It has been more than a couple of weeks since I’ve been able to update this blog, and for that I apologize. However, in my defense I must inform you dear readers that it has occurred because of the time I have spent organizing and participating in club activities like the one I am reporting on now. Out regional rallies and local activities are the real lifeblood of our Association and the real reason that we have been able to have this club for over 40 years. If you’ve had the chance to attend one of them, I know that you fully understand. If you haven’t yet attended one of our Regional Rallies, then you need to make sure it happens as soon as possible for you. They are simply the best.
We (the MSTA) first visited the Canaan Valley Resort back 1n 1996 when it was the site of our annual national rally, STAR. We revisited it for another STAR Rally in 2021. The next year, and every year since, we have returned to the Valley for a regional rally. The year we did it up a little larger than the last few years as it went from being a Just for Fun event to being a full fledged MSTA Sanctioned rally with registration and an evening dinner on Tuesday included. It still included lots of great routes, GPS help, and lots of fun and fellowship with riders from all over. In all, we had 107 partcipants show up, pay their rally fee, and enjoy the great weather, great roads, and great friends over the 5 days of the rally. 
Most of the eastern US was experiencing extremely hot and sticky weather prior to the rally happening. Many of us saw temps in the mid-upper 90’s as we rode (or towed as the case may be) across the many states that attendees came from. But when I pulled into the park on the Friday afternoon prior to the offical start of the event, my tempature reading said that it was 82 degrees! Combine that with lower humidity and sunny skies and you have a great start to any outdoor activities. This would remain the theme throughout the next 5 days as we had a great break from the near universal heatwave that most of us had been expereiencing elsewhere. 
In fact, other than some night time rain and a few very quick showers one morning, we had fantastic weather. The only problem being that many of our folks hadn’t brought something warm to wear when the tempatures dropped in the evenings and early mornings.
But hey, we were there for the riding, and nobody left disappointed by that!
No matter what your desire, twisty roads with perfect pavement, great dirt forest roads and trails, secenic riding with wonderful destinations,
or a combonation of all of them, you can find it in northeastern West Virginia. With over a dozen road routes and 1/2 a dozen adventure rides to choose from, the only problem was deciding which route to do each day. 
And if you wanted to take some time off from riding, there was many other great choices you could make of things to do. Some of our attendees found time to do a little shopping in Davis and Thomas.
Others got some hiking on one of the many forest trails in the park.
A few played a round of golf at the park’s 18-hole course. Some just spent time at the pool. Every evening you could find folks gathered in the parking lot kicking tires, on the front porch of the lodge telling stories, or gathered around a firepit in the rear of the lodge making plans for the next day. 
Tuesday evening, we closed out the rally with a great cookout dinner under the covered Pavillion in the back of the lodge. 
All you could eat of burgers, dogs, sides, fixings, and many different pies for dessert. Nobody went away hungry! We even had some other guests who were not part of the rally dig in and enjoy themselves after we were done!
We will return to the Canaan Valley Resort in 2025 over the dates of June 27th-July 1st. Registration will open up on January the 1st of next year. Watch for the announcement here and on our Facebook Group Page. Hope to see you there next year!