Day 1! Back on the Road.

Let the packing begin!!

I'd like to get on the road by noon.  Things go pretty well.

I find some stuff.

 

Get some more stuff.

 

Find some other stuff.

 

Oh, yeah, can't forget this stuff.

 

Oh, man, gotta get all this stuff on the bike...

 

Ah...  Left to right: stuff I don't need, stuff I wear on me, stuff that needs to stay with the bike, stuff to wear when I'm not on the bike, stuff I don't need till I see people, stuff to have with me at all times.

  

Whew!!  All my packing done by 11am!  Woot!  So I go chill for a while and wander around looking for things I missed.

Then at noon, go to get the bike.

 Get distracted on the way to the bike. 

 

Right, Packing!

Checking out the bike.  Fumigating gremlins.

I realize that, while I am so proud that all my clothing and essentials fit in that little black back for 15 days, I have to fly home and bring all the stuff that I'm wearing, and some of the stuff that's on the bike that belongs on MY bike.  So, minor modifications...

 

I can't find my Smoke Chasers book.  I wander around for 30 minutes looking for that and finally give up.  Now I'm annoyed!  Mom and I were just out last week pounding BBQ.... I finally let it go and get back to the bike.

Fumigating Gremlins.

It is now 1pm and I'm behind.  Remarkable how I do that. :)

  

Max, the Pirate Dog, is secured at his place at the helm and we're good to go!

  

Ok, So we're good to go...and I start thinking about the stuff I'm sure I've forgotten.

oh, well, not 3 miles away, I realize: the liner for my jacket. 

5 minutes more: the spare gas container I'd decided not to pack and then changed my mind.

 On Rt. 70: my Slim Jims

About 2 hours into it:  I packed, butt didn't apply, Monkey Butt Powder.  That at least was fixable.

Leaving home to go West is always 70 West and Sideling Hill.  It's a good stretch away from home and a marker that I'm really going somewhere.  I *might*, *once* have gone that far for a job, but otherwise, you don't see Sideling Hill unless you're going somewhere.

I had never seen this monument, which is just steps from where I usually pull over here for photos or a stretch, but it was interesting and another place for gorgeous photos.  Before I left Sideling Hill I'd had a water, scarfed a protein bar and liberally applied Monkey Butt Powder. 

Sideling Hill

 Watered and powdered, I took off again.  Usually powder and water makes a sticky mess, but in my case, I was a much happier camper.  It was HOT.  The windsheild on the Guzzi is great, but does cut down the air that can go through the jacket.

Fort Necessity.  Iron Butt Nat'l Park stop.

They're very proud. His statue was cool.  Missed that photo, but he was on a horse and had a dog. 

I like this.

"HI"

 It was a gorgeous day.  it was HOT, though.  It's been worse, for sure, but in the 4 o'clock hour it was 90, 5pm-92, 7pm-87, but by then I was on the backroads of PA/Ohio, cuz I'd forgotten to take 'avoid tolls' out of my GPS preferences.  It was fine with me.  Don't pay tolls *and* get off the superslab to ride some great back roads.  Mostly it was just me on the roads.  Though even the slab had very little traffic.

The only problem was that it was early evening and I'm headed West, so it went kind of like this:

Gaw, look how beautiful...and it's cool and shaded, too.

 

OH, MY GOD, I CAN'T SEE!  Please little animals stay where you are...

 

Man, this is nice.  Where is everyone?  Never mind, who cares, I have this all to myself. :D

 

I'M BAH-LIIIIND!  Man, that sun is hot! 

At what point does squinting become closed eyes?

 And so on and so on into Ohio.

 

 Where I passed the SECOND BBQ joint on my direct route.

Annoyed that I don't have my Smoke Chasers book.

Looking for dinner and entranced by the ride, I pass the intersection where I'm supposed to turn.  The one where I'd just been sitting at a street light.  Staring at the Taco Bell.  Deciding I wouldn't stop just yet...

 

And then I realize that I passed my turn, so I spin around, get to see these cows and some adorable goats 2 seconds down the road, and then I stop at same said Taco Bell anyway.

 

And then it gets dark, so no more photos.  I use 17 pieces of technology to home in on some hotels and, uncharacteristically, go to the first one I call. ok, so it was the cheapest one listed and it was an exit back...  ok, so it was characteristic.

So, Day One down.  Tomorrow on to Cuyahoga Valley Nati'l Park for another stop on the Iron Butt Nat'l Park tour.  And then to another one in Illinois.  I forget the name of that one, though.

Butt, I be a happy girl!