Thursday turned out to be a rainy, unsettled day in Pittsburgh. As my departure time drew near, I noticed that I might get to thread the needle down I-79 during a break in the rain. Although it was raining pretty hard when I left work, it tapered off in about 15 minutes and by the time I hit Washington, PA it was starting to show signs of sun. That was short lived however and the rain returned as I passed Morgantown. I got stuck in a construction-related traffic jam near Fairmont as the rain picked up. Few thing suck more than sitting stopped in a traffic jam in the rain on a cool day. So I cut across the grassy median strip and rode the wrong way on the highway for a tiny bit (on the shoulder) to get to an exit ramp.

A nice lady at a gas station gave me directions over the hill to a route I knew into Grafton. 310 wasn't on my itinerary this trip, but I was glad to take it. It's a fun little rollercoaster of a road between Fairmont and Grafton. It can be hit-or-miss on traffic though. I managed to have some fun with it despite it raining and some traffic.

Once in Grafton, I grabbed 119 to Phillipi, then 250 into Elkins, then 219 south past Huttonville toward Snowshoe. The rain let up by Elkins and roads were drying out a bit. Too bad traffic was heavy to Huttonville. Had a nice time on 219 south of Huttonville until I got to Valley Head. The normally clean road was polluted with gravel all the way to jct 66. This wasn't just a little pile in the center of the lane on right-hander type gravel. This covering both lanes like a marble truck had overturned type gravel. Scary stuff.

I finally made it to route 66 and the twisty access road up to Snowshoe. I stopped to take a few pics near the top of some forest rats hanging out on the side of the road and the wonderful view from the top of the mountain. It's quite a bit higher in elevation than 219. Check out the beams of light cutting through the clouds.

I found kam and rich at the condo. They had arrived a little before me and were still in riding gear. We had a beer and some munchies, then wandered over to the only open restaurant (mid-week) on the mountain. Had a great sandwich, then retired to the condo to talk bikes and watch the 2003? Isle of Man TT race on DVD.

Some really drunk woman showed up at the condo wanting to use the phone while we were hanging out. Too drunk to dial a phone. She thought she had a hot date and was dropped off at the wrong address or something. After a bit of trying and promising to "make it worth his while", she eventually got someone to come get her. Weird.

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