I got up just after it got light and started the daily sorting and packing routine. For some reason I wasn’t hungry so I skipped breakfast and got everything ready to load on the bike. It’s actually a lot of stuff but taking enough stuff like food for a couple weeks on the road plus clothing for weather from 35 degrees and snow (Day 1) to temperatures in the low-80s, it’s hard to travel light. On a motorcycle it’s not about weight as much as it is space and for weight I reset my rear suspension to a “with luggage” setting which feels pretty nice, tightening things up in the rear.
I first needed to turn the bike around and did that before loading it up. Once ready to go, I traveled back out, carefully negotiating the small stream, and getting back out on the Main Street. Jeremy heard me coming and came out for a good-bye and I headed north to get on country road 600. This would take me Hwy 27 which would lead me to I-70 which would be my home for the next few hours.
This first portion of the ride was really nice. It’s just small county roads on a Sunday morning and I’m the only one out there. Like the day before, I traveled past lots of solar farms and wind mills.
This looks like an old church that nobody loves anymore.
More of the morning scenery.
Once I got on The Slab, it was all about racking up those miles and closing the distance to Pittsburgh. Here I am at the Ohio welcome center.
My son and his girlfriend are running the Pittsburgh marathon this morning so I stopped and downloaded the tracking app so I could follow their progress. I’d stop at all the rest areas and check in on them. At one of the stops the car next to me was really loaded. Two young women, two big dogs, and a Maine Coon cat.
While there a pickup pulled in and, after getting water for his golden retriever, the owner came over to talk motorcycles. He was a few years younger than me and was wearing a Deal Gap t-shirt. He’s ridden all sorts of bikes and is currently on a Gold Wing. He was able to share his experiences of riding the routes that my son and I will hit later in the week. After a nice visit we both hilt the road. By the time I got to Zanesville at 1:45 I was needing gas and ready for a breakfast/lunch. A Taco Bell was nearby and I had 2 of their veggie burritos with Diablo sauce. Well, it is Cinco De Mayo after all.
Somewhere along the way I needed a break and pulled off on the Dallas Pike Road and parked at the Cherokee Trading Post. Biker leather. Hmmm, probably not.
The computer routed me right to my son’s house in the Brookline neighborhood of Pittsburgh. I share my location with him on my phone so as I was pulling up to his garage it opened and I got my bike parked in there in front of his truck.
The rest of the day was just hanging out, hearing details about the marathon, playing with the dog, listening to rain, and having a few drinks (strawberry margaritas for Cinco De Mayo and a beer or two). We turned in and I think we all slept well.
It was a 325 mile day.
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