Modern Vespa

It looks like Bonnie and I will be sneaking out next week and riding down to Washington, DC. My quick look at non-highway routes seems to show that wending our way down to US250 and following that over to US50 to DC seems relatively straightforward. It even looks kind of interesting, in a twisty cross-country kind of way.

Anyone have recommendations for or against? Trolls/bridges to avoid? Does the banjo music get too loud along the way?

Thanks!

Owen

(We should be in DC Monday night or Tuesday, just fyi, and I'm sure Bonnie will need some stiff drinks by then.)

Hey Owen! US 50 through West Virginia is a nice road and was popular with the 2008 Cannonballers. Part of it is 4 lanes but it is not an intimidating freeway. There may be some DC people riding home from the Detroit rally this weekend but I'm not sure of arrangements; they may all be driving. You need to catch up with us when you arrive.

US250 through Ohio seemed pretty nice when I was there a few weeks ago. National Pike US40 through PA and MD is also a nice ride.

Rode US50 through WV and it is a great ride! Plenty of twisties in the mountains!

Great. How many twisties? I had my fill going to TN!

Take a look here at Rt 50

http://www.motorcycleroads.us/roads/wv_us50.html

If you get near Logan, OH give me a shout !

Oh excellent. I'm not sure whether the comments on motorcycleroads.us made Bonnie happier or sad though. Thanks for the link! It made me happier.

Hey Owen, Jedi Stefan recommended Lincoln Highway / U.S. 30.

I agree with Brian that US 40 is a nice route. Once you get to I-68 you can stay on US 40 / 144 all the way to Baltimore except for about a 5 mile freeway section at Hancock. I ride that route up to the PVSC camping rally in Ohio each year.

I thought we might have you some company, but I checked and all the peeps in DC who are going to the Detroit rally this weekend are taking a cage.

Oh yeah. Happy happy, joy joy.

I'd really like to take US50, but I think we will take US40 there and see how it goes. With luck, we can go the twisty route on the way home!

I told work today I am taking next week off, we are cleared for takeoff!

Just have to cross all of Ohio....

Lodging acquired, we'll be staying at a bed and breakfast in the Adams Morgan area. Arriving Monday night...

Have a great trip and be safe. Takes lots of pictures and post often.

Sadly, most of the pictures taken have been of us on the side of hwy 250. Owen's bike shredded a drivebelt. We had no other option after a 4 1/2 hour delay, one bike towed off to a dealer, and a rather hefty reservation fee that would be down the drain, but to rent a car and continue on to D.C.

On the bright side, we still get our vacation, Owen's bike is being fixed and we still get to ride home from southern Ohio to Ann Arbor.

Where is your scooter being repaired ?

Given where we broke down, I had AAA Plus RV tow the bike to Vespa North Canton aka AC Motors. They are a new Vespa dealer but seem to have a bit of experience with a number of other scooter brands. I had a belt sent over from Pride of Cleveland and, hopefully, it is being fixed as we type. Terry and his dad (ugh can't remember his name) were quite helpful, even gave us a ride to the airport toget a car and are storing Bonnie's bike as well.

Given this is two belts in two years, I think the J Kosta variator will go up on craigslist and the stock variator will be put back on. I like the performance around town, but eating the belt isn't a good feature. The stock variator never ate a belt, even after 7 or 8 thousand miles.

We broke down a little south of the Midvale exit on US250, by the way. A really nice sculptor, Mark, stopped and sat with us for the hour or two while we worked out the scooter medivac plan. AAA Plus RV turned out to be a fabulous investment too. I never expected to use it, but we were picked up about 45 minutes after I called.

Ah Canton.. pretty far north of me. Glad to hear there's a good dealer up there.

It was a funny spot, two hours from a number of different dealers, most of whom were closed because it was a Monday. Lesson learned, no traveling by scooter on Mondays.

We did have (very slow) internet on the iPhones, so we could pull up the dealer list on the VespaUSA site and find the open ones. No 3G service for ATT south of New Philadelphia it appears.

Bonnie, and Owen, call me and I'll hook you up with scooters. You here yet?

3G sucks down here in the sticks although they've got it in Athens but I'm sure that's because of Ohio University.

I don't know if the Athens Scooter Company in open on Monday. I guess I'll have to check. I know they're not on Sunday.