As a preamble to the PACE weekend at the Pittsburg Vintage Grand Prix, Paul and I are heading a bit further west to explore the Hocking Hills of Ohio.  Our explorations begin on Sunday, 12 Jul, and take us into Ohio on Monday.  By Thursday evening, we will be in Warren Ohio, where we will meet up with Mr. Cory and company.

If you are interested, please continue reading for more details.

Sunday will be a travel day, ending up at The George Washington Hotel in Winchester Virginia.  We will be heading out from Harleysville sometime around 8 AM.  Our Susquehanna River crossing will be via the Norman Wood Bridge.  We pick and poke our way through PA, finally crossing into Maryland on PA Rt 516.  As we head westerly-ish we will get to stop at the Antietam National Battlefield.

Monday will be spent traversing West Virginia, mainly via the scenic US Rt 50.  Our destination is Marietta Ohio, where we will be staying three nights at the Lafayette Hotel.  This will be our homebase as we play in the Hocking Hills.  Taking the Triple Nickels from one end to the other, and back again, we can pretend that we are “Car and Driver” editors, testing our cars on one of their favorite testing roads.

Or we can explore the covered bridges, and the twisty roads north of Marietta.  How about a visit to Big Muskie?  Well, being in Ohio, we just need to go for a cruise on the roads along the Ohio River.  I have more drives mapped out, so we will have some flexibility as we go exploring.

Thursday will be spent traversing eastern Ohio on our way to an overnight stay in Warren Ohio.  Friday will be a visit to the National Packard Museum, followed by a hour or to ride (depending upon interstate route, or no-interstate route) to our motel just north of Pittsburgh.

Here are just a few of the sights that we will see along the way:

World’s Largest Apple

Antietam National Battlefield Park

Big Muskie Bucket

Ohio’s Covered Bridges

The beautiful hills of southeastern Ohio

Koolwink Motel

Triple Nickels Diner

Y-Bridge Overlook

Various coffee shops and bakeries

A Challenge – find the furthest west (on our trip) Wawa, Sheetz, or Rutters!

Hotels named after historic figures.

Are you interested in joining Paul and me as we explore southeastern Ohio?  We are looking ahead to having a PACE trip out this way in a year or two.  This trip will help us decide if that is a good idea, and your input is quite welcomed.  Contact MattL at bvrkilmatt@verizon.net for further information.