This is the third post about my trip to Ohio for my new 1996 Goldwing.
As my second day on the road dawned, I happily discovered I wasn’t nearly as stiff and sore as I was expecting. This was the first time I had ridden a bike in just over five years, and I had just put an 8-hour day in. You use a lot of muscles when you’re riding, especially on the curvy roads. Your quads get a workout in directions they’re not used to when walking. Your arms are working harder too. It’s not that you’re horsing the Goldwing’s full 900 pounds around. But you are moving a significant portion of that weight back and forth on the curves. It can tire you out easily, if you’re not prepared for it.
Despite discovering a First 48 marathon the night before, I got a good night’s sleep. The hotel provided a decent pre-made breakfast. I was on the road by around 10:30 AM and almost immediately ran into routing issues.
I had decided early on that I was going to stick to back roads as much as possible. I discovered as I left Ohio that I hadn’t retained nearly as much of the map study as I hoped. I didn’t have a phone mount to be able to see the route Waze was using, and I couldn’t exactly ride with the phone in one hand. To compensate on that first day, I’d stop every so often, scout ahead using Waze and Google Maps, and write down directions, keeping the list of towns and turns in the map pouch on the gas tank. It wasn’t ideal, but it helped.
I’d spent half an hour or so playing with Google Maps to get some better directions at the hotel the night before. I quickly realized though that what printed out didn’t match the route I had actually planned. Back to my original (back-up) plan of scouting and writing notes.
I jumped on I-69 around Caneyville to make up for what I thought was lost time, but found myself needing fuel and food at the Powderly-Central City exit. Hit the gas station, then the Subway, and made liberal use of the Gold Bond powder I’d brought along with me. Yes, the sweat and the seat were starting to get to me. Several riding friends highly recommended Anti Monkey Butt to me, but I already had the Gold Bond with me, and had used it before. Good stuff.
Within five minutes of getting back on 64, I came to a standstill just west of Kuttawa. A woman in the right lane of the freeway had attempted to make a U-turn at 70 miles an hour, without waiting for traffic to clear. A pickup truck in the left lane hit her, and her passenger was killed. By the time I hit the traffic jam, things were already backed up for three-quarters of a mile.
Traffic waited for well over an hour, waiting for a medical helicopter, then the county coroner. Several dozen cars cut U-turns through the median, as well as at least one motorcyclist. I considered it, but figured that by the time I got the Goldwing turned around, backtracked 3.5 miles to the nearest exit and headed west on 62, I’d be just as far ahead to wait for the freeway to clear.
I wish I had captured video of the biker. He scouted the path first, since the grass was waist-high at least. With his passenger dismounted, he carefully edged through the grass. You couldn’t see any of his Harley, just this seated body floating across the median.
Several of us had a pleasant chat as we waited in the heat. A trucker who hailed from Columbus kept us up-to-date on things via CB, and shared bottles of water. A mother and daughter were late to a wedding in Paducah. Another couple was traveling from North Carolina home to Wisconsin; we traded good-natured barbs about Big 10 Football. A fourth family was moving from Nashville to California.
Once we got going again, I stayed on I-24 only as far as Paducah, then switched back to US-62 to cross the rivers at Cairo. That was another moment I wished I had had video running. In 2 miles, you pass through three states and cross two rivers. It was a gorgeous couple of miles, and there were plenty of other bikers out for Labor Day Weekend.
The time lost to the traffic jam and the energy lost to standing around in the heat really took a toll on me. Heading west into the setting sun along US-60 didn’t help matters either. I ended up pushing only as far as Poplar Bluff. I got one of the last two rooms at the Super 8, and discovered Huddle House for dinner. I couldn’t recall the last time I had to specify non-smoking in a restaurant, but I did there. Something about the seating capacity allows them to designate up to thirty percent of their space as smoking. Food was still good.
Tomorrow, it’s on to home.
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