#ATV Leaf-Peep & #Railfan Site Scouting! It's fall, y'all!

Now!

Next month!

This week hubs and I did a wonderful, easy ATV ride through the mountains to scout out the best places to "leaf peep" in October. Because it's gloriously LEGAL to ride ATVs on our roads here in McDowell County, WV, we  rode right from the Elkhorn Inn in Landgraff, WV, all the way to Lashmeet! It was a long, lovely ride, and although it is fall now, it was warm enough to wear sweatshirts, and our mountains are still 80% green! The best  leaf-peeing here is in October, and the foliage here is usually beautiful all the way through Halloween! (We often get calls at the Inn asking what the best weekend for leaf-peeping will be, and if I knew the anawer to that question I'd be a Very rich woman! We get similar calls in the winter, asking which spring weekend will be best to see the Rhododendrons flower! I wish I knew! Like the cherry blossoms in Japan, foliage and flowers are a giant Mother Nature Crap Shoot! LOL)

We rode from the Elkhorn Inn through Eckman, WV stopping first to take some photos of one of Sky's great new organic farms, which is literally one minute from the Inn. What was once an unsightly field of overgrown weeds is now squash and corn and beans, thanks to Sky and "McDowell County Farms"! :-)

 As you can see, our mountains have Just started to change color! Wait 'till next month!!











Then we rode through Crumpler, WV...

 And started riding 'round and 'round, up into the mountains...
See- it really IS still green!

Looking down to where we started!

Bear Town Church, Herndon, WV

  

 One of THE most gorgeous "leaf-peeping lookouts" we know of in Herndon, WV! Wait 'till next month!

Turkeys in the yard!

Herndon, WV

 Another gorgeous "leaf-peeping lookout" for October...

Dan feeding "Cheetos Dog"!

We found some great "railfan photo spots" along the way, too; these were near Giatto, WV.

An old RR line...

Elisse, at a great "railfan" photo spot!

Made it to Matoaka!

Another great railfan photo spot...

Lashmeet, WV: Pizza and Hoagies!

After Matoaka, we kept going to Lashmeet, WV, but just as we got there it began to drizzle! Fortunately, it was 4pm, and the Pizza/Hoagie place was just opening up for the evening, so we ran inside and had hoagies! And the rain passed us by!

On the way home... wait 'til next month!

On the way home, we stopped to take photos of some of the fall decorations in Keystone, WV...

Keystone, WV

Our last stop of the day was above our Theatre, where Dan took me to pick the cattails that I love to have to decorate the Inn in the fall!

Dan found THE Mother-lode of Cattails!

Then we came home, and DIY Dan decorated the Ekhorn Inn with garlands of leaves and wreaths and scarecrows- 'cause it's fall, y'all! :-)