2010 Ohio motorcycle trip
|
Back in the spring we decided to add a couple long weekend trips in addition to our week long trip to Michigan. The first one was to Springfield, IL over the July fourth weekend. The second was this trip...a leisurely jaunt to Springfield, OH, over the Labor Day weekend.
Debby's ankle was healing well, but it was still tender and she didn't want to ride the bike to Ohio. The rest of us will ride and she'll drive the Suburban...aka 'The Mothership'. I had a CB radio and John had an antenna so he outfitted the Suburban so Debby could communicate. When we got to Springfield she'd see how her ankle felt as far as riding short trips.
September 3
It's been less than a week since I got home from my Cherry Point work trip and I've been very busy trying to catch up with things. So busy that I really didn't pack until I was getting ready to leave this morning. The weather has been hot but it's supposed to cool down some for the weekend. That'll be a nice change. It was still dark and cool as a packed up the bike. I always get extra excited at this point.
 Bedford, IN. 6:42 am. Mileage 45,191 - I pulled into the Shell station for gas and a purple label (extra sweet) Lipton tea. The sun was just starting to shed some light on the sky. The dawning of the new day seems symbolic for the potential fun that lies ahead. 4.109 gallons of premium later I was headed east to John & Debby's house for our 7am meeting time. Mike had some last minute family/girlfriend obligations pop up so he'll be joining us tomorrow.
The convoy awaiting time to depart. That time came at 7:18am. There are two similar ways to get where we're going. SR37 to I-70, or US50 to I-75. We decided to go via the I-70 route and come back the I-75 route since we plan to visit the Air Force Museum. The sky was overcast but there was no rain predicted. To me, that's the best riding weather. Even at 70 degrees the sun will roast you eventually.
 The night before I had put a couple flags on my antennas. One flag can be seen here. I had put a firefighter flag on my CB antenna. Down in the valley of the above picture John called me on the radio. He said I had lost an antenna. Sure enough. I guess the flapping of the flag had unscrewed the CB antenna. John & Debby pulled into a parking lot and I made a loop to find the antenna. It wasn't a problem with the big red firefighter flag attached to it. The antenna was a little bent and the coil cover was cracked but I put it back on and it seemed to work okay. I pulled over with John & Debby and removed both flags. Don't need any more issues like that.
There was pretty, blue morning skies lurking behind the clouds. The typical view along SR37. Here is the convoy at a stoplight in Martinsville.
 Southport, IN. 8:54 - Our normal stopping place south of Indianapolis. After a short break we skirted Indy on I-465, then headed east on I-70. We were riding towards some heavy clouds, but it seemed fairly sunny behind us. Being the Labor Day weekend the cops were thick. Cops, cops, and more cops. They seemed to be focusing on semis.
 Richmond, IN. 10:20 - Our last stop before our destination. John has been wanting to add some LED lights to his Insta-trike. We found a large selection here that we checked out. We decided to look at Pilot and other truckstop places we came across. In 2005 John, Kyle Foddrill, and I rode to Dayton and by this time in the trip we were soaked by heavy rain. The weather has been perfect. Mid-70's, cloudy, and dry.
Welcome to Ohio.
 Springfield, OH. 11:40. Mileage 45,414 - A couple miles west of Springfield the road was pretty wet, and as we approached the turnoff at exit 54 we got some sprinkles. The parking lot was pretty wet. We were met at the door by a truck driver from New Jersey who had been admiring our bikes. We talked for awhile, then we checked in. We were a couple hours early but they didn't care. Our rooms were adjacent which was nice. They were also near the end of the hall near the stairs and a side door. We would park there. We planned to go to Columbus today and visit the capitol building. Since the weather was rainy we decided to drive the Suburban. John covered his bike. I hadn't thought to bring my cover.
 After unpacking, and piddling around the room for a bit we met in the hall. We walked outside and...surprise...the weather was gorgeous. Since we had already planned to drive the Suburban we took it despite the nice weather.
 Debby drove us into Springfield where we looked for a place to eat. We decided to eat at Perkins. I had a turkey club. John bought a whole apple pie to take back to the room for snacking. After lunch we walked to a CVS next door for some supplies.
 After lunch John drove us the 50 miles to Columbus. I don't remember much as I was very droopy most of the way. The 'snore' word was mentioned but I can't imagine...ha! We parked in a garage a block or so from the capitol. When I got out of the truck I accidentally dropped my camera. I didn't seem to be any worse for wear except for a small scuff.
 When we entered the capitol building we asked a trooper for directions and he directed us downstairs to where the tours start. On the way we came upon a tour in progress and listened in for a few minutes. We made our way to the lower level gift shop. We found we had missed the 3pm tour (the last one) by a few minutes. Never fear, the lady at the gift shop had an even better solution. She had self guided tour wands. You follow a map with numbers associated with different areas. Punch the number into the wand and listen to it like a cellphone. This is similar to the tour we took at the Biltmore. The tour took us about an hour. It was nice. Most of the rooms were unlocked. The whole building had been renovated in the mid 90's. Things had been historically and elegantly restored without being gaudy or overdone. We returned the wands and spent some time talking to the lady at the bookstore about other capitols we had visited and how they all compared. I bought a pin at the store. John & Debby sampled some hot peanuts. Afterwards we wandered outside to the courtyard and checked out some nearby buildings. We slowly meandered back to the Suburban enjoying the great weather. The trip back was blurry as I snoozed for most of the way again. I did get a picture of a large tower. I'd love to have one of those in my front yard producing some income.
Back at the hotel John parked on the side.
We came back out to move the bikes next to the Suburban but someone had already parked there, so we moved them by the fence. We could see them from the back window next to our rooms. We spent the rest of the night hanging around the rooms and checking the internet for places to visit. We ordered pizza from Donatos. The delivery girl met us in the lobby and we ate in the breakfast nook. It was good. I noticed when I would turn my camera on it would ask for the date. It was losing its memory. Maybe the drop earlier jarred something loose. Hmmmm... John called me and asked if I wanted to ride into town. He wanted to find a small fan for the room. We checked out a few different places but no one had anything. It was nice to ride a bit. When we got back the spot beside the Suburban had opened up so we parked there.
299 miles. Click here for the next day's adventure. |
E-mail me
