the big ride 2020

[drbuzzard]

i left home saturday morning at 06:10 the sun had not started to rise but i was on the move. the temp gauge on the Mighty ST 1300 was showing 58f, i didn't want to dress too heavy so i took my tourmaster draft air jacket with the liner installed along with a sweat shirt and light weight fleece jacket. i had on my tourmaster venture pants with the liner removed, the combo kept me warm. i shot over to warren rd. and took it to m-39 and headed south, being so early there wasn't much traffic but the allen park LEO's were out in force seeing that it was a holiday weekend. i took I-94 west, there was much more traffic so i sped up from 65mph to 80mph to get away from it. there wasn't much traffic on I-275 going sout so i slowed down to 70mph then made a stop at the rest area which is about 3 miles north of I-75. i waited there for cousinjeff to arrive, we were heading down to Marietta, Oh. for some riding in the area

 

[drbuzzard]

jeff arrived about 15 minutes after me on his BMW R1200 GSA. after he took a bathroom break we got back on the road, I-275 down to I-75 south then picked up I-280 and took the woodville road exit. in woodville we took us-20 east, in bellevue, oh we stopped at mc donalds for a couple of breakfast sandwiches and spotted these old cars at a shop right behind the restaurant

 

[drbuzzard]

while passing through monroeville we spotted an old harley out front of roeders racing so we made a U-turn to go check it out

 

[drbuzzard]

then we found out that the store was open so we went in to look around. they had a few older harleys for sale, a few they had restored for customers, and a few they were in the process of fixing and or restoring, i took some pic's of a few of the bikes in the shop

 

[drbuzzard]

we headed south on us-250, there is a rest area / park at the oh. 13 split so we took a break there and had a snack plus took a bathroom break. we took 83 south and in Coshocton, Oh. jeff took off on the GSA so he could ride part of the Ohio TAT. its an off road trail thats being mapped out and there is a TAT in a lot of states to have some off road fun on. i was on my own now and continued south on 83 and stopped in New Concord, i only had 245 miles but i stopped for gas anyway knowing that i had more riding to do. a quick stop at the post office before leaving town

 

[drbuzzard]

seeing that i was on 78 i took a break from the heat ( 82f ) at Miner's Memorial, home of Big Musky

 

[drbuzzard]

i continued east on 78 after leaving Miner's Memorial then took I-77 south and crossed the boarder into West Virginia and made a stop at the welcome center

 

[drbuzzard]

once i left the welcome center i headed into my town to see how it was since my last visit. i rode over to the post office for a pic and then to the river front for a pic, the building with the blue awnings across the river is the Lafayette hotel in Marietta, Oh.

 

[drbuzzard]

once done in Williamstown i crossed the boarder into Marietta and went and checked in at the Red Roof Inn knocking down 285 miles

 

[drbuzzard]

jeff made it to the hotel around 18:00
sunday we were up and out the door around 08:00, jeff set out to ride more of the Ohio TAT. i headed for downtown Marietta so i could pick up 7 and head south. but first there was a pic with heavy equipment, at the library, and at the post office

 

[drbuzzard]

out on 7 i saw a little side road that ran along the Ohio river, Joe Skinner road, i made a left and rode it for a better view, its just over a mile long but doesn't have many places to pull over but it does loops back to 7

 

[drbuzzard]

back out on 7 ( ohio route 7 ) i passed by the triple nickel for OH 124, another interesting road that runs mostly along the Ohio river but much longer than joe skinner road. i pulled over at this church for a few pic but had to pass on the invite to attend services, its near long bottom, oh.

 

[drbuzzard]

i cam across the post office too

 

[drbuzzard]

just down the road is the dam

 

[drbuzzard]

i continued on 124 until i reached us-33 where 124 ends, i made a left turn on us-33 and crossed the bridge into Ravenswood west Virginia

 

[drbuzzard]

leaving out of ravenswood i back tracked and took 33 north out of WVA. i had no plan at this point and figured i would head north until something caught my eye or i saw a road i wanted to ride. i was cruising along barely keeping up with traffic even though i was doing 80mph when all of a sudden a guy in a toyota blew by me, he had to be doing a ton or better. just as i thought there had to be another one there was, a grey Ford fusion but he was a LEO in pursuit of the toyota !! i ended up taking oh-78 over to oh-550 then picking up oh-555

 

[drbuzzard]

before leaving the church i put my GPS on " take the shortest route " it had me take veto road over to pedro road, that put me back at route 7 so i headed north for Marietta, got a pic at one of the fire stations then stopped at yellow bag for a box of ice cream sandwiches before heading back to the hotel. jeff showed up from his ride around 17:00, he was starving cause he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, i ate three of those ice cream sandwiches. we headed out for a bite to eat and once there i could see the look on his face, his off roading and the heat had taken a toll on him and he was beat and starving. he ate everything on his plate and ordered desert too. we made it back to the hotel about 20:00 and by 20:30 he was sleep

 

[drbuzzard]

Monday we were up and out the door around 08:00, jeff took off to ride more of the TAT and part of the triple nickel, i went around and dropped off the key cards but was only a few minutes behind jeff in leaving. i wanted to get home kind of early so i could relax and get a good night of sleep seeing that i had to be at work today. my plan was to ride over and pick up oh-13 and head north back to us-250 but neither jeff or i had an ohio map with us and i was too cheap to buy one so i decided to take route 60 north out of Marietta and stop at a few places i didn't stop at before so my first stop was at the old Muskingum hotel, i stayed there about four years ago but it wasn't showing up on any of the hotel sites like booking.com and now i know what happened to it

 

[drbuzzard]

leaving out of Marietta i headed north on RT 60, it was an almost perfect morning, sunny and 65F and the only head wind was being created by the Mighty ST 1300. traffic? what traffic, its the holiday !! made a quick stop in Lowell and in Beverly for post office pic's. i remembered a mural on the side of a restaurant advertising Chinees and Mexican food, the mural is gone and now they are only serving Mexican food. Boy am i really enjoying my ride, maybe Jupiter aligned with Mars or maybe because i haven't had much seat time since last July, which ever it was i was digging it!

 

[drbuzzard]

Once up in McConnelsville i stopped at Lock and Dam #7