up.

Link Removed Nice pics and beautiful country....is that a car tire?

James,

Looks like a great time. Beautiful country. Glad to hear the report on the Rapture since I will probably be crossing over Thursday or Friday.

Wow! Those are great pictures. The locomotive is awesome. I have a Lionel version of the little switch engine you took a pic of, I've never seen one in real life. BTW, is that a car tire on your bike?