DAY
18, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2013
I actually woke up to the alarm this morning. It sounded at 6:30 AM. I was quiet so as not to wake Chuck. Chuck told me last night that he had set his
alarm for 7 AM. This was to be a late
morning because Jan was going to the Harley shop to get his Motor worked
on. Just as I was getting dressed, Chuck
woke up and told me that he didn’t want to get out of bed. I told him to stay put and to get up when he
felt like it. I finished getting dressed
and packed my bags. I told Chuck that I
was going to have breakfast and he responded that he would meet me there
eventually. When I got to the breakfast
area, J.B., Ken and C.E. were already there eating. I served myself and joined them. The others eventually joined us, including
Chuck. Jan and J.B. were done with their
breakfast and they returned to their rooms to get their stuff to load their
Motors and go to the Harley shop, which was about 1 ½ miles away. They left and we all took our time doing what
we needed to do. Ken and C.E. rode to a
K-Mart and Wal-Mart to see if C.E. could find a zip up sweater. The zipper on
his sweater broke. C.E. and Ken
returned, not finding a sweater and Ken parked next to my Motor. Ken had told me yesterday that he would let
me use his extra headlight bulb to replace my burnt out bulb and I could
replace it when I could. I asked him if
we could replace my bulb and we got right on it. The bulb was replaced in about 10
minutes. Chuck received a phone call
from Jan who stated that his Motor would be ready at approximately 10:30
AM. They found that it needed a new
battery. It was just before 10 AM when
Chuck told the others to get ready.
Chuck needed to go to a Credit Union that did Shared Banking with
Arizona Federal. It was only about 2
miles away. We left at 9:59 AM.
Chuck led us and we arrived at 10:08 AM. We rode for only 2 miles. Chuck, Bruce and C.E. went into the credit
union. They were all done with their
banking and we left at 10:20 AM to go meet Jan and J.B. at the Harley
shop.
We arrived at the Harley shop and parked at 10:33 AM
after riding 6 miles. It was both, a
Harley shop and a Honda shop. We went in
and looked at the toys in the Harley shop.
Ken, C.E. and I went into the Honda shop to look at the toys. We were disappointed at the lack of toys in
the shop. We went into the Harley shop
and sat around the lounge. One of the
female employees in the service department told us that it was easy to tell
which of us were Harley riders and Honda riders. Three of the Harley riders had on Harley
shirts while three of the Honda riders had on Gold Wing shirts. Chuck told the lady that we do this ride
every year and that we were experiencing mostly Honda problems. I did tell the lady that this was the first
time in seven years that we had experienced more troubles with the Hondas than
with the Harleys. Chuck told me that I
didn’t need to say that! Jan’s Motor was
finished and J.B.’s Motor was washed.
Jan was putting his Motor together and we all started getting ready to
leave. We left at 11:20 AM with Greg in
the lead.
Greg got us onto I-90 and away we went! We rode on the interstate and at times, we
could see Lake Erie. What a huge
lake! We rode into Cleveland and experienced
the 90 degree left turn at 35 mph. There
were huge yellow signs with arrows pointing to the left and stating 35
mph. We rode around their football
stadium also. We rode for 31 miles and
stopped at 11:55 AM in Cleveland for gas.
We gassed up, took a pit stop and we were ready to go, after Chuck and
J.B. finished their coffee. We left at
12:17 PM with Jan in the lead.
We rode westbound and stopped at the toll booth in
Elyria, OH to get our tickets. We
continued on. We rode for 69 miles and
stopped at 1:17 PM in Vickery, OH at the Erie Island Plaza. Jan wanted to get away from the Cleveland
traffic before stopping for lunch. The
Plaza had a building that held about 5 restaurants, an information counter, restrooms
and a Truck Stop. We went in and didn’t
find a Subway so we had to settle for Burger King and Sbarro’s. We were ready to leave and we walked out to
our Motors. J.B. started saying his
“Goodbyes” to all of us. He was going to
leave us when we rode through Toledo and head south on I-75 to go home. We left at 2:12 PM.
We rode through beautiful country. The Ohio Turnpike was a good road with
occasional construction. When we
approached Toledo, J.B. broke ranks, changed lanes and saluted us as he passed
us. He got off at I-75. Now we were down to 7, four Hondas and 3 Harleys. We rode for 82 miles and stopped at the next
Plaza in West Unity, OH at 3:18 PM. It
was named Indian Meadows Plaza. We were
in need of a pit stop. We left at 3:34
PM.
We needed to get some gas pretty soon. As we rode west, we had to stop at the toll
booth and pay $9.75. This was the end of
the Ohio Turnpike. We rode for about 2
miles and crossed into Indiana. We rode
up onto another toll booth and got our tickets.
We were off again! Jan was going
to stop in 10 miles at a gas station and then we passed a sign that read that
another Plaza was 20 miles further. Jan
opted for the Plaza. We rode for 54
miles and stopped at a Plaza in Howe, Ind. at 4:26 PM. WOW!
These people in Indiana are sure proud of their gas! We paid $4.099 for regular! I’m glad that I’m riding a Honda! The Harleys use Premium. We gassed up and, again, needed a pit
stop. We went in for a while and soon
left at 4:58 PM.
Ken led us westbound at a swift pace. Ken DID slow down a little after we saw an
Indiana State Trooper sitting in his Patrol Car in the median working
radar. We rode and after about 45
minutes, we needed to stop on the interstate.
There was a traffic jam. It was
slow moving starting from about milepost 53.
We were in stop and go traffic. I
switched my C.B. to Channel 19 and listened to the truckers. It seems that there was construction at
milepost 42 on the left lane. There was
a State Trooper stopped in the left lane diverting traffic to the right lane. There was also another State Trooper on the
right curb, watching the traffic go by and probably hoping to catch cars or
Motorcycles passing on the right in the emergency lane. There were signs posted at about milepost 52
that stated, “NO PASSING.” I told this
to Chuck and Jan. Chuck was going to
make the move and pass on the right, like we did in a prior ride, years
ago. We got away with it then! We didn’t pass. We came up on Exit 49 and Chuck told Ken to
take it. Chuck had come back to each of
us and asked if we were ready to call it a night. I assume he got 100% agreement. Also, at this point, we gained an hour. We got off the interstate and immediately
came upon a toll booth. We paid our toll
of $6.25 and then parked in the parking lot just past the toll booth. We had ridden for 80 miles and stopped at
5:25 PM. Ken had continued on. I first thought that Ken saw us clear the
toll booth and we were ready to go. Ken
saw the Best Western/Holiday Inn Express signs in LaPorte, Ind. and he was
ready to stop. We grouped together and headed
for the hotels. We came upon the Holiday
Inn Express and Chuck saw Ken’s Motor parked under the awning. He pointed at it and we all made the left
turn or u-turns. We rode for only 3
miles and arrived at 5:58 PM. Ken had
been there and “made the deal.” He came
out when we arrived and told us of the deal and we agreed. We checked in, unloaded our stuff, took them
to our rooms and “tucked” our Motors in for the night.
For dinner, we walked next door to a recommended Mexican
food restaurant. I want you to know,
this is our FIRST Mexican food restaurant that we have been to for this
ride! It was good and the beer was
cold. We were done riding so it’s OK to
have a beer!
Today we rode for 325 miles. We got out of Ohio, said, “Goodbye” to one of
our friends, entered into Indiana, gained an hour and ate Mexican food. How’s that for a recap. Maybe I should have just posted the
recap. Nope, I couldn’t do that. What would I do with the rest of the time?
Chuck says that we should get to Wisconsin tomorrow. We shall see…
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