Ride to Appomattox & a plane "crash"

Had a great ride out to Appomattox today with Johnny, Willie and Joe from the Steel Horse HOG chapter. We met at US 60 & 522 at 10:30 am. That was good as the time was needed today to burn the fog off as it was a VERY foggy morning. Another "warm" day in February in Virginia. Got up to around 60 today so it was very nice riding. I really has been a nice winter for motorcycle riding in Virginia this year!

Rode up Rt 522 to Rt 6 and down Rt 15 to Dillwyn. There we had lunch at the Depot Bar & Grille. It was good. Had my first "One eyed" cheeseburger, which is a cheeseburger with a fried egg on it. They do have good burgers and seems to be their specialty.

Depot Bar & Grille in Dillwyn, VA

Johnny actually had to catch up with us at Dillwyn. He was late due to having to work this morning. He caught up with us around 1:30 pm. Part of the reason he was late too was having to help rescue a dump truck driver from his overturned truck in downtown Richmond that happened right in front of Johnny as he was leaving work! Glad he made it!

We headed on west on US 60 to 45 and down to Appomattax. We all took a break at a Wendy's before starting back.

We came back on US 460 to Rt 153 to US 360. At 360 we split up and I headed back home to Powhatan after gassing up. As I turned on Rt 13 off of Rt 609 I saw a few cars along side the road and something strange. Took me a little while to see that it was a small plane sitting in the ditch blocking part of the highway! It appeared the plane had made an emergency landing in a farmer's field across the road. He had steered the plane around several poles and under a 3 phase electric distribution line and skidded across Rt 13 before coming to a "landing" in the ditch! A lot of debris was in the road (dirt/grass/scratches from the plane dragging) to ride around. The police were just arriving as I passed and several people were already there so I knew I did not need to stop. (Geez, I think I passed at least 20 police cars and emergency vehicles arriving as I headed on home.). You just never know what you are going to see and experience on a motorcycle ride!! (BTW, heard on the local news later that there were no injuries. The pilot had engine trouble and had to make an emergency landing and ended up on the highway!)

Plane "crash" on RT 13

A great day of motorcycle riding and fellowship with some good friends!! Did around 200 miles today.

Another nice day in February!

With the temps getting up to 60 degrees today and SUNNY, I could not resist getting out on the open road on my Ultra one more time in February. Did 156 miles today over to Appomattox Court House and across the Holiday Lake Scenic Byway. Very nice ride. Didn't take any pictures today. Just enjoyed the ride. This was the first time out with my new "Nostalgic Collection" shifter pegs and brake pedal. I like the shifter pegs. I always use my heel shifter and the "flat" new rear shifter peg seems to be more natural as a heel shifter than the old stock round rubber peg. I don't remember a February being this nice in Virginia before. There has been NO snow or ice so there is no salt/sand on the highways. That really makes it nice for a motorcycle ride in the winter months!

Looks like the last 60 degree forecast day for at least the next 10 days so I gassed up, put the ethanol treatment in the tank and parked the Ultra in the garage for awhile!

First Day of February!

WOW, what a start to February 2012. Another 70 degree day, a few clouds, but otherwise a nice sunny day and another great day for a motorcycle ride! First on the agenda was the need to fix my broken footboard!

There is almost nothing that can't be fixed on a motorcycle with duct tape and/or wire ties!!! This time I went with the more classy look and used some of my valuable black wire ties from my tool bag. Worked like a champ! I did take the opportunity today to call my local Harley shop and put on hold a new set of Nostalgic Collection Rider Foorboard Inserts (50187-96). I plan to pick them up this Saturday during our HOG chapter meeting time as we get 10% off at the dealer!!

Did 70 miles today from Flat Rock to Robious Road to Cosby Road to Cartersville and back on SR 13. The footboard did great!

So far it has been easy to get several nice rides in for the winter months in Richmond. Hope that will continue for the rest of February. There are always some nice days in March. It this weather continues I might have to look at a ride down to Daytona for the spring bike week in March!!