West Virginia

We entered West Virginia on Nov 9, via the rail trail from Point Marion.

Before that, we got stopped in the middle of nowhere by some strange looking people in a crappy looking old T-bird. The scary looking man in the passenger seat opened his door while it was still moving and asked me: “where you going?”…I’m alive to tell the story, so I got out of that one ok…it ends up they heard about me on FB and they wanted to know if I needed anything! We got to Morgantown and exited the rail trail right by a Sheetz. I grabbed some wifi from across the street, got my contact info, then found a place to park my ride. I went inside and then had to be taught how to order on their computers. I ate a bunch of food then got ready for the crazy busy 4 lane bridge crossing. Before going up another busy street until I got to my side road. Roxy outperformed my expectations, showing off for the thousands of people in cars. We made it to our destination an hour later and waited for our hosts to show up.

That night was cold, and the next morning was as well. We we in valleys, helping protecting us from the stiff wind. It snowed a tiny bit that day. We made it barrackville and that weekend gave Roxy a much needed 2 day rest at a team penning arena.

We carried on south towards Clarksburg and had a nice visit with Adam, a civil war reinactment horse rider. Then off south of Clarksburg to another riding arena. After getting lost once and bush whacking, I then took the way my MAPS.me map program said, and ended up st the doors of an absolutely masive FBI center. Oops…Detoured, I then spent a lot of time on busy roads, and so Roxy started giving it. We made it safely to Isaac Lopez Arena after a very long and tiring day.

Day off then west on 2 more hard days before a massive wind and rain storm. These two days were on the north bend rail trail, where we crossed thru many tunnels, including one 2300 feet long. And a mini one that I had to duck in and my backpack still hit the ceiling.

We made it for another day off at a wonderful farm near Harrisville. Had the best visit ever with Mary Ann and Dan. I left with a neighbor and new friend John on Sunday to go further west and we did some great trail riding before getting back on the rail trail.

I made it to my stop in Petroleum and we decided to not ride the first day of gun season. I watched lots of movies on my day off in Buddy’s extra house.

We moved out on Tuesday and made it to Elizabeth, where I was greeted by Rick and his daughter with water and feed. I met their awesome family then went out to Golden Corral. All my traveling food fantasies were satisfied in that one meal that night. Thanks Rick! We carried on to the Y, then the next day carried on and camped out behind the Lions Club near Keena on Thanksgiving. We left incognito at 7 the next morning and made it too far the next day, to west of Winfield. This was Friday. We had pounded out 4 days in a row in awesome weather and we wanted and needed a rest. The roads had been windy, but the weather had been perfect.

The trip thru West Virginia was hard and fast. We upped our daily miles dramatically and rode some long days. Roxy only got stronger. She cantered freely 3 mornings in a row when leaving our night spot. By our last day in WV, we had accumulated 960 miles on our trip. I had new Easyboots to be delivered that day or the next in Louisa, Kentucky where I had planned to spend our extra days off at the 1000 mile mark. The boots I was using had 790 miles on them and they had big holes at the front. We had just ran 4 hard days, so I made the decision. No more riding until the new Easyboots are on, as the hooves were now getting a crazy mustang roll trim thru the holes in the front. I called Amy, my host in Louisa 60 miles away, she picked me up and drove us to her place. And that was that and that was West Virginia.

https://www.gofundme.com/Maya-Pedal-Horse-Ride-Fundraiser Our fundraiser for Maya Pedal.