I got the bike loaded up while Dan worked on rebuilding his new Grom, a Honda motorcycle, a small one. I logged a route and it was going to take me through Steubenville so I’d try to see a mural or two. I headed out about 8:30, stopped for gas, and rolled along without incident. I entered West Virginia and stayed in that state for about 15 miles before crossing a bridge into Ohio and the city of Steubenville.
The bridge was one of those with nothing but iron grating to ride on and it was, admittedly, a bit disconcerting, but the trick is to keep the speed steady, loosing the grip, and understand that the bike will continue to go forward due to the gyroscopic action of the wheels and the rake of the front end. Here the bridge after I’d crossed it.
I was itching to get rolling and decided not to tour the town and see all the murals they are known for but did see a few as I negotiated my west out of town.
I think it was Highway 212 that I was on for some time and it was lots of fun. Somewhere along the way I encountered an earthen dam and shot some photos.
And this is about where the happy and fun story ends. Nothing bad happened but I spent about 100 miles and many hours negotiating way around the outskirts of Toledo and it was awful. Picture a place in your town where all the box stores congregate along with all the chain restaurants and other see-them-everywhere places and you’ll get an idea of what I dealt with. For hours. And it was 95 degrees. A few postings ago I said something about riding and not wanting to do anything else. Today was where I wanted to be somewhere else. Not only am I now riding alone again, it was intense and boring at the same time.
When I got the the junction of Michigan 52 and US 12, I pulled over and checked my app for camping. Sure enough there was one about 5 miles to the west and I went for it. It’s a private campground, primarily for seasonal RVs which means that almost no one is here since they mostly come to it on the weekends. I got a nice site and, after getting my tent set up, I went back down the road and picked up a couple Michigan IPAs.
It was a 300-mile day.
No comments:
Post a Comment