Erie, PA -> Columbus, OH

Evidently, I am still learning how weather works. It was raining when I woke up today so I groaned and shut my eyes for a bit longer. When it became clear that this would not cause the clouds to disperse, I finally began my morning. Packing my bags and checking the weather. Oh how I wish I had not tried to go back to sleep. These rainclouds were long, heavy, and blowing in the direction of travel. Ergo, waiting meant I would have to evade more of them. I loaded up the bike in the rain and set off, shoving my wet hands into my gloves as I went on my way. The ride to the interstate started off poorly. I realized that I had not set the waterproof layer onto my gloves properly. In order I had skin, non waterproof jacket, and glove. This allowed water to wick through my jacket into my glove liner and my hands were soaked in no time. By the time I was able to understand and correct my error, I was cursed with prune hands for the day. The morning leg where I was simply trying to escape the rain was hard fought, I stopped at two different truck stops to rest. The first to dry my hands and eat breakfast. The second to put in my cold weather liners. To ice the cake, my bluetooth unit drowned to death which meant that I could no longer get directions from my pocketed phone. At the second stop the thought of shipping the bike back or selling it and canning the whole damn thing crossed my mind. As I was standing outside staring blankly into space, a man approached me without greeting or pretense. "My wife was asking me what motorcycles do in the rain. I said they either wait under an overpass or keep going. I guess you keep going."

He walked off.

I keep going.

I eventually escaped the last of the rain and made short work of the remaining drive to Columbus. I arrived at my friend Casey's house where a chair with a back and his good company greeted me. I took off my boots to reveal that my socks too had soaked through. After catching up, we set off for a motorcycle shop to secure a new headset for myself (waterproof of course) and a local computer store for a waterproof phone case (not to be found). After these adventures we were in need of feed and he suggested an Ohio speciality, Swenson's. This is a drive-in burger joint noted for a different spin on food and staff that run to your car. And I mean RUN. Our server was at our window before we even finished moving. When we turned on our lights to place our order, she went into a full on sprint and was there before the window had rolled all the way down. The Galley Boy is their speciality. Casey promised me that this petite double cheeseburger with two secret sauces, served with an olive on a toothpick poking through the foil wrapper would scratch my In-n-Out itch. He was not wrong. I would go so far as to say it was the best burger I've had on this trip.

Look at Casey's Shirt

Back to his place to install the new bluetooth unit (and two firmware updates later) and he took me on a tour of OSU's campus. It is right by his house and on the way to the bars. While he, like me, has had a lengthy undergrad experience, he clearly has a love for midwestern college culture and the pizzaz of the marching band on campus. We met in marching band in high school so there was a great deal of appreciation from us for what they do here and how they do it. I've never seen a sousaphone whip around quite the way they do here when "dotting the I" (look it up). We grabbed our first drink at a mexicanish restaurant along with tacos and then made our way down the main drag to a small cocktail bar for a second. A cup of ice cream and a pause, there is a lot to see on High Street on a Friday night. People are funny.

Today's Distance: 228 Miles

Total Distance: 4765 Miles