Moundsville, WV - and FOOD!

"It is important to emphasize that the Adena culture is not the name of any American Indian tribe. We do not know what these people might have called themselves, or how they defined their societal or cultural groups." - Ohio History Central

On any given Sunday, we go for long rides on the motorcycles. On Sunday, June 14th, it was Tiny, Hammerhead, and me that took off for the day. Meanie had a bum motorcycle in the shop, so he couldn't go. 

We took off from our house, and headed toward Struthers to get on OH-170 south. Taking that to OH-14 east and then PA-51 east, we snaked our way to PA-18 south to the ever-popular, always-delicious, better-make-it-two footlongs stop of Bert's Hot Dogs in Burgettstown, PA! Boy, this blog didn't take long to get right to the first food part, did it? 

I don't care what's in a hot dog, these things are freaking desirable and mouthwatering. And when you are traveling with 300+ pound guys, only the most publically-bashed foods are going to be the most wanted! Tiny and I had to make sure that Hammer indeed ordered two footings this time (they both did) because the last time we had to hear Hammer whine the rest of the trip about having ordered only one, and man, shut up already crybaby! LOL

We paired our dogs with delicious chocolate milkshakes; smart move. And the weather was really nice, so it wasn't like, oh, I shouldn't have had that milkshake. It was a pure treat!

Caught Hammer pulling a Ginger! (inside joke)

It's a beautiful ride from Burgettstown into West Virginia. When you pull out of Bert's heading south again, you turn right on the very next road, Cross Creek Road. We followed that along to PA-231 left, and then followed Painters Hill Scenic Drive at the Y on 231. Since the ride was a month ago, I can't remember exactly where we got lost, but these are the driving directions I had printed out (I always have it in a magnetic map tank bag in front of me).

• 7) Right on PA-50 south/west
• 8) Left on PA-231 at the Y, Painters Hill Scenic Drive
• 9) PA-331 west, Mt. Hope Rd
• 10) Left on Dry Ridge Road
• 11) Left on North Liberty Rd at the T
• 12) Right on US-40
• 13) WV-88 west, continue on Ridgecrest Rd
• 14) Right on WV-86, Grandview Rd1
• 15) Left on US-250 (takes you into Moundsville)

I'm guessing it was somewhere on Mt. Hope Road or Dry Ridge Road that we had to pull over along a scenic river, and see where we were. I don't know if we were ever on either one; I'm one hell of a road captain, huh? You can see we are parked in a pull-off, and to the right is a bridge we had just crossed. No cell phone reception whatsoever. But Tiny's bladder was working just fine! 

    

After regrouping, we got on the road and took a guess as to the right direction. We knew we had to go south in the end, so west and south we went. We did just fine, and finally found ourselves on busier roads with fewer and fewer trees until we came upon Moundsville. Our big destination was Grave Creek Mound. It takes up a huge chunk of land and has a museum (that's closed on Sundays) and with the horseshit going on, it's closed to the public until further notice. 

But it was a big, beautiful Adena culture burial site (that you couldn't enter).

Turn 180 degrees and you'll see the famous Gothic style West Virgina Penitentiary, opened in 1876. That was also a beautiful thing, a work of art. A simple, but large mound created to host the dead, and a fancy large prison to host the wicked and the bad. I doubt you can tour the prison right now either, but if interested, here's the link: https://wvpentours.com.

Take a gander at this stunning photography.

These two places to visit were in a dive section of town, so there wasn't anything else to see. We mounted the horses and left.
Across the Ohio river.
Up OH-7.
To Tiltonsville.
FOR PEPPERONI ROLLS! 

Don't you dare, if you go there, only buy one. Buy ten, buy a dozen, take them home - believe me, they survive the ride. Hand them out to friends. Hand them out to people you don't know and you'll have new friends!

This may be like the 20,000th time I've mentioned the pepperoni rolls, but hot damn, they are life changing. You can find out where they are here.

We loaded up on rolls, moved things around in the bags to get them all to fit, and hit the road. We left out of Tiltonsville for home. Which way did we go? I recall going some direction that eventually led us to Calcutta, and then OH-170 and it's fun curves back to Poland. Um, I'm pretty sure that's how it went. Eh, we got back after darkness fell over the Mahoning Valley. It was a great ride, as usual, with no real problems. 

Where have you been to this summer? Where's a good place to eat?

Make it safe, and keep yourself free!

~ Holly, a.k.a. Stitchblade