day 4

...and my butt is sore! 

Had an awesome breakfast at Bob Evans to start out the day and then we headed off for the next part of our adventure.  We are again headed north and our first destination is to be the Mason Dixon line.  We took the interstate for a while until we could get off and work our way west as the Mason Dixon line marker that we were looking for was on Route 2 next to the Ohio River.  We got off on a two lane "improved road"  to get to the latitude and longitude that we had programmed in for the marker.  I will post the road number later so that you can avoid this road.  While we enjoy a good winding two lane road as much as anyone else, this road did not fit that bill.  We rode FOREVER and was really getting nowhere fast. We hit a town called Hundred which we had saw online.  It is the only town in the country with this name.  Pics will  be added later.  From there, we were to get off in the town of Littleton, WV and then the gps had us get off on a gravel road.  We are now creeping down a gravel road with no trespassing signs posted on each side about every 15 feet.  The gps says we have arrived at our destination at this point.  Off to the side, we see something that looks like a marker that is probably one of the line markers but not the one we were looking for.  With the warm welcome of the no trespassing signs, we decided to try to find the one we were looking for instead of risk getting shot in the middle of nowhere.  We make our way back to blacktop and are trying to find our way back to the main road.  I am from small town USA and have been on those backroads and gravel roads and have no issue with that.  However, this was different.  The first house we went past, there were people on the back steps...we wave...nothing.  The second house, someone is outside.  We wave...nothing.  The third house, the same scenerio.  You get the message quickly when you are somewhere you are not wanted.  We found our way back out to the main road of Littleton, WV and will leave you with this thought.  Do not stray from the road there.  The locals do not like it! 

We finally made it to Moundsville, WV and backtracked the twenty miles to where the Mason Dixon line marker we were looking for was really at.  Again, pics to follow.  It is located at the Marshall County line.  Since I am a Marshall U grad, I will not soon forget that.  We made our way back to Moundsville and were trying to make our way on north to Newell, WV.  Unfortunately, the signs are confusing in this area and we ended up crossing over the bridge and was now in Ohio.  No big deal. We thought we would just follow the river up for a while.  I don't know how that I have forgotten this point up until now, probably suppressed it, but the roads in West Virginia are horrible.  There is a joint in the blacktop every few feet on most roads and it beats you too death if you are on the back of a bike.  Not cool!  So, we go into Ohio, and the roads aren't so rough and we decide for my back end that we will stay.  We saw a billboard for a Harley store in Steubenville and decided to check it out.  This ended up being in Wintersville, Oh and the name is Neidengards Harley Davidson.  They are the oldest family owned Harley dealership and they were having a ride in that Monday evening.  We are still waiting on our pics to be loaded on their website.  They were very welcoming and offered us food and beverage. 

We left Neidengards and headed for East Liverpool, Ohio where we were planning to spend the night.  We stopped at a rest stop about eight miles out only to find that the motel that we needed was back in Steubenville.  Backtrack another 18 miles... It was worth it for the king size bed that was awaiting us at the end of this long day.  Yes, all of this happened in one day!