Historic Rugby and Big South Fork

June 28th, 2003

    The ride went well today. We had a total of 6 people and 5 bikes on the ride. Terry Elmy, John Crittenden and two new riders: Ron Reddick and Ken Weaver joined Debbie and me for the ride through Big South Fork.

    We left Solway and made our first stop in Rugby. The morning was unseasonably cool and we all went into the Harrow Road Café for coffee to warm us up. After a visit to the Rugby Commissary we made our way to Jamestown. We made a fuel stop in Jamestown and got directions to Bacarus Family restaurant. As luck would have it, the restaurant was on the way to BSF. I forgot that we were in the central time zone so when we arrived at the restaurant at 11:20 eastern time we discovered that we had 40 minutes to kill before the restaurant opened at 11:00 central. We swung up to Pickett State Park for a short ride and it put us back at the restaurant just as they opened. This restaurant was a pleasant surprise. The menu was predominantly German cuisine and the food was excellent. I think Ron was especially pleased since he has just returned to the States after spending 18 years in Europe. We discovered that the owner/chef is German born and trained.

    After a huge lunch we made our way into Big South Fork where we stopped at the Obed River. We continued down highway 63 through Huntsville and stopped in Caryville for a short break. After I took a couple of wrong turns we made our way down 25 and back to Solway. Total distance traveled was approximately 186 miles.

Bobby Smith