The 2020 NT Gathering - Cairo, WV [CANCELLED]
- Thread starter DirtFlier
- Start date
Thanks for the link! I found it interesting that PA is closing all their rest areas on PA highways. They are going to barricade the entrances/exits. So I guess it's OK now to pull over and pee along side the road like we used to do in the good old days when I was a pup.
Mike
Well they had to pick a number.
1 would work a lot better than 10 but it would be really unpopular! 
I can tell you exactly how that works. I live adjacent to what was a Wisconsin Wayside (roadside rest stop) with a hand pump and pit toilet. The State decided it was too expensive to maintain so they closed it by locking the doors, removing the pump handle and trash cans. The woods adjacent to the "closed" facility quickly became littered with trash bags and dabs of toilet paper that we call "tourist Lillies". And there were piles of human and dog excrement and syringes with needles too. It was a thoughtless and irresponsible action on the part of the State. When people got to go they got to go.
Now our township has taken ownership of the "non-facility". They have removed the outhouse and placed a dumpster there for a few years. The dumpster overflowed regularly and the bears and coons scattered the refuse everywhere. People put their waste in that dumpster because other options required payment. So the mess persisted but changed in character.
Now the dumpster is removed but the abuse continues. I have witnessed drug deals going on there and at times folks with RV pull in there for the night and some drain their waste tanks before leaving. It is a pretty rural area with little or no LE patrol so human behavior is pretty bad.
On the good side I have met some real nice motorcyclists who pulled in for a roadside beak there. Even some NTs. It is interesting the bikes are mostly touring bikes and few Harleys. I guess because no beer is served there.
In my youth when we travelled as a family there were no Interstate highways, so we used the US Highway system to get to our destinations. On most US highways and major state routes there were the wayside rest areas as you mention. I used to love to stop at them and find a convenient tree to pee upon and then go explore the area. There was always a shaded area with picnic tables and usually a stream, river or lake nearby. We never ate lunches at restaurants, just took a picnic lunch and waited for a wayside. Some of the fancier waysides had an outhouse which we could use if the need arose. Usually however there was the requisite battle with the local wasps over ownership of said facility. To this day I have very fond memories of family travel in the back of our Ford station wagons and when I take my motorcycle safaris I try if at all possible to use the US Highway system and make use of the now pretty infrequent waysides as rest stops.
Mike
OP
OP
Out west, which means beyond the Big Muddy to me, the US highway system is great with only a few exceptions. In OH and IN, Highways 30 ("Lincoln Hwy") and 40 ("National Road") are way too built-up to make any speed at all on a trip. The latter often goes directly into a metropolis and disappears until you get to the far side of the city. Along the way on both, you'll often see remnants of another time - motels and diners proclaiming "EAT" that died after the interstate hwy system was developed.
Crossing OH, Hwy 40 is mostly flat and featureless but I've been on sections of 40 in Maryland that were great with lots of curves and up-and-down sections that seemed to go on forever.
Crossing OH, Hwy 40 is mostly flat and featureless but I've been on sections of 40 in Maryland that were great with lots of curves and up-and-down sections that seemed to go on forever.
Even though you can't "make time" thru those congested areas I still like to travel thru them. If you use your imagination a bit, you can see how things once were.Out west, which means beyond the Big Muddy to me, the US highway system is great with only a few exceptions. In OH and IN, Highways 30 ("Lincoln Hwy") and 40 ("National Road") are way too built-up to make any speed at all on a trip. The latter often goes directly into a metropolis and disappears until you get to the far side of the city. Along the way on both, you'll often see remnants of another time - motels and diners proclaiming "EAT" that died after the interstate hwy system was developed.
Crossing OH, Hwy 40 is mostly flat and featureless but I've been on sections of 40 in Maryland that were great with lots of curves and up-and-down sections that seemed to go on forever.
Mike
Warren
2
I lived in Vandalia, Oh for 9 years (2000-2009) The National Road went right through town. I enjoyed riding on it with my XS650 alternating directions whenever I had a free afternoon. There are a few books available on its history which adds context to the ride. Like Mike I would imagine what it was once like to ride on it before I70 was built and life bypassed it. I still prefer riding on these old two lane highways and can't remember the last time I rode a motorcycle any distance on an expressway.
I planned a cross country trip on backroads and looked at a few routes and to me it looked like US 50 was mostly intact compared to the other routes, also a plus it goes through Cincinnati. Some day I'll head to California on it.
US 50 is still a great US Highway and my home town is right on it! Out west is where it gets really entertaining and lonely. I've pretty much travelled it coast to coast but never in a single trip. I'm thinking that if Canada is still closed this summer when I do my four corners ride, I might try to take US 2 across the northern tier of states.
Mike
Mike
I used to ride it a lot on my way to St.Louis back it the 80's unfortunately since then its all divide 4 lane in Illinois and goes around some of them ole towns(still beats the Interstate). Mike if I ever do get to do my US 50 trip I'll make sure to stop by and maybe plan to ride some of it together.
50 west of I-135 is one of my very favorite highways. Across Colorado, Utah, and Nevada it's absolutely magnificent. I haven't ridden (or even driven any of it) in California or eastern Kansas or Missouri. Mike Simmons and I rode it from St Louis to Seymour, IN, and then I stayed on it most of the way to the WV Rally in '17.
Right before Seymour, there was a GREAT stretch thru Hoosier National Forest. I rode thru it again, this time westbound, on a ride back from my sons in OH.
Mike
Mike, if you do US-2 (which is a whole lot of flat and empty in some places), try to do the stretch from Minot to Williston at night. The gas flares from the Bakken oil field light up the night!
Sounds interesting Phil, ceptin' my old eyes work not so good at night any more. I try to confine my after dark driving to areas I'm familiar with. My eye doc sez that my night vision will improve somewhat when I have cataract surgery but I'm not ready for that yet.
MIke
OP
OP
I've now had cataract surgery on both eyes, 2 yrs apart, and the recovery time from both was only a few days each with no discomfort. You have to wear a protective eye patch for a few days but other than that, not anything special. My night vision did improve greatly and also my ability to see colors improved! The surgery only takes about 20-minutes!
If you can get Medicare to pay for it, do it. Tell your eye doctor that you've stopped driving at night and that'll do it!
If you can get Medicare to pay for it, do it. Tell your eye doctor that you've stopped driving at night and that'll do it!
When I had my cataract surgery this winter, I wore an eye patch for about 24 hours, but slept with one for a week. I never had any pain, but did have some itchiness in one eye for a few hours. I was absolutely amazed at how bright things were and how much more intense colors were. My astigmatism is almost completely gone in both eyes. I do see some "flares" with my left eye. Flares is a term I've invented to explain the rays that seem to be at about 20 degrees to the horizon and higher on the left than the right when look at bright lights, mainly at night. and occasionally I see tiny little transparent floaters with my right eye. My surgeon said that the flares are a result of wrinkles in the bag the new lens is in and usually go away within 6 months. If not, he can zap it with a laser and fix that. He says the floaters can also be zapped and fixed. All in all, it's been amazing. I read somewhere that cataract surgery is now the most successful operation the world has ever known.
Just noticed that West Virginia has closed the lodges at State Parks and State Forests, but campgrounds and cabins remain open. No indication of the duration of the closure for the lodges.