sitting on the back porch in Grafton, WV – photo by Lydia Ness
Ernst and Clay – Photo by Lydia Ness
Thursday July 19 – Bridgeport, WV. Got up at the usually 4am time. Pushed through breakfast and then the ABC’s of getting ready for what was going to be a crazy day (as if they early couple of days weren’t?).
The plan had us heading on US HWY 50 to Romney WV. About 9 miles into the ride we made the decision to pull off the highway and find an alternative route. HWY 50 was had no practical shoulder to ride on and the traffic – logging and coal trucks made it treacherous. We stopped at a farm and were quickly made at home by our hosts – Ernst and Nina. The team sat on their back porch – drank their gracious coffee – had some great conversations. Turns out Ernest and his family were born near here in Grafton, WV and moved to Wakeman, OH (about 30 miles from Ashland) were he farmed for some 44 years before returning to WV.
The decision was made to shuttle through the mountains to a safer highway. Will headed there we passed through Seneca Rocks, a stone formation and on to lunch. We got back on the road after lunch and rode into, via some heavy rain showers Romney, WV.
I wasn’t sadden by our shuttling as there were numerous 9-10% grade descents that even caused the vans brakes to smoke a bit.
There were some other crazy fun times- you’ll have to watch the video below to check them out.
Several of us talked about how its easy for us to make a decision to get out of harms way and move to a convenient starting point. As a team we spent some time, there in Ernest’s driveway praying for the 27 million we ride for…those that don’t have the ability to move to a more convenient place in life…who are held in bondage against their wills.