We decided last night to get a full night's sleep so that this trip would be our first where we would not start out tired. Asleep by 9pm--success! The 4am alarm still seemed unholy and Rob said he was awake since 2am excited about the trip. So maybe not entirely successful. Good news though, no rain at the house from the remnants of Hurricane Harvey. Tom and Mike arrived at 5am donned in rain gear. We optimistically decided to not wear ours hoping that the weather would only threaten to rain. We left shortly after 5am and the weather was mostly dry for the first hour and a half. This worked right up until we turned onto I-68 when it began to rain heavily. Rob pulled over at the first off ramp where we quickly and awkwardly put on rain gear. Mike later told us he was happy we stopped so he could put on his rain gloves. The temps had been hovering around the 57F degree mark up until that point.
As we made our way across Maryland and West Virginia the rain continued to fall heavily at times and temps dropped to the upper 40's as we topped out at 2800 feet! Thank you, Harvey!
We connected back to I-70W and rode out of Pennsylvania and into West Virginia. The roads dried out and the sun began to peek through. This is about when we figured Mike woke up since he started chatting with us over the CB. He apparently got just two hours of sleep last night, so we will forgive his early radio silence.
We stopped for a fuel and rest break in Morgantown, WV. A man asked us what it is like pulling a trailer, never having tried it himself. We chatted and he shared that he was from Oakhurst and gave us a few tips on scenic driving into Yosemite.
A heavy drizzle began as we made our way across Ohio and just as we were getting used to better conditions. We stopped in Hebron, Ohio for lunch around 11:30am. We were about half way to our destination at this point, making excellent progress. After lunch, the drizzle continued through the remainder of Ohio. It was not until we were 30 miles outside of Indianapolis that the drizzle stopped, the clouds disappeared, the sun came out, the roads dried up, and the temperatures climbed from 60F to 77F.
We made our last fuel stop of the day at Post Rd just east of Indianapolis and removed our rain gear. Mike told us the area was well known to be not the safest. We'll know for next time! We were about an hour ahead of schedule and decided to head straight over to Michael's brother's house. Jeff and his wife Tiffany had graciously offered to make us dinner at their home on our first night.
We arrived at Jeff's home at aound 5pm. We all sat around on the patio talking for an hour or so and watching the antics of their to dogs in the yard. Jeff and Tiffany made one awesome meal! Steak (marinated in some kind of goodness, Yum), salad, green beans, and a sweet potato casserole that was more like desert. We all called it Crack. It was amazing!
After a great meal, good stories, and a little Pappy 12 year old bourbon tasting, we said goodbye to Jeff, Tiffany and their two sons. We feel quite honored to have been welcomed into their lovely home and treated to such kindness. It is hard to beat a home cooked meal with family and friends after 600 miles on the road.
The hotel was only 20 minutes away. It took awhile to clean the bike after the messy day (it was waxed and pristine when we left this morning!) Tomorrow we head out for Topeka, Kansas. The weather promises to be sunnier and much warmer than today. We will happily be storing our rain gear and look forward to another great day of travel across America.
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