More good Virginia weather for a Stelvio ride!

[Lannis]

So Fay and I went on another “Fall Virginia Ride” today.   One great thing about retirement is that if you take a notion to ride somewhere on a lovely fall day, you just do it.

We decided to head down to the Renan community in Pittsylvania County.   Fay’s great-great-grandfather Henry Anderson Brumfield, who marched with Lee’s army and stacked his arms at Appomattox, petitioned the government for a post office here around 1900 and named it Renan.

Henry is buried here in the family graveyard:



I always have to stop and wave to a train if I see one coming …. The engineers still wave back!



We also stopped at Fay’s grandmother’s ancestral home at Whittle’s Station, the old Bennett place.  Nobody lives there now but the family is keeping it up nicely:



Old farm shed out back:



Got on a dirt road somewhere near where you fall off the face of the earth:



People used to live here in a community, years ago:



But it looks like we’re riding up on signs of civilization – an old grist mill:



And it’s the old Mt. Airy mill or “Johnson’s Mill” as it was called – you can see the mill dam in the background.



We really got onto some “green lanes” as we searched for old family cemeteries – the Stelvio is good for that:



A farm shed from who know when.   Probably late 1800s.



And finally, back in the woods, we fetch up on the old Brumfield place, where Fay’s great-grandma was born.   Eighty cords of wood were used to fire 125,000 bricks in 1887 to build the place, from clay dug on the property.   Nobody living there now, but someone’s keeping it up nicely.  Grass had just been cut:



This old farm is a “shooting preserve” now … wonder if they make more money than tobacco used to bring in … ?



At any rate, a really nice day out, about 200 miles of riding.   Time to start thinking about roller tappets rather than riding, #&$^%@*!

Lannis

[buster1]

Super nice. Good job

[nick949]

Nice tour Lannis. Too bad someone isn't living in that lovely brick house. It looks like it needs a family.

Nick

[PJPR01]

Nice pics and ride...

Is the exhaust on the Stelvio stock by the way?

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

I need to come down there and have you "tour guide" me around. Look like some very interesting backroads...

[Bill Hagan]

So Fay and I went on another �Fall Virginia Ride� today.   One great thing about retirement is that if you take a notion to ride somewhere on a lovely fall day, you just do it.

****

At any rate, a really nice day out, about 200 miles of riding.   Time to start thinking about roller tappets rather than riding, #&$^%@*!

Lannis

Very nice photoessay, Lannis.

Kathi and I had that same "notion" about riding and did it this week, too.  We went north, on some roads that were new to us ... but probably ho-hum to Charlie Mullendore. You get all sorts of points for finding roads that impress him.   

Anyway, here are two pix, taken on Big Cove Tannery Road (CR 928) where it crosses Licking Creek at Dickey's Mountain -- https://goo.gl/maps/8nmFuoctvCt -- that are representative of our day ride:







After that fine time, we had our "this time we really mean it's our last G&T's of the season."   





Kathi likes to fruit 'em up.  Enough gin and I can overlook the sissy part.   


And, yes, it's time to rollerize.  Riding mine out to Rose Farm Classics for that later this month.  Yes, brrrrrr. 

Thanks for those great pix of the way it once was.

Bill

[Green1000S]

Awesome... Great pics and story!

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

We went north, on some roads that were new to us ... but probably ho-hum to Charlie Mullendore. You get all sorts of points for finding roads that impress him.   

Yep, been there, rode that (couple of times this year).  Always good fun.

[Lannis]

Nice pics and ride...

Is the exhaust on the Stelvio stock by the way?

Yes, stock exhaust.   An accessory one might be lighter, but I like quiet!

Lannis

[Bob Wegman]

Thanks for the pictures Lannis and Bill.  Looks like a great time was had by you both and your special pillion riders.

[Lannis]

Thanks for the pictures Lannis and Bill.  Looks like a great time was had by you both and your special pillion riders.

If it weren't for Fay there wouldn't be any pictures; she's the one who takes them all!

Charlie, you're welcome to come down any time and we can ride the kinds of roads you like .....

Lannis

[wrbix]

Great pics...nice tour.

Makes me look forward even more to our imminent move back to VA - house in Saltville just about ready to accept re-occupancy. Lots of roads to explore in that area. Lots of trout streams to be waded.

Perhaps see you on the road. 

[Bonafide Bob]

Great write up and pictures, Thanks for sharing.
Bob

[Bill Hagan]

Great pics...nice tour.

Makes me look forward even more to our imminent move back to VA - house in Saltville just about ready to accept re-occupancy. Lots of roads to explore in that area. Lots of trout streams to be waded.

Perhaps see you on the road. 

Saltville?

Good for you.  What a neat part of the world.

Am through there frequently, as I like to take SR42 up (or down) the length of Virginia when on our monthly Atlanta runs.  Near Saltville, I pick up SR 91 into vic. Abington.

Recently, took SR 80 south from U.S. 19 to Meadowview, near I-81.  My first time.  Yikes!  What a road. 

Was two-up on the Norge.  Pretty sure I saw my own taillights a few times on those hairpin switchback turns.

https://goo.gl/maps/vzSimDUYvnH2

Anyway, congrats on your return to the Old Dominion from the Palmetto State.

Bill

[wrbix]

Saltville?

Good for you.  What a neat part of the world.

Am through there frequently, as I like to take SR42 up (or down) the length of Virginia when on our monthly Atlanta runs.  Near Saltville, I pick up SR 91 into vic. Abington.

Recently, took SR 80 south from U.S. 19 to Meadowview, near I-81.  My first time.  Yikes!  What a road. 

Was two-up on the Norge.  Pretty sure I saw my own taillights a few times on those hairpin switchback turns.

https://goo.gl/maps/vzSimDUYvnH2

Anyway, congrats on your return to the Old Dominion from the Palmetto State.

Bill

Bill,
Thanks  - we love the area around SW VA.
Will give SR80 a try, or two.