Lovely local and country roads to the middle of nowhere, Marlinton, West Virginia.
A lovely day of driving local country and back roads from Kingsport, Tennessee darting in and out of Virginia and West Virginia, and I’m not sure exactly how many times I passed from one state to the other, but I am now in Marlinton, West Virginia for the night, staying at the Marlinton Motor Inn. This seemed one of the very few options I could swing when finding a place to stay in the area, and it is really out of the way, tucked into the Allegheny Mountains. It’s an old style and classic “Motor Inn,” dating back to 1964, but pretty nice for an inexpensive overnight in the middle of nowhere. They even still use actual keys for the guest room doors.
It is remote here in Marlinton…. and cold. It was 47 degrees when I arrived, with a gusty wind, and will drop to 27 degrees overnight. Brrr!
The day was great. Even though I’m on that deadline to get back home, I nevertheless want to enjoy the journey as much as time allows, and avoid those interstates, which speed up the journey but numb the brain. I left Kingsport around 10 am, with decent weather, which stayed decent pretty much all day, until it started to get dark, and quickly cooled down. I took local and back country roads the entire way, enjoying the scenery around me, varying between meadow lands, rolling hills, mountains, and rivers and streams, with small (and not so small) towns along the way, although I bypassed these, as I had a ways to go. The entire journey was only 260 miles or so, but took about 6½ hours.
The views were pastoral and serene, classic Appalachian Valley
The journey north east to Covington, Virginia, was very pretty, with beautiful and at time dramatic scenery, and took up about 200 miles of the journey today, and around 4 hours.
And then I headed north on route 202, which is a stunning drive, beginning in the Jackson River Valley and tucked into the Appalachian Mountain range, increasingly become more mountainous as the route enters the Allegheny Highlands. It is a wonderful road, but dangerous unless exercising care and paying attention, as it is very twisty, with many curves, and some switchbacks, which can be sudden and definitely dangerous, although, happily, the road is well maintained. It is a great road, as is route 219, making for great driving, and great motorcycle riding, but also a great road for crashing a bike. If I were riding these mountain roads on a bike, I would most definitely be extremely cautious and regulate my speed. The twists are frequent, fast, come up on you quickly, and in many cases are long winding curves that require constant leaning if on a motorcycle, and if you don’t commit to these curves fully, not losing your nerve as you go around them, you’ll wind up crashing. So caution and safe speeds. Nonetheless, these are motorcycle roads.
Unfortunately, there is no way to easily pull over on 220, and no way to safely take photos. Too bad. Those long winding curves going around the mountains would make for some great shots.
In 1976, when I rode a motorcycle across country, the first leg of that journey took me from Washington, DC and through some thrilling and wonderful rides along winding mountain roads and through small towns in Virginia and West Virginia. Ever since then, I’ve tried to remember which way I went, so I might replicate that journey someday. I tried that last year when I left Washington once again, heading west, and had a wonderful drive on the beautiful Skyline Drive and then the Blue Ridge Parkway(which are essentially the same long road, as one begins exactly where the other ends), at first thinking maybe that was the way I’d ridden in 1976. It wasn’t.
But today’s journey through Virginia and West Virginia captures the same quality and experience of that 1976 trip, and perhaps is even close to being the actual route I took, although today was a bit too far off the beaten path to be the same route. At any rate, it certainly comes the closest to matching my experience back back then. And there’s more to come tomorrow as I head further north into Virginia and West Virginia, and then Pennsylvania.
I finally reached Marlinton, a small town nestled in the Allegheny Mountains, which, in turn, is part of the Appalachians Mountain range. Not much to it, but, then again, it does have a population of less than 1,000 people. The photo seems to more-or-less capture it all. And then out another few miles to the Marlinton Motor Inn.
Tomorrow night, I’m actually not sure where I’ll be staying. I want to again enjoy my drive and will continue on these back and local roads until reaching Winchester, Virginia, and then figure out just how far north I can get as I enter Pennsylvania. I have to be back on Tuesday, so tomorrow night is my last night on the road, and has to be far enough north that I can comfortably drive home on Tuesday. I’m not exactly sure how far I’ll be able to get tomorrow, but at least to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I’ll hopefully be able book a place to stay at the last minute.
