May 15, 2024
All good visits eventually come to an end and so has my stay with my son and his girlfriend in Pittsburgh. She’s off to work and Dan’s vacation is over and he’s back on task, working from home.
I got up, showered, packed, loaded the bike, and was ready to go about 8:30 am. It’s overcast but the weather looks good for now and I hit the road just before 9.
Today is about logging the miles and so it’s off to The Slab. I reserved a campsite at Paynetoewn Campground which is near Bloomington, Indiana and the map software tells me that I have over 400 miles to ride. And that’s what I did, all day. However, it wasn’t without its adventures. I did stop for gas at a Sheetz in Cambridge, OH.
And things started looking gloomy. The sky definitely looked like rain was going to happen so I pulled over at a rest stop in Hebron, OH and donned my rain gear. I have a liner for my jacket that zips in and snaps inside and a pair of rain pants that pull on over my regular riding pants. I also have some waterproof/insulated gloves but held off on them. Here is what the sky looked like.
Then the sky opened up. It rained pretty much from Zanesville to Dayton. Near Choctaw Lake I pulled over in a rest stop to take a break and to get on those other gloves. I looked at the radar image of the storm and it was following me so if I stayed where I was I’d get rained on for the next 2-3 hours but if I headed west I might outrun most of it in an hour or so. A couple of photos from that rest stop:
I headed west and while the bike handles really well, it required 100% attention due to the traffic, the low visibility, the potholed road, and the construction, especially through Columbus, OH. The bike and I both survived and I stopped, along with the rain, in Englewood, OH for gas and a photo.
Near Greens Fork (Ohio or Indiana) I hit a rest stop to check a voice mail (from Billings Clinic) and took a break. The sky doesn’t look nearly as bad as it did a while ago.
I finally arrived in Bloomington and stopped for gas. I went into the convenience store and bought some chips but, alas, they don’t have beer. The map software told there was a liquor store down the street.
All they carry is liquor and they have everything. I picked up 2 IPAs that I haven’t had before and they should go well with whatever I decide to have for dinner.
I found the campground, paid my out-of-state park use fee ($9) and got directions to the campsite that I’d reserved online. It’s a walk-in site with the bike about 150 feet away from where I’ll pitch the tent. As I was dismounting, a nice gentleman was getting his gear out of his car next to me. We had a nice chat and I discovered that he’s from Philadelphia and is off to New Mexico for the summer to work as the chef at a Boy Scout ranch. Pretty cool, huh?
I started setting up my tent and had my second negative experience of the day (the rain being the first) when one of my tent pole snapped: in two places. WTF?!?! These are the aluminum poles that have the elastic band down the center and I guess it’s a case of metal fatigue. With rope and stakes I managed to set the tent up anyway.
The cell service here is marginal but enough that I could look up a sporting goods store nearby and there’s a Dick’s in Bloomington about 20 minutes away so I’ll head there in the morning and see if they have something that works. If not, I’ll at least pick up a few more stakes and some extra rope.
I’m on a “No Stress” trip so the rain and the broken tent pole WILL NOT induce stress in my adventure. After all, just look at the story potential they provided for this blog entry which, without them, might have been pretty thin.
Here is stress relief after a long day in the saddle:
And don’t get the wrong idea as I am eating a proper meal as well. Tonight it’s a new brand of food and the selection Baja Citrus Lentil with quinoa and olive oil. I guess I’m not exactly roughing it.
It was a 432 mile day.
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