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Barney Visits

Rella’s Café & Hanging Rock

A Day of Leaf Peeping In WV

On Saturday, I decided to head down to Rella’s Café in Hacker Valley for lunch. For those of you not familiar with Rella, she is a great-grandmother who runs the diner 7 days a week from 7-7. It is a very, ummm… shall we say, modest restaurant in appearance. It is an old trailer with several additions that you would normally drive right past, if you didn’t know what was waiting for you inside.

The ride down to Rella’s takes me on Rt 20 South through Buckhannon, then on to Rock Cave, where Rt 20 turns south toward Webster Springs. The town of Hacker Valley is about 20 miles south of Rock Cave (and about 16-18 miles north of Webster Springs). It is a very fun ride on a motorcycle, with smooth pavement and plenty of challenging turns. The fall colors just add to the ride.

Barney’s enjoying the ride. Rt 20 just north of Holly River State Park.

Some more scenery and turns on Rt 20.

By the entrance to Holly River State Park.

What a beautiful day for a ride!!

Hey, we’re here!!! Welcome to Rella’s.

Like I said, very easy to drive right on by if you didn’t know the whole story.

The sign outside tells about her upcoming Ramp Dinner in November. Yummmm….

MENU: Ramps, Bacon, Fried Potatoes, Scrambled Eggs, White Beans, Corn Bread or Roll,

Pickled Beets, Pickled Eggs, Coffee, Tea or Lemonade, Pie.

Price - $12.00 + tax

Noon – 6pm

(304) 493-6658

Maybe I will double up on my Cholesterol medicine that morning J

Three generations:

(Left) Jonna – Rella’s Great-Grand-daughter

(Center) Rella – Owner, Chef, Waitress, Disciplinarian, Regional Historian

(Right) Jeaneace – Rella’s Daughter and Jonna’s Grandmother

And, of course, Barney. Always flirting with the ladies!!

I met up with a friend for lunch, and before we went exploring, we had to enjoy a burger and pie! Rella always has several home-made pies in the fridge. Today’s special was butterscotch. Barney definitely approved!! That’s Rella in the background.

Going back to August for a few minutes now….

In August, about 30-35 riders met at Rella’s for lunch one day to show our support for her daughter Jeaneace, who was in the hospital at the time. Needless to say, seating was at a premium. Rella is a very popular lady with the Adventure Rider Forum riders. We had guys/gals from West Virginia, Ohio, Virginia, and Pennsylvania there.

There are only about 7 or 8 tables, so you had better get here early unless you want to eat on the floor. Which, you could probably do. Rella keeps a CLEAN house, and notice how she has little tennis balls on the bottom of each chair leg so they don’t scratch the floor!

Hi Rella! She’s busy cooking for our group of 30+ back in August.

She’s a Great-Grandmother and still cooks here 7 days a week from 7am – 7pm.

Homemade meatloaf, potato salad, and fresh green beans. Home cookin’!

Or, you can have a burger and fries.

This guy (riderddonald) rode all the way from Ohio to eat lunch here with us!

Of course, you have to save room for pie!

Graham Cracker with homemade meringue.

OK, back to last weekend.

After lunch, my friend “Duck” and I rode west from Hacker Valley on County Road 3 towards Replete and Hanging Rock. This is the first time I had explored this road, and it was GREAT! The scenery was fantastic, and the fall colors just added to the day.

Barney is taking in the view. This road stretches for about 15 miles from Holly River to Sutton.

Always looking for a photo opportunity, I asked my friend to take a picture of me riding back up the hill. (Same location as previous photo) Too bad you can’t hear Barney yelling, “Faster! Faster!” It was hard enough keeping up with Duck on his Suzuki 650!

Soon, we reached Hanging Rock. This marker explains it all.

Look closely, and you can see my motorcycle parked along the road under the Hanging Rock.

Duck is standing just across the road from it, too, to give perspective.

Barney taking in the sights around Hanging Rock.

Falls Mill was our last stop. Located on Rt 19 about 10 miles northeast of Flatwoods.

Barney says it’s time to head home. It wasn’t a long ride today (only 160 miles),

but it was very relaxing and interesting. Hope you enjoyed it as much as Barney and I did!

Thanks for joining us!

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