A horrible end to a perfect day!

Summer is here and I am ready!

"Be prepared!" was the thunderous title of my last blog entry, which, at this point, seems like a distant memory. Indeed I have been neglecting my duty to my loyal reader to make continuous updates to this grand experiment but with good reason. I have taken all this time away to gather experience and report what I have learned as I start to venture further from home than ever before without the safe, secure feeling a car provides. I have had numerous ups and downs since my last keyboard clicking session, so without further ado, here goes nothing!

"If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." -Someone wiser than me

I have a tendency to worry...a lot. I try my best to be prepared and I do not make any decision hastily. Every time I leave the house in any capacity, there is a certain plan in motion. Major purchases are reviewed time and time again in and endless obsession to ensure the best possible outcome. Blame it on my family, which, on both sides has an extreme aversion to risk taking. 

As the school year wound down, the wife and I decided to pursue our two year delayed summer plans of riding all around the country. The goal was to hop on the bike, not look back, go and get lost and enjoy our summer as we prepare for major life changes. In fact the sole purpose of this blog was to support and document our journey into buying a bike, making it our own and then riding all summer long. 

We have worked tirelessly in our home and personal lives to ensure no loose ends are left untied and that we have dotted our "i's" and crossed our "t's". With memorial day fast approaching I dug into the tourism guides for fun things to do. We both had the day off, as did our riding buddy, so we decided we would leave early and make a whole day ride. 

I determined that The Hocking Hills state park would make for a nifty ride. This gigantic state park in the middle of nowhere Ohio is home to numerous nifty geological attractions. Evidently, this park is very popular no matter what time of year you visit (save for the horrid winters), a fact I wish I would have known. 

The draw of the day though, was the ride itself. I more or less planned a 330 mile round trip, encompassing around 8 hours of solid ride time. 

The day started so well!

We departed from home earlier than usual. I believe we were out of the driveway by 8 AM this time and on the road not much later. In order to ensure we could return at a reasonable time we had to keep to a more strict schedule. The road was long and winding and despite initial delays of me believing there was a freeway exit where there wasn't, we were on our way.

There were two freeways we could have taken down, but we picked the scenic route. Around every 25 miles we would run through a very, very small town. These scattered villages were the definition of what one might think when the words "one horse town" are mentioned. Being memorial day, we faced numerous delays as equipment was arranged and loading and unloading occurred everywhere. I must admit it was fun pretending that everyone was lined up on both sides of the street to greet us! For a day, we were special!

It is easy to be distracted by nature.

The roads were some of the most beautiful I had ever seen. They wound and curved through deep forests, so thick with green that I felt I was on another planet. Farms and houses sparsely dotted this lush landscape as we meandered down to the hills. 

One of the many curves in these underused roads. 

We were also greeted with plains upon plains of golden wheat and waves of green corn beginning to grow. Large and fluffy white clouds hung in the sky like cotton balls over these verdant hills and golden fields as the sun showered everything in sight.  These endless seas of greens and grasses were mesmerizing. I think we may have discovered some new Windows wallpapers. 

Coming to Windows 11!

Upon our arrival in Logan County we immediately stopped and took a break to figure out what we should do. We decided to head to the Old Man's Cave, another 12 miles from our current location. Upon arrival in the Hocking Hills area we realized that a holiday weekend might not have been the best time to visit. Tons upon tons of people had the same idea we did.

So many people!

Aside from the crowds of people we were also greeted with a loud constant humming, which we came to find out was actually cicadas. Everything was covered with these large bugs that are fortunately not a nuisance. 

Gross and everywhere but very harmless.

At the visitors area we were able to obtain prime parking simply by being motorcycles. It is nice when they have dedicated spots for bikes. For every one car we can fit 4! It is nice being small sometimes! Once parked we ran towards the concession stand and chowed down on some decent chili dogs and mozzarella sticks before descending to the cave.

Prime parking spots!

Nothing better than eating warm food in the sun!

There were people EVERYWHERE! The crowds were just crazy. Everyone was polite and nice to each other though, which reduced the overwhelming nature of the experience. What made the crowd unpleasant was the small bridges and stairways that must be used to reach the cave itself. The cave is about 10 stories down from the entry level of the park, which is around 20 stories down from the actual ground level of the Logan county entrance.

Drop it low. 

Essentially you must uses a series of steps, carved passageways and awkward bridges in order to reach the cave. The air is cool thanks to the blanket cover of the forest above but the hike will make you sweat. 

So beautiful!

 After what seemed like my own personal death march to the cave, we were greeted with small water falls and a cave so large I was taken aback. I was stunned that such a large cave, complete with fresh water delivery and protection from all the elements, sat nestled in this hidden valley, of which I had never heard of until I googled "interesting things to do in Ohio." 

Go here!

After experiencing the scenery, which must be personally experienced to be fully understood, we reascended the stairs of destiny and prepared for the departure. 

I was a bit winded from the climb!

Two options: The long way or the longer way

The ride down had been great. The scenery and roads were just awesome. We decided to skip the freeways and just use the back roads again to return home. The trip down was so good, why not double it!

All roads lead to the middle of nowhere. 

We also decided to forego stopping more than needed to facilitate a faster arrival time. That meant we would be running lower on gas and water than needed. Not a wise choice on a 90+ degree day but not the worst either. We stopped outside the hills for one more fuel up and then were on our way.

More reliable, you say?

We had covered around 70 miles of our 165 mile return home when it happened. On one winding road in Danville Ohio the bike decided to fail us. We had just come out of one turn and were headed up another when all of the sudden the throttle became unresponsive. No amount of feathering the bike would keep it going. The throttle became completely useless and the bike died. 

An unbearable heat. 

Panicked, I grabbed the clutch and jammed my thumb onto the starter in hopes to rattle the bike back to life. Surely, this was a fluke, I thought to myself. But as I sat on the smoldering hot highway in full travel gear desperately trying to make the bike fire, I realized this day was not going to end well. 

I was able to slowly but surely back the bike down the hill and into the gravel driveway of a nearby farm. If there was one fortunate aspect to the location, it was that there were people and I had a cell phone signal. Once I realized that the problem was not roadside repairable I called the insurance company who sent for a tow truck. 

Perfectly summing up the situation. 

The heat was unbearable. We took refuge in the bikes shadow as there were no trees to be seen. Two passerbys stopped to ensure our safety but ultimately continued along. We ran out of cold water and were down to one warm Coke Zero to drink. Needless to say we were starting to feel a bit woozy. Sunstroke is real and we were feeling its effects. 

Across the street was an abandoned shop whose wall was providing shade to the ground next to it. We decided to head over there and lay in the grass while we waited for a tow. Unfortunately we also found a nest of jumping spiders which let us know whose territory we were on. 

The view of the breakdown from the shaded spider nest area. 

Fortunately the tow man arrived within 35 minutes of our breakdown and agreed to take us home. A 94 mile tow. Because of our location it took around an hour to even get a freeway and then another 50 minutes to arrive home. 

We unloaded our machine and thanked the entertaining tow driver for his help. This man made us feel a lot better and I do not even remember his name. I will say he was one of the most interesting people we have ever met. 

A horrible end to a perfect day!

I would come to find out two weeks later that a fuel pressure regulator had gone bad, causing a complete drop in pressure and the inability to get fuel to the injectors. 

Although this problem may have been preventable I learned a hard lesson that day; no matter how much you prepare and plan, sometimes shit happens.