In June of 2012 I had a job in Columbus Ohio. It was a short job, and last minute notice. As always seems to be the case, it landed squarely on our planned departure date for a trip to Washington DC, Skyline Drive, The Blue Ridge Parkway, among many places. FYI - I'm a medical equipment installation contractor and, as such, travel all over North America for work. Sometimes that's nice. Other times, not as much. I occasionally ride to jobs and meet a crew. Sometimes Cheryl rides with me if she has the time and I can entice her with an interesting route or destination. Columbus was not on her short list of places to visit. Not that there's anything wrong with Columbus. As it turns out, we liked it. And, it has the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum -

http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/

Furthermore, it was definitely on the way to cities on that list, like Washington DC. Cheryl and talked it over and figured we would throw the bike on a trailer with all the ladders, tools, and lifts for the job. We would bring along my son-in-law Ed, who worked for me, and my daughter Katherine, who wanted to join in on the fun. After the job, Katherine and Ed would drive the van and trailer back, dropping the trailer off at the U-Haul place once home.

Our route took us through Chicago, as is often the case. Because we have a natural barrier to the east, otherwise known as Lake Michigan, we have no choice. We chose the bold route directly through the city and to the Skyway. It's the shortest route, but often the most congested. As it turns out, it wasn't so bad. Here we are on the other side at the Skyway McDonalds for a rest stop -



Kids on board - bike in tow



It was strange seeing the big black motorcycle in the mirror. In fact, sometimes it damn near startled me because I would get lost in thought and then catch a glimpse of it, forgetting that I had the bike behind us. Ahh....old age.

The ride south through Indiana was as uneventful (read as boring) as ever. I was almost thankful to be in the van vs droning alone on the featureless road. Almost.

After 30 or 40 hours, or so it felt, we were in Ohio -



Our stay in Columbus went per plan. Ed and I met the client at the facility and installed a trial set up for the hospital staff to review. Cheryl and Katherine were tasked with going to the Columbus Zoo and waterpark. Ed and I felt sorry for those poor girls having to walk around on a sunny day at a waterpark while we basked in the luxury of the not air conditioned warehouse where the trial was being held.

The work was highly technical. Here Ed is with one of our precision instruments and protective gear -



After the installation was complete, we retired to the hotel to clean up and meet the client for dinner and drinks. This was not taken lightly by any of us because we had prior experience with "drinks" with this particular client. I would simply say he is Canadian and leave it at that. But, I don't want to offend any of my Canadian friends so I will go on to say that it is fact that Canadians were genetically engineered, in a secret government facility, to be able to drink copious amounts of alcohol with no ill affects to their behaviour (Canadian version of behavior) or bodies. I'm not sure what the end game is, but I do know better than to try and keep up with a Canadian in a drinking contest.

To be continued......

 

Thanks for starting again - made my day!

 

Very happy to oblige. Thanks for joining back in. I didn't save most of the report like I thought, so I'm redoing it. I have some snippets from the original, but I think this is actually a better version anyway. I'll let you be the judge.

 

same here, my wife and I really look forward to your riding reports. looking forward to this one again.
were both gearing up this minute to go for a ride ourselves, 50 outside and the ultra needs a work out.

 

Subscribed once again - Thank you sir!!

 

There are blizzard warnings here right now.......so yep, keep'em coming.

 

The blacksmith shop was very dark and very loud. I could barely see anything save for a feint glow from the forge. But the sound! It was deafening. Each time the hammer fell on the anvil it reverberated through my skull. It actually made me sick to my stomach. The blacksmith swung again, and again and again. The fire grew brighter..........

"Close the f^%ing curtains" Cheryl said. Those were the last intelligible words I would hear from her for hours. Daylight poured into the room through a narrow slit in the curtains. It was like the beam of light that comes out of the space ship when the doors open in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". I stumbled toward the blinding light and did my best to close the curtains that would not close. The room smelled like a 50 gallon glass of Vodka. I know Vodka supposedly has no odor, but it definitely does the morning after having "drinks".

I forced myself into the shower. I had to get the bike unloaded and the kids on their way. The blacksmith pounded his hammer harder than ever. Breakfast consisted of 3 Excedrin and a glass of water.

It was already hot and sunny, which feels great when you're massively hung over. That was sarcasm. But, now that we're talking, why is a hangover more tolerable when it's cool and rainy? Between bouts of nausea I got the bike off the trailer and all of the equipment fastened down. I went back to the room. Cheryl groaned her disapproval at my disturbing her sleep. I called the kids room and my daughter answered. "So are you guys up and ready to go?" I said. Katherine - "Yeah, we're up, but we don't want to leave until Ed stops throwing up." Me - "Understandable. But, you do need to be back in Milwaukee to drop off the trailer before 7." Katherine - "I'll do what I can. How are you and Cheryl?" "Fine." I lied. I could tell by her smug silence that she didn't believe me. She doesn't really drink and was the designated driver the night prior.

After talking to Katherine I called the client. He answered the phone cheerfully. "Good Morning Bob! How are you feeling eh?" I'm sure I heard a chuckle. Damned Canadians! - indicates that I'm joking "I've been better. A bit hung over." I said. "Oooh. Sorry to hear aboot (Canadian for "about") that." said the client. He mocked my weakness. After he was certain that my manhood had been removed with more conversation like that we got to the part where we said our Good-byes and thank you's.

The tentative plan was to leave for Winchester VA that day. I say "tentative" because we allowed for extra time in case the job went longer. Considering the condition our condition was in, we decided a strategic delay was in order. Cheryl didn't actually verbalize an opinion. It was more of a droopy eyed nod when I offered up plan B. Plan B was to lay around until we didn't want to throw up. After that some lunch and a short ride. Maybe a run to the AMA museum if we felt up to it.

Fortunately, not long after, we rallied. We had gone for a long walk to breath off whatever we drank the night before. Neither of us could remember what, let alone how much we drank. From the stench in the hotel room, as mentioned, I think it was Vodka. That would stand to reason because the client had a penchant for Vodka Red Bulls. He usually had no less than 3 in front of him at a time, this based on past experience. My guess is, to be "polite", we tried to keep up. By "keeping up", I mean we had 1 to his 3. Probably. Anyway, we went for a walk around the western part of Columbus and had coffee. It did help. So, we decided to go for it and visit the museum.

Here Cheryl looking pretty damned good considering she is still hung over -



The cool, air conditioned museum felt great. The bikes were amazing -



My favorite was one of Evel Knievel's XR750s. Absolutely beautiful machines.





Dave Barr is the Man



I'll never complain about being saddle sore again



Someone is feeling better!



Another glam shot of yours truly. Note how clean the bike is. It won't last



After the museum we did a nice ride back to the hotel. We took the scenic route past the farms and ranches outside of Columbus. It was a nice ride and I could see that living in Columbus was probably not at all bad. Back at the hotel, we ordered pizza and prepared for the next day.

Next - The ride to Winchester

 

Day 2 - The Ride Begins

Our plan is to leave Columbus (or Cleveland ) and head to Winchester VA. It fit in nicely with the main plan to ride to Washington DC, down the BRP, and back home. We chose Winchester because we had done a job there, for the same client, and we heard it was a nice town to visit. I don’t make it out to all of our projects, so it would be nice to at least say I had been there if anyone ever asks. Winchester is also about 350 miles from Columbus via some pretty nice riding, not the least of which is the infamous Triple Nickel. Here’s the route –



As is almost always the case, when we’re doing “just” 350 miles, we tend to dawdle in the morning because 350 miles is a “short” trip. So we stopped at a nice French Café we found just down the street from our hotel to have Croissants and coffee.



We sat outdoors under clear skies and warm temperatures. It was going to be a perfect day for riding. The day after a hangover, it feels especially good to feel good. We felt great in fact and we were raring to go.

Fueled up, we headed east. The first leg put us on I-70 for a spell, but after 45 minutes or so, we exited to “the good stuff”.



And yes, if you didn't know, Ohio has a lot of "good stuff". I knew that there was good roads in Ohio from reading about them online. But, my only experience with them so far has been interstate riding. Not so good. But this part of Ohio is a whole different story.



cont......

 

Thanks! But man, you're killing me! My bike is under wraps and at least 2 months from the nearest ride. And at that it will likely be hauled out of the frozen north to parts south before we can actually throw a leg over the thing.

Ah well - enjoy the ride. Be safe!

Thanks for hanging in through the "technical difficulties" Scott!

Good Lord! I mean....I know it's January and the north. But, it feels like we've had 4 months of winter already! I put my bike away in November and that was the last day before the snow flew. Hang in there brother!

 

Another great ride. Warm weather, partly cloudy, and great roads





We worked our way to Hwy 555 - the infamous Triple Nickel.



There was some construction so we were detoured for a bit. But eventually we were on the planned route. Like The Million Dollar Highway, Tail of the Dragon, and so many others, the Triple Nickel is a destination Road. It's twisty, hilly, and goes on forever.



It also runs through the relatively populated eastern part of the US. There are many, many blind driveways around curves. Those driveways are often gravel. That gravel gets dragged out onto the road and makes for a potential problem for two wheeled travelers such as ourselves.

Driveways and gravel aren't the only hazards. This overhanging branch was just around a curve. Cheryl took this pic looking backwards. We were fortunate not to hit it.



And then there was this -



And this -



No edge lines. The horror! But, if you look, there are edge lines. We had a little chuckle over that.

The 555 is a great riders road. We enjoyed it immensely. However, beware the above mentioned hazards. Maybe it was a blessing that there was fresh chip and seal for most of our ride because we dialed it back quite a bit from our usual pace. We could see that if luck was not on your side, you could get into a serious mishap very easily on Hwy 555.

We continued south on great roads.



The small towns we passed through were showing signs of struggle. The economy hits remote areas hard. We saw it time and time again. Worn out streets and buildings that need paint. Little traffic and the shops that look all but closed. Yes, this is small town USA, but I know what thriving small town USA looks like, and this isn't it.







We were getting closer to the Highway that would take us all the way to DC - Hwy 50.

To be continued....