I’ll start right off and say that this was one of the least fun days of motorcycling I’ve had, and I’ve had some bummer ones. I’ve dealt with rain, snow, wind and other conditions that challenge the entertainment aspect of riding and even had some high heat crossing the Arizona desert near Yuma at 104°F a couple years ago, but that was a dry heat. Today it was all about the heat AND the humidity.
My biggest regrets is that I didn’t travel with my lighter, mesh jacket like I usually do in the summer. I think that was because I knew I would encounter so much rain and my 3-season jacket works much better when it’s wet out. But, I couldn’t have brought it in the car like I did a few other items. I just didn’t think about it.
So, when I left Pittsburgh this morning about 9am, it was already into the 80s and moving up rapidly. I rode westward and covered ground pretty quickly as traffic was light but until I cleared the city, there was lots of red lights to stop at.
Before long I crossed into West Virginia.
I spent what seemed like 15-minutes there before crossing into Ohio. The roads were reminiscent of the twisties I road on last week, moving through wide farmland and rolling hills.
Once in Ohio I stopped to grab a photo of this massive power plant near the town of Brilliant.
Then it was miles and miles of backroads.
I found a rest stop at about the time I needed one. I was next to a Piedmont Lake.
I was getting hot and the 35-45 miles [per hour were just not enough to keep me cool so I decided to ride the slab. I turned south, heading for I-70 but just as I got to it, I noticed I was turning a significant mark on my odometer do I headed along a country road for a ways to grab to this photo.
And this one.
I was hydrating but I was defineitely uncomfortable as the temperature rose to the mid-90s. When I passed through Columbus it was 98. With the high humidity I felt no cooling going on. I did have every vent opened in my jacket and that helped.
Just past the town of Harmony, OH, I topped at a Sheetz for gas and decided to get something to eat. They make an excellent burrito. The way it worked is that I place my order by working through the options on a kiosk. Then it prints out an order receipt. I take that to another kiosk and scan that first receipts bar code in order to pay. At that point extras, like drinks can be added. I paid and within a just a few minutes they called my number. The food was good. I washed it down with a large lemonade and took my time as the air conditioning felt great. My bike was parked right outside.
Now I just logged the miles, playing the passing games on the freeway, and made it through Dayton before turning south and doing a zig-zag path to Liberty, OH. I stopped and picked up some beer and then rode that final couple of miles to the the campsite at Whitewater Memorial State Park where we are in the same site as we had on our way going east.
I got my gear off and realized I was on the line to heat exhaustion. I drank LOTS of water and some electrolytes and sat in the car with the A/C on. One of the advantages of an EV is that the A/C can run without running an engine. We are plugged in for power so no worry about depleting the battery.
After a bit I felt better so we got the car tent set up and then walked down to lake, which is 5 minutes away on a trail from our site. The beach was fairly busy, mostly with little kids, but I was in my swim suit so went out and stacked while the dog got to play fetch in weather just outside the swimming area. The water was fairly warm but it helped to cool me down.
That wraps up today, 320 miles.
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