Moseying around. Mostly pictures.

[john fish]

Lots of time to ride this year so I've been just moseying around and taking pictures a lot more than usual.  In the past, there always seemed to be a schedule to meet and I never took the time to take the picture.  This year, I've slowed down a lot and will even turn around to grab a shot.

This is on the way to St George WV.  It's my back way down to the Blackwater Falls area that Charlie posted about.  Tradition demands a photo.



That's my new-to-me '03 Stone.  The hydro engine is really a wonderful thing.  Quieter and smoother than the engine in my Jackal.  This year, I've been stopping for a sandwich (It's been an Italian hoagie-fest) and finding someplace nice to eat.  This day, I stopped at a cemetery in Maryland with a lovely view.



This one stopped me in my tracks.  It was that little tractor that did it. 



Naturally, I routed this trip past CandyLand.  Yes, bulk purchases of candy.  Good think I was on the bike and not in my truck.  Really, this is a dangerous and wonderful market.



The following are from a different ride.  Summer started wet here and then the heat rolled in.  No rain does make for nice riding but my tomatoes have been slow to ripen. 

I love these old building sized advertisements.  And that old Jeep is still being used as an Auto parts delivery vehicle in Grafton, WV.



I had to take this shot because that white square at the top of that tower is a pair of doors.  I think this is the county courthouse in Grafton and who they escort out those doors is a puzzle.



A bit of folk art on, I believe, 250 South in WV.



This particular 340 mile ride did have a goal.  In Buckeye WV, my favorite all-time bookstore.  And I've been in a lot of bookstores.



This is an old rundown and musty bookshop but this room is what bookstores are supposed to look like.

[john fish]

Hope you don't mind.  I'm just bored and going through some old photos on FB.  This ride was last weekend.  I've mostly ignored these little roads local to me but lately I've loved exploring the little towns.  Sad towns mostly as a lot of the industry is now lost.

These two remarkable homes are next to each other on a hillside in Cameron, WV.  There is no backyard, just a huge cement retaining wall with humbler homes above.





I love these old buildings, especially the banks and Masonic temples.  Here's the bank. 



Still in Cameron.  I don't think I've seen one of these signs in town before.



I wish it weren't Sunday.  Maybe someone would have been around for me to ask just what's going on here.  An old storefront with what looks like old merchandise.  Old radios in the other window.



The veteran's memorial is next to the old train depot and is well kept.



Here's the old Masonic Temple.





Another remarkable, and remarkably well-kept, estate on the way out of town.



Got a hoagie at the pizza joint in Cameron and stopped at another cemetery for lunch.  This time, I had company.

[john fish]

A different ride because who couldn't ride to Jollytown?  Not me.



Just stumbled on that sign when I was out on the farm roads.  Followed and found a nice little memorial in a very small town serviced by a hard pack road.




Who knows about Civil War Artillery?  What are these.  For some reason, I think the cannon looking thing is actually called a rifle.  The little squat pots are mortars, I assume, but I'd love to know more about them.










In the village of Hundred.  I've never seen two churches so close to one another.





A very rundown town indeed and here is the old Masonic Temple.  Looks like it was once the nicest building in town.




And just one last shot.  These tunnels are right off of a road that I've been on many times and I've never seen them before.  Just moseying along has let me notice quite a bit more than I used to.




Thanks for putting up with me.  Not very good photos but I enjoyed taking them.  Having a little extra time this year has let me realize just how much I enjoy riding and exploring. 

[oldbike54]

 

 Great bookstore .

 Dusty

[john fish]

The photos aren't visible to me for some reason.

They're links to FB photos.  I think we had this issue before and it resolved itself.  I hope so, anyway.

[Ncdan]

Thanks guys for the pictures as I enjoyed every one👍

[Daniel Kalal]

a nice collection of out-and-about photographs.  Thanks, all.

[poorBob]

I lived in Pittsburgh for eight years and used to ride that area of West Virginia regularly. 88 down thru Bethany to Wheeling, 250 out of Wheeling thru Hundred, used to have lunch in New Martinsville and then cross the river and ride into Ohio before heading back to the burgh.

These pictures bring back a lot of memories. Thank you for posting them.

[80CX100]

I had to take this shot because that white square at the top of that tower is a pair of doors.  I think this is the county courthouse in Grafton and who they escort out those doors is a puzzle.

     When I first saw this photo, I thought it was an elaborate, well constructed gallows, which didn't seem to make sense;

     I'm thinking that with the high quality of construction and height, that building probably also housed the fire dept at one time and the fire hoses were probably hung to dry from there before rolling them up and storing them. Just a wag.

     Beautiful photos and history,tks for sharing

     Kelly

[Gliderjohn]

Very nice, thanks.
GliderJohn

[john fish]

     
     I'm thinking that with the high quality of construction and height, that building probably also housed the fire dept at one time and the fire hoses were probably hung to dry from there before rolling them up and storing them. Just a wag.

     Kelly

I like it.  Sounds brilliant and reasonable.   

And don't worry, I won't keep this thread going but I went out and found another hoagie and another masonic temple.  With a colonial mansion to boot. 

The mansion isn't far from me.  I've heard his name before but never knew who he was.





Looks like Albert knew how to live.  Quite the home in the Western Wilderness.





I love second story porches and Al had the same idea.  I suppose pre-AC these high porches could be used for sleeping, too.







Masonic Temple still in use in Masontown, Pennsylvania.  That's Harry's Grocery on the first floor on the left.  I stopped in for a Gatorade and found Harry at the cash register.  Harry's a garrulous soul and I found out that he had a family history in the Mason's but was just too busy himself to join.  Iirc, one has to be invited to join the Masons, so maybe no one invited him.  :)



And no, Masontown wasn't named for the Masons.



I got an Italian Hoagie at Paesanos.  Good sammich for under $8.  And here's main street in Masontown.  You know a place is in decline when the gyms and tanning salons invade the storefronts.



And this is a picture that just needed taking.  Pick up a Glock while Buffy is getting a trim and her anal glands expressed.  I should have stopped and got a pic of the Ice Cream/Gun shop in Morgantown WV for a twofer but just wasn't thinking.



Today's hoagie.  Eaten at a pavilion overlooking a local wetlands reclamation project.  How do you keep people from ruining your nice little pavilion?  Provide no parking and no path.     I parked along the berm.  It would be a nice place to spend some time with a spotting scope for birdspotting.






Parking.




There's some birds out there somewhere.



Got home a little after noon and a little before the thermometer hit 90 Fahrenheit.  Man, I just don't have a lot of heat tolerance anymore.

[PJPR01]

Great tour pictorial!  Enjoyed that!

[Sykestone8886]

Nice pics !! Its a shame that all these little Burghs have fallen by the wayside. When I was a youngster we had everything we needed right in town, hardwares grocery store gas stations movie theatre etc etc. now it's like a ghost town. You hav to travel 10 miles to get anything. Like the saying goes, the high cost of low prices.

[larrys]

a hard pack road.


Who knows about Civil War Artillery?  What are these.  For some reason, I think the cannon looking thing is actually called a rifle.  The little squat pots are mortars, I assume, but I'd love to know more about them.

I think that's just a smoothbore cannon. The 1861 3" ordnance rifles have a different barrel and breech profile.
Larry

[Texas Turnip]

John,
Thanks for posting the photos as I'm still not on a Guzzi after suffering from 15 broken bones in the m/c wreck. My last name is Hand and many years ago I searched and found the town of Left Hand, WV. The locals were not impolite, but apprehensive about someone with Texas plates being in their backyard.

Tex

[Lannis]

Our own "John in PA" (Wells) is actually a Civil War gunner, owns Parrott rifled cannon and smoothbores and shoots them at long-range targets.   If he sees the post, he could tell you all about them, lock, stock, and barrel (to coin a phrase).

Lannis

[john fish]

Sykestone8886 --     the high cost of low prices.
Ain't that the truth.  A lot of destruction can be laid at the feet of Wal-Mart and other superstores.  They lie like cancers on the outskirts of a lot of these little towns.  Of course, the choice to patronize those stores was a personal choice.
----------------------------------------------------

I think that's just a smoothbore cannon. The 1861 3" ordnance rifles have a different barrel and breech profile.
Larry

Our own "John in PA" (Wells) is actually a Civil War gunner, owns Parrott rifled cannon and smoothbores and shoots them at long-range targets.   If he sees the post, he could tell you all about them, lock, stock, and barrel (to coin a phrase).
Lannis

Thanks, fellas.  My knowledge of Civil War artillery is based on some informational plaques seen at Gettysburg and lodged in a booze soaked memory.  John in PA hasn't been active lately so I sent him a PM pleading for assistance.
-----------------------

John,
Thanks for posting the photos as I'm still not on a Guzzi after suffering from 15 broken bones in the m/c wreck. My last name is Hand and many years ago I searched and found the town of Left Hand, WV. The locals were not impolite, but apprehensive about someone with Texas plates being in their backyard.
Tex

Damn man, heal soon.   I looked up Hand, WV.  Some great riding country down there.  In fact, that's the general area where my 'shine comes from.   

[Lannis]

US 250 is my route to Ohio on a bike (usually an old BSA) for MidOhio and the Ohio Vally BSA Owner's Club rallies.

I've gotten to know that stretch of 250 from Churchville, VA to Moundsville, OH pretty well, and watched it change over the last 25 years.   Watched Littleton (the one with the old stone bank building) deteriorate completely into a meth-and-oxy center, poorest town in WV and highest crime rate .... watched Elkins grow from a small town to a big spread-out center of WalMarts, 4-wheeler dealers, and you can't get a motel room any more just passing through, they're booked solid forever for the gas field and pipeline workers.

I USED to stop in Cameron on every trip through, take a break at the gas station, maybe get an ice cream cone across the street.  But it's gotten a bit scary lately.   Last time I was there, I got some evil looks from pierced guys wearing gay-themed shirts who were strutting around like the town bullies.   I'm not personally scared of them, just don't want to have a nice trip interrupted by an enforced visit to a possibly unsympathetic Marshall County magistrate to have to try to explain things.   

There's way too many beat up looking buildings in contrast to all the new 4WD F350 duallies from gas-field money, although I must say that if there's a Cameron Chamber of Commerce, your photo album should be their main flyer advert!

Been a year or more ... I'll stop next time I have a reason to go through ....

Lannis

[john fish]

You might want to route yourself through Sisterville, WV instead.  I rode through there today and stumbled upon a guy washing his cars to get them ready to sell.  He's also getting his house ready to sell because he's moving to Florida. 

I only got pictures of one of the cars for sale.  It's one of the last coachbuilt Packards.  1941



Nice fellow.  Name of Joe.  Lives here for now.



I think Joe told me the house was built in 1921 by the fellow who owned Wiser Oil.  40,000 sp/ft and was once the largest house in WV.   He wants $45,000 for the car.  $25,000 for the one in the garage.  I didn't ask how much for the house.  And yes, I'm serious, this stuff is for sale.

Cool garage, too.

[BillinPA]

Nice pictures John,  I recognize some of places. Lots of good riding and sight seeing in that atea!

[Lannis]

That old coachbuilt Packard sounds like a lot of fun!

"Zillow" says the mansion was listed for $431,000 but is off the market now ..... I'd hate to have to pay the heating bill for that place ...

Lannis