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Do local Motorcycle "journeys" count? (warning Large post!)
The long Way Home
Riding An Airhead Road (revisited)
(Authors Note: for the uninitiated in Motorcycle lingo, an airhead refer to a series of air cooled horizontial twin cylinder motorcycles made by BMW up until the mid 90's)
No doubt some of you have seen the book A Long Way Round, and may have heard of the movie A Long Way Down, well while you’re all waiting for the musical adaptations to come out, :lol allow me to share another Long Way adventure of a slightly different nature being somewhat closer to home. Yes I know its not nearly as long, but compared to my normal commute of an hour, this afternoon adventure, at slightly over three hours, and thus three times as long still qualifies as “Long”, least in my view. And although its not nearly as impressive as the other Long Way(s), I did do it all by my lonesome, without the benefit of a chase van and film crew and furthermore I did it not on a modern twenty thousand dollar machine, but rather on my trusty 30 year old airhead with 170 some thousands of miles on it, so there!
Since I work so close to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Northern Virginia, almost within spitting distance, on nice days rather than take my normal route home, which is pretty nice in and of itself, since its pretty much traffic free, I’ll instead head west toward the mountains and farming valleys that run parallel and between the Blue Ridge. Many of the roads in the area date back well over a hundred years, or I should say the routes they trace do, and there are many old homes, small towns and churches along the way dating back to those simpler times.
Note that these pictures where taken over several of my afternoon alternate commute rides, but all were taken along one of my various optional routes from work to home.
So without further explanation here is just one of my many Alternate Afternoon Commutes, that comprise my tale of The Long Way Home.
Starting off from work I usually head west on Rt. 50 so we’ll start there, after that its anyone’s guess what roads I’ll take but today I’ll relate one possible route.
About 8 miles from work near Dulles Airport just a bit after Rt. 50 narrows to two lanes is the first old town I pass thru named Aldie. Here is a typical old house one might find in such a town.
The carriage house where the horses and carriage were once kept, now converted into a possible guest house storage area. You can see where the large doors once were located and now concreted in.
Next, a selection of pictures from the old Aldie Mill
An interesting double water wheel drive
A spillway for overflow when the stream was running particularly high
‘cause I like old trees
Look out for that first step!
A detail of the old building, this is more than just an ornament, it is attached to a rod that goes through to the other side of the building just below the floor level. This is a method often employed with old brick buildings to prevent the pressure of the pitched roof tresses pushing out on the walls from causing them (the walls) to bow out. Often times the ornament looks like a star or some other geometric shape; the rods generally run lengthwise with the floor joists, although in this building I noted they ran both ways, (you can see them in some of the other shots of the mill as well), both with the joists and cross-wise to them, which is somewhat unusual, since it means having to drill holes thru all the joists. Note that in many of the old brick and stone homes and buildings dating back 50 or more years the joists are not anchored into the walls, rather the ends are cut at an angle upwards and simply rest in slots in the wall, that way if interior flooring burns causing the floors to collapse, the joists will simply fall out of the slots in the brick leaving the walls standing. Its that lack of internal anchoring that resulted in the employment of said rods. But enough with my architectural dissertations, lets get back to the pictures (or you’ll be saying to yourselves “he should have called it The Long Winded Way Home!” Ha Ha!)
Now for some shots of an old church along my route further down the road, this again is typical of the kind of stone work one finds in the east. (Yes Yes, I know I should have moved the damn sign board!)
Have I ever mentioned I like trees? This is a detail of a vine growing on very old one in the garden of the church above
A tree knot in the root system, taken for no particular reason, though one does not find knots in root systems that often, speaks of the age of the tree...
A garden wall along the side of the road festooned with a flowering vine
Entering Upperville
A garden gate in Upperville
And an old greenhouse just behind the gate above, I suspect this structure could have been a spring house or root cellar at one point
Upperville Library, they either have very small books or no one reads much
After passing thru Aldie, Middleburg, Upperville I think we’ll head toward the tiny, almost non-existent town of Paris along Rt. 50 for a quick stop, if that’s OK with you all?
OK, lets proceed then….
A lone tree in the lonesome little town of Paris
The view from the far end of the main street of Paris, not that it actually Has a Main Street, per se, in fact its just a few houses on a 100 yard dead-end street off of the main road (as I said, it’s a really, really Small town!)
From here I might head back down to Rt. 17 and take any number of roads off that, one possible option is Leads Manor road toward the towns of Hume, Orleans, and Palmers Crossroads and on toward Warrington, Va. So let’s do that, shall we? OK, sounds like a plan to me, here we go…..( I love it when I get no arguments from the Peanut Gallery (as Bozo used to say) Ha Ha!
A creek along Rt 17 that has been rock-lined, the stone work probably dates back at least 100 years, if not more.
Yet another kool tree, this one along Rt. 17 in the same area as the rock-walled stream bed above
Here we see the first section of Leads Manor Rd. The upper section is so narrow that its not even marked with a center line, perfect!
Along the way I will often take a few detours that often lead me to roads like this that usually dead ended as they wound around and up into the foot hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, but that’s OK, as we all know airheads like to mix it up a bit!
A view of yet another road less traveled winding off into the foot hills
Now we get to the lower section of Leads Manor Road that widens out a bit, enough to rate a centerline, but that’s OK Still no traffic!
And finally a last stop for this ride report at Leeds Church, built in 1842 from which the road gets its name as is the case with many of the roads in this area.
The walkway leading up the church from the parking area in front of the Parish House, I love the huge old tree stump, even having been cut, it continues to defy death, seems so fitting for a graveyard, mostly gone, yet not forgotten, it fights on to survive, as if sharing the fight with so many of the old structures along these hidden roads. Like the church that provides shelter for the soul, it to lives on, providing shelter for those creatures that were here long before the church was even erected.
A simple, yet elegant structure, Keep It Simple it seems to declare, how fitting for an Airhead Rider’s stop!
Meanwhile, the structure’s guardian saint stands patiently waiting, inviting those who care to stop to enter and renew their faith while providing nourishment for some forest resident. How can one not stop at such places?
A look inside with reflections of the cemetery in the pane, a combination of two essential elements of such places, a place for reflection and contemplation within its walls and long wooden pews. Simple and unadorned and filled with light, what more can one say?
The graveyard, how far back do these date? Some are so old the carved inscriptions of the names are filled with moss and worn away with time.
A family from the last century lying together in peace in a shaded resting place.
Well, that’s it for today, time to get home and feed the four-legged critters waiting for their dinner; but before I go I’ll leave you with one final view of Leads Manor Road as it opens up again as we head back into the lower farmland areas, civilization and home….Hope you enjoyed riding along, I certainly enjoyed acting as your guide, sorry about all the traffic (you did notice all the tie-ups and traffic we encountered, didn’t you? Ha Ha!) So until next time…..:wave
RM
Riding An Airhead Road (revisited)
(Authors Note: for the uninitiated in Motorcycle lingo, an airhead refer to a series of air cooled horizontial twin cylinder motorcycles made by BMW up until the mid 90's)
No doubt some of you have seen the book A Long Way Round, and may have heard of the movie A Long Way Down, well while you’re all waiting for the musical adaptations to come out, :lol allow me to share another Long Way adventure of a slightly different nature being somewhat closer to home. Yes I know its not nearly as long, but compared to my normal commute of an hour, this afternoon adventure, at slightly over three hours, and thus three times as long still qualifies as “Long”, least in my view. And although its not nearly as impressive as the other Long Way(s), I did do it all by my lonesome, without the benefit of a chase van and film crew and furthermore I did it not on a modern twenty thousand dollar machine, but rather on my trusty 30 year old airhead with 170 some thousands of miles on it, so there!
Since I work so close to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Northern Virginia, almost within spitting distance, on nice days rather than take my normal route home, which is pretty nice in and of itself, since its pretty much traffic free, I’ll instead head west toward the mountains and farming valleys that run parallel and between the Blue Ridge. Many of the roads in the area date back well over a hundred years, or I should say the routes they trace do, and there are many old homes, small towns and churches along the way dating back to those simpler times.
Note that these pictures where taken over several of my afternoon alternate commute rides, but all were taken along one of my various optional routes from work to home.
So without further explanation here is just one of my many Alternate Afternoon Commutes, that comprise my tale of The Long Way Home.
Starting off from work I usually head west on Rt. 50 so we’ll start there, after that its anyone’s guess what roads I’ll take but today I’ll relate one possible route.
About 8 miles from work near Dulles Airport just a bit after Rt. 50 narrows to two lanes is the first old town I pass thru named Aldie. Here is a typical old house one might find in such a town.
The carriage house where the horses and carriage were once kept, now converted into a possible guest house storage area. You can see where the large doors once were located and now concreted in.
Next, a selection of pictures from the old Aldie Mill
An interesting double water wheel drive
A spillway for overflow when the stream was running particularly high
‘cause I like old trees
Look out for that first step!
A detail of the old building, this is more than just an ornament, it is attached to a rod that goes through to the other side of the building just below the floor level. This is a method often employed with old brick buildings to prevent the pressure of the pitched roof tresses pushing out on the walls from causing them (the walls) to bow out. Often times the ornament looks like a star or some other geometric shape; the rods generally run lengthwise with the floor joists, although in this building I noted they ran both ways, (you can see them in some of the other shots of the mill as well), both with the joists and cross-wise to them, which is somewhat unusual, since it means having to drill holes thru all the joists. Note that in many of the old brick and stone homes and buildings dating back 50 or more years the joists are not anchored into the walls, rather the ends are cut at an angle upwards and simply rest in slots in the wall, that way if interior flooring burns causing the floors to collapse, the joists will simply fall out of the slots in the brick leaving the walls standing. Its that lack of internal anchoring that resulted in the employment of said rods. But enough with my architectural dissertations, lets get back to the pictures (or you’ll be saying to yourselves “he should have called it The Long Winded Way Home!” Ha Ha!)
Now for some shots of an old church along my route further down the road, this again is typical of the kind of stone work one finds in the east. (Yes Yes, I know I should have moved the damn sign board!)
Have I ever mentioned I like trees? This is a detail of a vine growing on very old one in the garden of the church above
A tree knot in the root system, taken for no particular reason, though one does not find knots in root systems that often, speaks of the age of the tree...
A garden wall along the side of the road festooned with a flowering vine
Entering Upperville
A garden gate in Upperville
And an old greenhouse just behind the gate above, I suspect this structure could have been a spring house or root cellar at one point
Upperville Library, they either have very small books or no one reads much
After passing thru Aldie, Middleburg, Upperville I think we’ll head toward the tiny, almost non-existent town of Paris along Rt. 50 for a quick stop, if that’s OK with you all?
OK, lets proceed then….
A lone tree in the lonesome little town of Paris
The view from the far end of the main street of Paris, not that it actually Has a Main Street, per se, in fact its just a few houses on a 100 yard dead-end street off of the main road (as I said, it’s a really, really Small town!)
From here I might head back down to Rt. 17 and take any number of roads off that, one possible option is Leads Manor road toward the towns of Hume, Orleans, and Palmers Crossroads and on toward Warrington, Va. So let’s do that, shall we? OK, sounds like a plan to me, here we go…..( I love it when I get no arguments from the Peanut Gallery (as Bozo used to say) Ha Ha!
A creek along Rt 17 that has been rock-lined, the stone work probably dates back at least 100 years, if not more.
Yet another kool tree, this one along Rt. 17 in the same area as the rock-walled stream bed above
Here we see the first section of Leads Manor Rd. The upper section is so narrow that its not even marked with a center line, perfect!
Along the way I will often take a few detours that often lead me to roads like this that usually dead ended as they wound around and up into the foot hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, but that’s OK, as we all know airheads like to mix it up a bit!
A view of yet another road less traveled winding off into the foot hills
Now we get to the lower section of Leads Manor Road that widens out a bit, enough to rate a centerline, but that’s OK Still no traffic!
And finally a last stop for this ride report at Leeds Church, built in 1842 from which the road gets its name as is the case with many of the roads in this area.
The walkway leading up the church from the parking area in front of the Parish House, I love the huge old tree stump, even having been cut, it continues to defy death, seems so fitting for a graveyard, mostly gone, yet not forgotten, it fights on to survive, as if sharing the fight with so many of the old structures along these hidden roads. Like the church that provides shelter for the soul, it to lives on, providing shelter for those creatures that were here long before the church was even erected.
A simple, yet elegant structure, Keep It Simple it seems to declare, how fitting for an Airhead Rider’s stop!
Meanwhile, the structure’s guardian saint stands patiently waiting, inviting those who care to stop to enter and renew their faith while providing nourishment for some forest resident. How can one not stop at such places?
A look inside with reflections of the cemetery in the pane, a combination of two essential elements of such places, a place for reflection and contemplation within its walls and long wooden pews. Simple and unadorned and filled with light, what more can one say?
The graveyard, how far back do these date? Some are so old the carved inscriptions of the names are filled with moss and worn away with time.
A family from the last century lying together in peace in a shaded resting place.
Well, that’s it for today, time to get home and feed the four-legged critters waiting for their dinner; but before I go I’ll leave you with one final view of Leads Manor Road as it opens up again as we head back into the lower farmland areas, civilization and home….Hope you enjoyed riding along, I certainly enjoyed acting as your guide, sorry about all the traffic (you did notice all the tie-ups and traffic we encountered, didn’t you? Ha Ha!) So until next time…..:wave
RM
http://roadrunes.com
"It's better to bite the hand that feeds you, than to feed the hand that bites you" - Me
"It's better to bite the hand that feeds you, than to feed the hand that bites you" - Me
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Comments
Would you believe it was only a three hour ride, but took me nearly six to process the images and document? Ha Ha!
RM
"It's better to bite the hand that feeds you, than to feed the hand that bites you" - Me
— Kevin
My Site, My Book
http://spbdesigns.com
http://gallery.spbdesigns.com
Well, the way I figure it is, we all know what a motorcycle looks like, it the places it takes you (both emotionally and phyically) that turn a simple ride into an adventure, and that is what I try to capture! :lol
RM
"It's better to bite the hand that feeds you, than to feed the hand that bites you" - Me
Plus, I'm kinda partial to the motorcycle.
This was a beautiful write up done a few weeks ago, about a road trip.
http://blog.tylerwinegarner.com/
Good job; I liked it all.
Dave
Alpha 99 & VG, 900x2 & VG; 50mm1.4, CZ135 1.8; CZ16-35 2.8, CZ24-70 2.8, G70-200 2.8, G70-400, Sony TC 1.4, F20, F58, F60.
that's for me to know and for you to ........
(could be I did it all in a studio ala "The moon landing was a fake"
RM
"It's better to bite the hand that feeds you, than to feed the hand that bites you" - Me
Ha ha! Good one.
really! this is kind of like the landing on the Moon when it was filmed at the Universal Studios... right??? + you are so popular amongst other Forums and your Avatar is so small that it would be nice to see what you look like!!! It might matter....:giggle :giggle :giggle
In the meantime... we are in Zion... it is 108 degrees... what in the world are we doing here!!!
Last year we did a road near Sacramento, #89 I believe, 12 miles... 6 hours!
Anyhow... aweomse report of photography...
Be well... Ara & Spirit
My Gallery in progress...
On the road, homeless, with my buddy Spirit...