I decided to take advantage of my time off of therapy and claim Sunday May 22, 2011 as my own. Miranda and Laela were going cake testing for graduation at Sauer Cakes, shoe shopping, and having
an all around "girl's day." I took that as my opportunity to knock a couple of states off of my list and explore some of what Ohio has to offer in terms of fun motorcycling roads. I decided that I'd go grab West Virginia and Pennsylvania since they were the closest states that I hadn't gotten yet and I could get them both in and still sleep in my bed that night.
Saturday night I did some research into good motorcycling roads in Ohio that were close to the route I was taking to West Virginia. I'd read some great reviews of OH-250 and OH-536, so I mapped out my route to include those roads. When I got up on Sunday morning at 7:00 I made a note card denoting the roads I'd be on and the distances I'd be on each. I then made a photocopy of my Ohio atlas, threw it into my tank bag's map pouch and I almost ready to go. Packing for a quick day trip was pretty simple. All I had to do was grab some basic tools, my rain gear, jacket, helmet, a bottle of water, and my phone. It took me longer to determine what music I wanted on my iPod than it did to pack my side case.
So I pulled out of the driveway at about 8:30, gassed up at Speedway and made my way over to US-62 to begin my journey. I sometimes forget how beautiful Ohio is especially in spring with as much rain as we've had. Everything is vibrantly green and lush. As I moved from US-62 to OH-541 my mind cleared and it was just me and the road. Here's my first stop:
While passing through Coshocton, I was jolted out of my tranquility by an elderly woman leaving her Sunday church service in a Dodge Aries. She was pulling out of the parking lot, turning left, and didn't even apply the brakes to slow down she cut right across my bow and missed me by about four feet. I hit my rear brake so hard that the wheel locked up and started skidding. My heart jumped into my throat. it was definitely one of the top five near collisions I've ever had on a motorcycle.
After collecting my senses, I continued on. I stopped in Newcomerstown, OH for lunch at 11:30 and then kept going on to US-250. The beautiful countryside continued. When I got to Tappan Lake I pulled over and took a break. There were many other motorcycle enthusiasts pulled over to take a break there too. I snapped some photos and talked to some folks who were also out for a leisurely Sunday ride. As I ventured onward, I picked up US-40 and crossed the borders of both West Virginia and Pennsylvania. The Ohio/WV border is the Ohio river and the sign was on a bridge so there was no stopping for a photo. I had to grab a pic of the Wheeling sign once I got across the bridge. I also didn't see a sign for the WV/Pennsylvania border but I did see the Visitors Center that is on Interstate 70, so I rolled over there and got a picture in front of the Welcome to Pennsylvania sign. So now I'd gotten all of the pictures I had set out to acquire. The next objective was to hit OH-536. I had read great things online about motorcycling this road. It was described as a mini "Tail of the Dragon" at Deals Gap so I was more than intrigued. Once I got through Hannibal, OH and started on the road I realized that I was way out of my league. It's really twisty, hilly, skinny, gravelly, and pretty. It's also scary. Lots of blind turns and horse poop. Road cracks are filled with tar that gets soft when hot so when you're leaned over and your tires hit it, the bike feels like it's about to tip over. I definitely panicked on a couple of occasions. At that point I decided to just slow down and proceed with caution. After OH-536, OH-78 to Zanesville and the US-40 were picnics.
The picnic ended in Licking county though. As soon as I got there the skies to the south blackened, the wind picked up and lightning started draping the sky like spider webs. It was about 7:30 when the drizzle actually started. I pulled over into a Kroger parking lot, donned my rain gear, and crossed my fingers. I was really regretting not having my full faced helmet now. They skies unleashed and the rain mercilessly pelted my face. I was reduced to travelling at about 30MPH and this kept up for the better part of an hour. It wasn't until I was in Reynoldsburg that it finally let up.
I eventually pulled into my garage at 9:15 wet and exhausted. Other than the rain the day was perfect and the rain certainly didn't put a damper on my spirits. I've heard it said that the only difference between an adventure and an ordeal is your attitude. Last Sunday was definitely an adventure and one I was glad to be able to do. In retrospect I'm thinking that I should have picked up Maryland too. It was under two hours away from where I was in Pennsylvania. Oh well, I'll have to go get it on another day.
Final trip odometer reading for the day:
