I'm from Morgantown, WV. You are right about the roads around here...they are treacherous in some areas. I love the rail trail, it's so peaceful, but it's also not very safe. Not counting the fact that I almost ran over a copperhead snake a couple weeks ago while riding by myself, but there are some unsavory people that sometimes lurk around and the trail once you get past Morgantown is not travelled very much. I have been harrassed before down there and quite frankly it's scary. I would actually rather take my chances on the roads than face whatever one of them would do to me. Like i said, the trail is beautiful and peaceful for the most part but there is literally nothing (houses, phones, cell phone doesn't work, little traffic) until you get to fairmont or morgantown. Now that I'm riding further, I'll be going even deeper into that. It's disconcerting. A partner or two would be great but if I can't then I guess I'll just have to plan a route that will take me past major areas where there are a lot of houses or businesses and make sure that my gf knows where I am. I do that anyway.
I'm really enjoying this forum.
Gray