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Monday, May 09, 2005

It's Monday, Time to Ride.

I have been thinking about becoming a rat

(See Gene's Site: Rat Run)

And what the heck, it's Monday. Before I left home, I checked the Rat Run website to see about any near-by points. I found one about Castles and another involving the Carroll County Courthouse.



So, off I go. The first stop is going to be a "Castle in Progress" I know of on Wade's Gap Road. I found this one with ease as it's a little more than 10 minutes from my house.





Currently the castle is not much more than a rock observation tower and strange underground house. So, I am hoping this stop will count as two points in the Rat Run, a Castle and a Unique House.



Next, I headed for Hillsville to log the Carroll County Courthouse, but decided to take the long way to get there. I took off over Ferrum Mountain Road and then onto Ingramville Road from Ferrum. Hit Fairystone Park Highway from Ingramville down past Philpot Lake. This is where I found a "One Room Schoolhouse". Cool, another point for the Rat Run.






Once I got past the lake, I hit Route 50 and on toward Hillsville. Along Route 58, I passed Lover's Leap Overlook and stopped for a few minutes. During the weekend, lots of motorcycles come past here pretty regularly. During the week, you get a lot of log trucks (Blah!).





After watching one bike and 4 trucks go by, I decided to take off again. Just as I was leaving, 3 rednecks in a pickup truck showed up and started taking pictures of each other at the overlook. I found this amusing as all three males were dressed in camouflage. I just thought it was odd. Anyway, Route 58 to Hillsville where I found the Courthouse without any trouble.





From Hillsville, it was Route 221 North to Floyd. This is where the speed limit is mostly 55 MPH. However, I found that the Vision is happiest cruising at about 80 MPH. Although, the bike was running really well at 80+ MPH, I realized that at that speed on a pretty red, vintage bike would carry a pretty hefty fine if stopped by the local law. So, I backed it off a little. This is also why I didn't take the Blue Ridge Parkway back toward home. 80 MPH in a 45 MPH Zone would be 35 MPH over the Speed Limit. That an even bigger fine.



Route 221 to Franklin Pike in Floyd. Franklin Pike turns into Five Mile Mountain Road and then I am home. About 170 miles and 4 Rat Run points. It's a good day.


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