It was kind of a rough night. Certainly not the worst night I've ever had, but not the best either. The mattress was hard, the A/C was either making jet take-off noise or silent and outside the window the birds were loud. Add to that the time zone change, and it all added up for not as much rest as I needed.
I had weird dreams during the night. The alarm went off at 7 AM EST, which my body's clock was telling me was 6 AM. I thought about pressing the snooze button, but the walls were thin and the neighbor was already up and on the phone. So I reluctantly got out of bed.
I went outside and noticed it had rained during the night. The motorcycle was pretty wet. Looking at the clouds, it looked like there could be more rain coming so I didn't bother cleaning the bike. No sense getting it all shiny just have it quickly undone. At least that's the excuse I made for myself.
A continental breakfast was available in the office. Compared to the last couple morning's breakfast buffets, the pickings were slim. I selected a granola bar, some mini donuts and pop tarts, then took them back to my room to eat. The items were all sugar and not very filling, so I resigned myself that I would probably have to stop for lunch.
I couldn't find anywhere to fill up my water bottles. I usually pack a couple of one liter bottles in my saddlebag so that I have fluid available at rest breaks. My bottles were too big for the bathroom sink faucet. I would either have to find somewhere on the road to fill my bottles, or just buy water when I got thirsty.
While I was packing up my gear I decided that the t-shirt I was wearing was becoming annoying due to a tag rubbing my side. I knew this would only get more bothersome as I rode, so I changed my shirt. I'll save the "annoying" shirt for the last day when I only had a two and a half hour ride home from Ortonville, MN.
I loaded up the bike and hit the road around 8:30. It was slightly later than planned, but not too bad. The temperature was 68°F so I put on my mesh jacket. I was on the cool side of comfortable, but after the first two days of brutal heat I wasn't going to complain one little bit. This morning was actually the first time I could force myself to put the jacket back on since I got overheated on day two.
About 20 miles down the road the GPS gave up and stopped directing me on my predefined route along the ORSB, and instead pointed me in the most efficient way to get to the endpoint on the route file. I'm really starting to lose faith in this Garmin unit. It did so many goofy things on this trip that I was getting tempted to sell it when I returned home.
Leaving the Garmin to its own devices, I turned on the motorcycle GPS that is part of the Indian Ride Command screens, and used that map as a reference as I rode the route by memory. Also, the ORSB is pretty well marked with signs, so as long as I was seeing a sign every few miles I was reassured I was on the correct road.
I came across another nuclear power plant. By the end of the day I would encounter seven more of them. I managed to get pictures of six of them (or at least partial pictures.) When I saw the seventh I was on an expressway, and didn't feel safe to pull over to try to snap a photo.
I stopped in Portsmouth for a rest break in the parking lot of a gas station. As I stretched I noted that there were many abandoned buildings visible nearby. I noticed more of them as I rode through the city as well. Also I noted there was an unusually high number of panhandlers. One could conclude from all this that the city is struggling economically.
There were lots of hills to my left as I rode with the river on my right side. The sky was hazy, half from clouds and half from the Canadian wildfire smoke.
I stopped for another rest break in Proctorville at a McDonalds. I went inside and looked at the menu, but nothing looked overly appealing. I wish they still had the fruit and yogurt parfait, as I really liked those and they were only 99 cents. I finally decided I wasn't hungry yet and just sat in a booth for a few minutes. What looked like the manager sat down at a table near me to take a break. She looked at me but never said anything about me sitting in a booth not eating food.
Back on the road, I continued down the ORSB. Whenever I saw something interesting and it was safe to do so, I pulled over to snap pictures.
I came across more road construction. I pulled up and stopped in a line of cars waiting for a flagman. A guy on a Honda Gold Wing pulled up next to me and started talking. He told me his Gold Wing has the same engine as a Honda Accord. Ummm… ok. I just smiled and nodded and didn't bother to point out that the Gold Wing uses a boxer engine and the Accord has a V6. I wasn't unhappy when the flagman flipped the sign around to let traffic proceed, as I was getting kind of a weird vibe from the dude.
I rode through the morning. When I had traveled about 160 miles I decided to stop for gas in Syracuse, OH. Fuel was kind of expensive in this little town, but thankfully due to the smaller tank on a motorcycle it only cost me about $1 more than usual.
I was doing some stretching before I got back on the bike, when I noticed the "door of death" on the second floor of the gas station. It opens to literally nowhere. I'm guessing the building got repurposed at some point and it was cheaper to just stop using the door than to remove it.
As I reached Racine, OH I came across another power plant.
It was approaching lunch time and I was starting to get a little hungry. As I passed through Racine, OH, I noticed a couple of food trailers in a park. Food trailers are usually a tasty decision, so I pulled in. One of the trailers advertised hamburgers, the other Mexican food. Mexican food is my favorite, but at this point in time a hamburger sounded good to me. Hamburgers are a very close second favorite.
When I was in high school, I ate a hamburger almost every morning for breakfast before I went to school. I know this sounds weird, but it's true. It all started because my mom would faithfully cook the family breakfast on weekdays. She would often make sausage patties, as that's what my dad liked to have. I would take my sausage patty, put it between two slices of bread and slather it with ketchup. Eventually my mom decided that if I was going to make a hamburger, it was cheaper just to cook me a hamburger patty instead of sausage.
Anyway, while I was parking the motorcycle the hamburger trailer put up a "closed" sign, and the person working there drove away in a car. I guess that made my decision easy. I walked over to the Mexican food trailer and ordered a spicy pork burrito. I picked the spicy pork because that's what the lady taking my order recommended.
There wasn't any seating nearby, so I walked across the parking lot over to a nearby children's play area where there was a bench. I sat and ate, and listened to some equipment working on the nearby Ohio River.
It was pretty good food, but I wished I had ordered the steak instead of the spicy pork. It didn't taste bad, but it was a little greasy. Also, it wasn't quite as spicy as I would have liked.
After eating, I discovered the door at the nearby bathroom was locked. I wasn't in dire need of a restroom so I figured I'd wait and try again at the next rest break.
As I rode, once again the Garmin GPS got crazy and started directing me into West Virginia, which I thought was interesting considering when I built the route all of the waypoints were on the Ohio side of the river.
I ignored the Garmin and continued riding by memory. I came to one dead end on the ORSB that curiously the Garmin, the Indian GPS and Google Maps on my phone all agreed was a through-road. I could see the end of the pavement in a grove of bushes, so I knew it did not go through as all three of the electronics claimed. I did a little improvising, backtracked a little ways and found a different road that in a few miles took me back to the ORSB.
I still needed the restroom so I stopped at a gas station in Marietta for a break. I went inside and discovered the gas station didn't have a restroom. It made me wonder what the guy working behind the counter would use when the need arose? I bought an iced tea, but really I needed the bathroom more than the tea.
There was a restaurant next door, so I left the bike and walked around to the door. As I passed the drive-through menu I noted that the food looked pretty good. When I got to the door I saw that it was a breakfast and lunch only place, and it was already closed. I was really starting to need the bathroom rather urgently at this point.
A little bit farther down the block was a Wendy's. I walked down there and used their bathroom. I hadn't intended to walk so far from the motorcycle, and had left a lot of my gear sitting on the seat. Thankfully all my stuff was unmolested when I returned.
I headed back out on the road. Like it did almost every day of this trip, it started raining for about 10 minutes. It wasn't coming down hard so I just rode through it without putting on rain gear.
The day's temperature never got above 75°F, and with very little sun shining down that meant it wasn't a super-warm day. This was actually a welcome change from the first few days of the trip. After the rain stopped I actually started to get a bit chilly. I decided to pull over for a short break just long enough to put on my sweatshirt. I didn't even turn the bike off, just hopped off, took off my jacket and helmet, pulled my sweatshirt over my head and then put my jacket and sweatshirt back on. I didn't even bother to count it as a "stop" in my trip summary.
The closer I got to New Liverpool, OH (more or less the end of the ORSB) the faster traffic started to move. Just north of Powhatan Point, the road turned into a four-lane expressway. This was good for making time at the end of a long day, but not so good for photo opportunities.
28 miles from New Liverpool is the little down of Mingo Junction. I made a stop here, because when doing research on my route I learned that parts of the movie "The Deer Hunter" were filmed in this little town. While the Deer Hunter isn't one of my favorite movies of all time, it is iconic and I enjoyed it enough to make a stop on my trip. The Russian Roulette scene in the Vietnam prison is one of the most intense movie scenes ever filmed. Also, the film stars Christopher Walkin, who is an actor I love to watch.
When I pulled in, there was a giant mural painted on the side of a building. Obviously they too are well aware that parts of the Deer Hunter were filmed here.
About a block down the road was another mural for another movie. Apparently "Reckless" was filmed here as well. I never saw the movie, but I remember seeing the promotional poster at the theater. According to Rotten Tomatoes, at the time of this writing the movie gets 3.9 stars out of 10. That doesn't give me a whole lot of motivation to see it.
I headed down the street to the south, riding through the downtown area. It appears that Mingo Junction has seen its more prosperous days in the past. I continued on this street thinking I would find an entrance back onto the expressway. I was half right, as there existed an entrance for which I was looking. The half wrong part was, the road forked and I took the wrong fork.
I rode for a couple miles down this incorrect choice until I realized this road wasn't taking me where I wanted to go. So I turned around and rode back through downtown. I picked another street, and found myself riding up an uncomfortably steep hill. At the top of the hill was a residential neighborhood.
Not seeing an obvious way out of the neighborhood, I had no choice but to ride back down that same hill. Coming back down I wasn't comfortable using any front brake because it felt like the rear end of the motorcycle would come over my head in a somersault. I know that wouldn't actually happen, but that's how it felt. I heaved a great sigh of relief when I reached the bottom.
On my third try, I successfully found the on-ramp to get me back on the expressway to ride the last half hour to East Liverpool, OH. The hotel I was staying in was actually across the river in Newell, WV.
It started to rain a few miles outside of East Liverpool. I decided to stop and grab some supper before I went to the hotel. I usually like to get settled in my room first, but knew I wouldn't want to go back out in the rain.
I pulled over and did a quick search on my phone. Most restaurants in the area were displaying as closed, which I thought was odd during the dinner hour. I found a local place called Friendly Jacks that got good reviews. Seeing as I had the address pulled up on my phone, I just had Google Maps on my phone guide me there.
I started to laugh as I was riding. I looked down and realized I had three GPS devices going simultaneously. My Garmin had my original route file loaded. The Indian Ride Command screen was showing me a high-level map of the area. Finally, my phone was directing me to the restaurant. With three GPS devices, if I get lost it's my own darn fault.
I arrived at Friendly Jacks only to see a handwritten "closed for the week" sign hanging on the door. Ugh. I did another quick search on my phone. At this point I wasn't going to be too picky about where to eat as it was now raining pretty hard and I wasn't wearing my rain gear.
I found the "Hot Dog House" about five blocks away and made a quick decision to go there. I did notice it was highly rated, although I didn't put too much stock into how well a hot dog stand was reviewed. Hot dogs are okay, but normally I wouldn't make a meal out of them. At this point, as long as they had indoor seating out of the rain I didn't care what they served. Once again I used my phone to navigate me there.
The parking lot was on a slope, and the direction of the parking lines was perpendicular to the hill, which doesn't always work with a motorcycle side stand. I tried a couple of spots but wasn't comfortable with how the bike was leaning/not leaning. Thankfully the lot was empty so I was able to park diagonally across a spot and that gave me a good enough angle against the hill.
I walked in and ordered two chili dogs and a chili cheese fries. I guess I wasn't getting any Vitamin K that night either.
I sat down to eat and was amazed at how good the food was. It turned out to be the best hot dogs and fries of my life. Unexpectedly good. Kind of sad it's over 1,000 miles from home so I likely will never be back. I easily could have made a second order of chili dogs and fries and put them all down, but I showed some discretion.
After I was done with supper, the rain had reduced to a light sprinkle. Once again I decided to forego the rain gear. I estimated I was only a couple of miles from my hotel.
I followed the Garmin GPS directions to the hotel, which took me in a very non-direct path which included a circle. But the second time I rode by the same piece of road it then figured things out and sent me on a more direct route.
I had to cross into West Virginia via a toll bridge. I pulled up and the toll booth operator just silently looked at me. I was expecting him to tell me how much the toll would cost, but he must have assumed I already knew. I finally asked him, "how much?" and he stated the toll was only $1.
As I paid I mentioned to the attendant that it was raining, it was a metal grate bridge and I was on a motorcycle. His reply was, "Yeah, it's really slippery. Go slow." Fun.
No, it was not fun. The bike was sliding around on the wet metal grating. I kept it upright, but there was a very high pucker factor.
On the West Virginia side I stopped for gas. When I pulled out of the station the motorcycle horn honked and I got a "no key FOB detected" message on the screen. This was the anti-theft system on the motorcycle. It gives you a warning, and then if it doesn't sense the FOB again in a few seconds, it disables the bike. The FOB was in my pocket, where it had been all day. The bike never shut down, so it must have picked up the signal.
This pretty much confirmed my suspicions that my FOB battery is getting low. I brought spare batteries, but then realized I didn't bring a tiny screwdriver with me to change it. I hoped I would have enough FOB battery to last another few days. If the FOB died completely I know a code I can enter into the touch-screen that will let me use the bike without it, but it would be less convenient.
My hotel was the Holiday Inn Express on the west side of Newell. I found the hotel and checked in. Went up to my room on the third floor and got settled.
To my delight the Twins game was on TV. To my chagrin they were getting clobbered by the Braves. I watched it anyway.
While watching the ball game I did my usual routine of showering, calling home, writing up my trip notes and then working on music Although I can't guarantee they all happened in that order.
My arms were on fire from the sunburn I had gotten during the first two days of the trip, especially my left one. I tried to get a photo of the burn, but in this picture my arm looks completely normal. So it's just an awkward picture of my arm.
Tomorrow was going to be a long day, so I wanted to leave the hotel an hour earlier than normal. However, my body still being on CST was resisting that idea. I wanted to go to bed at a decent time, but the time change was making it difficult. I wound up staying awake longer than I should have.
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This page last updated on 08/28/2023