DAY 13 Saturday, May 14, 2011

I finished my blog at about 10:30 PM last night and tried to post it. I was unable to do it and tried a few more times. After being unsuccessful, I decided to try in the morning. I finally went to bed at 12:30 AM.

My alarm sounded at 6:30 AM. I got up, got dressed and packed. Jan finally got up and started to get dressed. I told Jan that I was going to my Motor to get it ready for the ride. As I got down to the Motor, I noticed that it was cloudy and a bit cool. I took off the cover and cleaned my windshield. As I was doing this, Jan came down and started on his Motor. I had told Jan that I wanted to check my tires but had forgotten. I looked at my Motor and, sure enough, there they were. The tires were just where they belong, at the bottom of the Motorcycle. Actually, I checked the air pressure of the tires and found that they needed air. Jan took his teeny, tiny air pump out and I used it to air up my tires. Now they were where they needed to be. We finished with our Motors and went to the breakfast room. C.E. and Ken were there enjoying their breakfast. We sat with them and ate ours. Soon, Chuck and Bruce came in. The old guys vacated their chairs at our table and gave them to Chuck and Bruce. Chuck started to mope and whine because there was no more "Raisin Bran" or scrambled eggs. Chuck and Bruce finished their breakfast and I told Chuck that I was unable to post my blog last night. He suggested that I go to his room and use his computer to post. I followed him to his room and did so. Jan and I returned to our rooms and gathered our stuff to load our Motors. I left the room first and got to my Motor. C.E. and Ken were at their Motors and Ken had asked me if I posted my blog or was the blog broken. I told Ken that the blog was up-to-date and posted. Ken replied, "Shit!" Ken told me that he was a little sore from yesterday's fall. The rest of the guys came down and we were all pack now and ready to go. We left at 9:02 AM.

Chuck led us away from the hotel and towards I-79. As we got to the entrance ramp, Chuck entered the southbound exit. Yes, I wrote, "southbound." We were going to Ohio and needed to go north. That's OK. South is where we needed to go. We needed to go 5 miles south to catch our good friend, Highway 50. We rode the entire length of Highway 50 last year from Ocean City, Maryland to Sacramento, CA. Highway 50 had a speed limit of 65 mph and we all enjoyed riding at that speed. We rode for 83 miles going through little towns and at 10:18 AM, we stopped for gas in Parkersburg, WVA. I had seen the Weather Channel earlier and saw that we might ride into a patch of rain. The clouds looked threatening to the west, and that is where we were going. We bought some water and goodies and looked at the map. After studying the map for a while, it was decided that we were going to go north on I-77 to Highway 250 and connect with Highway 20 to Toledo, OH. We left at 10:46 AM.

Jan led us north on I-77. We were averaging 70 mph on a 65 mph zone. It was a comfortable speed. The weather was good and it was still cloudy. The surrounding area along the Interstate was very green and beautiful. There were occasional low lying clouds within the trees. We rode for 98 miles and at 12:13 PM, we stopped in New Philadelphia, OH at a Denny's for lunch. We had not stopped at a Denny's during this trip...yet, until now. The food was good, however, the service was crappy. It took long for our food to arrive and we noticed that the Manager was in the kitchen cooking. Elaine, where are you when we need you! We finally left at 1:27 PM.

Jan took us back to I-77, northbound. We rode for 6 miles and exited at Exit 87, which connected us with Highway 250. We rode west on Highway 250, however, in the city of Wooster, Jan and I missed the sign for Highway 250, which would have leaded us northwest. Instead, we went straight west and connected with Highway 30. We rode for 12 miles and didn't notice. I rode up to Jan and told him that I needed a pit stop. As we were looking for a place to stop, I noticed the roadway ahead and it was wet. It was raining ahead of us. We turned on County Road 30a and turned into a parking lot for a local business at 2:28 PM after 54 miles. The business was closed. We all put on our rain gear and we also found a place to made our pit stop. We looked at the map and noticed that we would locate Highway 60, which would connect us with Highway 250 again. We left at 2:48 PM.

We headed west on Highway 30 and it started to rain. A mile away was the turn off for Highway 60. We took it and after getting off of the off ramp to go north on Highway 60, there were sign and barricades indicating that there was a detour. We needed to get back on Highway 30 and go 4 miles. As we did, it started to rain harder...and harder...and harder. I'm sure that you all have heard the old proverbial saying about the cow and the flat rock? Well, we can sympathize with the flat rock! It rained so hard, I know...how hard did it rain?..it rained so hard that we couldn't see anything ahead of us. There were cars that had pulled off to the side of the road because their windshield wipers could now keep up with the rain. We could barely see the guy ahead of us and the center lane lines. I don't know how he did it, but Jan saw the exit detour and turned right. We all followed, don't ask me how! We continued riding. There was no place to stop and get shelter. It was all farm land and no gas stations to stop at. It was very difficult to see where we were going. We continued in what seemed an eternity! We finally came into the town of Ashland, OH. We stopped at a red light and I told Jan to try and find a place to get some shelter until the storm blew by us. He told me that he was trying. We rode into downtown and Jan and I caught the yellow light at an intersection. the light turned red when Bruce got to it. Bruce was right behind me. The people in the vehicles on the cross streets motioned to Bruce and the others to keep going and not stop for the red light. God bless them! Jan made another turn and we eventually saw an gas station on the left side of the street. Jan pulled into the parking lot in hopes of stopping under the awning. Unfortunately, the awning structure was there, however the roof wasn't! It was just framing. We circled the parking lot and rode across the street to a Circle K. As we were parking our Motors, the rain let up! It was sprinkling now and the sun was poking through the clouds and we got off our Motors. We took off our helmets and compared notes with each other. Even though we were wearing rain gear, our shirts at our chests were wet. Our feet got soaked. I was shielding my eyes from the downpour and water had gone down my left arm so it soaked my sleeve. Chuck told me that his crotch was wet. Because of what we had just rode through, he didn't know if the rain soaked through to his crotch or that he peed himself! I asked him if the wetness of his crotch was warm. He told me that it wasn't. It then told him that he didn't need to worry, it was the rain! Chuck told me that he felt better. We were all safe and felt better that we were not longer riding in the downpour. Like other times from other rides, we can now laugh about it and have a good time! We had some drinks and snacks from the Circle K. We made sure that our rain gear was on right and that Ken and I had on our face shields. We rode back across the street to the gas station and gassed up our Motors. We were told that there were no other gas stations in this city. We left at 3:45 PM.

Ken took over the lead and took us north on Highway 250. When we connected with Highway 20 it started to sprinkle off and on. We rode through very pretty farmland. The green colors are spectacular! As we rode further, we couldn't believe that we were now riding in fog! It was getting cold and at a local school, there was a clock and thermometer that read 59 degrees. We rode for another 44 miles and stopped at 4:36 PM in Bellevue, OH. We were cold and needed a pit stop. While we were stopped, some of us put our jackets on under our rain coats. Chuck and I discussed with Ken that if he saw a Best Western or Holiday Inn Express between our current stop and Toledo, to stop. We would make it a night. Ken understood and agreed. Without argument! We couldn't believe it. We left at 4:55 PM.

As we were northbound, we were in line and traffic was coming south, against us. I was watching Ken and saw a pick up truck pass him southbound and splash him "big time." There was a large amount of water splashed onto his left side getting him and his windshield! I couldn't help but laugh! The bad thing about it is that I could share this with anyone! We were each on our Motors. We rode for another 22 miles and at 5:28 PM we stopped at a Day's Inn Hotel in Fremont, OH. Fremont is a small town that is about 16 miles south of Lake Eerie. The Day's Inn advertised a bar, restaurant, pool, hot tub and wi-fi. What more can we ask for?! We pulled into the parking lot of the hotel and under the awning. Chuck, Jan and I entered and spoke with the Front Desk clerk and MADE THE DEAL! This was awesome! We checked in and got our bags from our Motors and took them to our rooms. I had asked the Clerk if we could park the Motors in a neat row under the awning and she said that it was OK. Great! We parked the Motors neatly, wiped them down...a little, and tucked them in for the night.

WOW! What an adventure we had tonight. We rode 313 miles. The sights were spectacular! We rode through rain, a downpour and fog. It was great! We hope to get into Michigan tomorrow. We hope to get to the Upper Peninsula and head towards Minnesota. We'll see...