Barns with quilts

Another beautiful day for riding.  I guess because of the nice weather this all I want to do. Ride, ride, ride.  

I head out about 2:00 in hunt for some barns with quilt prints on them.  I mapped out where a few of them are.  Followed 36 close to Piqua and then north on some back country roads.

Most of  these were near Fletcher, OH

This is near a Historical farm that was not open today 

so I took pictures  from a distance.

I wish I could have gotten closer on this  it looks really unique. 

Kiser Lake

Potty brake.

Was a great ride, explored alot of little back  country roads.

Have been out riding every day this week with the indian summer we are having.  This weather is great, I wish it would last longer.  Today Pat and I met and headed up to Waldo for that awesome fried bologna sandwich.  We took the roads that hugs the river on the right side. Very little traffic, such a nice and easy going ride.

When we get to G & R Tavern it is packed, we have 2 groups in front of us.  Hard to believe on a Thurs. afternoon.  The couple in front of us offered that we could share a table with them.  We had a very nice visit with them. Pat is great  with strangers and conversation.  After lunch we head north to check out a spot  I had found on http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/10847 really interesting.  I love the site. The last two pictures are of where a man was killed by a tree and buried in  the exact spot.  Such a strange thing to see, been there since 1833.  We then head back on 257, nice road , newly paved with just a pleasant amount of sweeping curves.  I off onto Fry Rd. and Pat goes on into Cols.  Fun day.

Is this my last ride for the season?

Well off for a ride by myself today.  I turn off of Rt. 4 just outside of  Mechanicsburg onto an awesome little  road that is really hilly.  The hills are peaked so you can't see what is on the other side. Reminded me of the bear went over the mountain.  Was a bit scary because of  how narrow the road was. I would love to go fast but not knowing if a cage is on the other side, I took them pretty slow.  The sky was doing a number too.  Kinda dark but yet not raining.  I loved it.  I hope this is not the last good ride for the season. Just never know.

Like this shot with the road in the mirror. 

behind me

I took these pictures free handed.  I could not find my mount.  I don't enjoy doing this makes me ride slower, but can aim better.

Clark Lake

Mt Gilead State Park

My nephew Austin spent the night last night and was hangin here today.  So I thought it would be good day for a hike.  We headed north to Mt Gilead, got there around noon so we had to find some eats before hiking.  They did not have many places so we did Pizza Hut.  Seem to take a long time for our order.  But once it came it  was good food, we ate, cleaned up and headed for the park.

The trail was lakeside trail, was to be about 2 miles.  Was sprinkling a bit but we were not going to let that stop us.  We came to a loop called Sam's Creek, I wanted to take it and Austin did not.  I told him stay on the Lakeside path and then wait for me were my loop comes back to meet.  Sam's creek was a nice added hike of .5 mile straight up a hill, really got my heart racing.  Well when this loop came back around to the main path there was no Austin.  Oh my, I had forgotten my phone in the car.  Do I go back to the car?  I called his name and wisheled for him, no response.  If I go back to the car and leave him out here in the woods by himself.  Wow I was starting to panic.  Where was he!!!  He is only 11 yrs. old what if he gets lost.  Stupid thing to seperate. So I walk on in the direction we were headed and yelled every once in a while.  All of a suden I heard the noise of a walking stick banging a tree. What a relief, he was waiting at the next loop.  He did not see the first sign and did not remember the name,  So we were glad to see each other and headed on around the lake.  It got up to 70, nice day even though we had some  rain.

I  had sent out an email to the WOW group to see if anyone wanted to take a ride to southern Ohio to do the Fall Festival of Leaves mapped out routes.  Had two takers, one canceled and so it was just Susan and I.  We meet at Der Dutchman and had cinamon rolls for breakfast.  Thought we were going to be so close to Dru, I called her and she would like to join us.   She had gotten the email just that morning and thought it was to late.   We meet her in London and then head south on 38.  When we got to Washington Courthouse we stopped for gas and the got onto 753.  In Greefield we got  on 41 took it till Upper Twin Rd.  Was a great road with beautiful scenery.  I just can't describe the enjoyment of taking a new back road that twist around and you have no idea what is around the corner.  I love it.  On this road we came up a steep hill and all of a sudden it opened up to where you could see for miles down a valley.  We stoped to take pictures.   Got to route 50 and turned right and headed into Bainbridge to get gas and lunch.  We ate at Timbers,  was ok nothing real special but was busy with home town atmasphere.  Then we did our south loop which took us to Pike Lake,  stopped there and enjoyed the lake for bit.  Turned left onto Egpt Hollow Rd.  There were protions of the road that were completely covered in leaves. Was awesome, but the road kept getting smaller and smaller, it was like hiking in the woods on a motorcycle.  Eventually it turned into gravel, which was kind of scary because it was also hilly and curvey.  This road came to an end at the top of a hill, my heart was racing,  we turned right onto Greenbriar Rd. then to Jester Hill Rd. which took us into Bainbridge.  So  now we have one more loop and I hope there is no more gravel.
Straight thru Bainbridge onto 41 turn  left onto Falls Rd.  Left onto Rapid Forge right onto 50, left onto Cave Rd.  Sure enough it turned into gravel, I stoped and asked Susan and Dru if they wanted to turn around, I thought by the gps we would have about a mile until we turned again, they were game to continue on.  It feels so good after going slow on gravel to hit pavement and take off to normal speeds.  We soon hit 41 and take it back into Bainbridge and then head for home. I think I got home around 5:30 but boy was I beat.  Nice birthday ride.

Wapakoneta 10-10-10

Went to church and grabed a quick lunch.  Paul and I headed out about 12:00  on the bikes to look  at farm machinery.   Up to Richwood on back roads was beautiful out.  Looked at Parrots driving around on the gravel parking lot.  Then down Rt, 4  stoped at a farm house that had a disc out.  I ate a crab apple while I waited on Paul.  Just picked it up off the ground wow was it sweet.  I think that is the first I have eaten one of them.  Then we get a call that a guy had something up in Wapakoneta that Paul wanted to see.  Was junk  but any ways was a nice ride except for the wind was really bad.  The gps directed us  there on back roads.  Took about 1.5 hrs.   We got  lost in Wapakoneta due to a detour, got that straightened out. Decided  we did not want to go  33 back so we caught 29 and took  it  all the way to Urbana. Really good road to travel between Sidney and Urbana, lots of sweeping curves and hills.   Grabed supper and then home.  Landed about 6:00.  I have gotten about 370 miles in this warm spell.

Exploration Ride/ Holmes County

Got alot of little things done around the house before I left for my ride at 11:45, so a bit tired already.
I'm headed to amish country, plans are to go up to Millersburg and then ride a big circle up there, going thru the town  of Charm.  I have a nice ride to Millersburg leting the gps lead the way. Up to Delaware the normal way but then onto 42 north and then off on a little road to the right connecting to 521. Got gas and a snack, called Paul and then  on thru Mt. Vernon (which was busy) to 36 then to 62. Millersburg is  having a festival tomorrow so they had some roads blocked off.   I get to the road 241, which I was to take and missed it so I went on to turn around and oh boy the gps had me turn down this little road that I am not sure if it was a road.  It  took me right into someones barn yard and apeared to go on but got really small and I think it  became dirt.   I saw many dirt  roads up here, not gravel but dirt.  Hard to believe that are so many yet in this day and age.  I am going to look on google maps and see if I can find that road.  Ok just checked, now I know I cannot trust this gps.  The road stops there at that barn yard.  So frustrating when trying to get back to a road missed that is when you really need the gps to get you there. ERRRRRRR

My date on my camera is a day off.

So I turn around and head back onto 62 into Millersburg and the road it wanted me to take was a small road that could not be what I was to take. So I  pass it again.  I relize that the real 241 was blocked off. I felt so frustrated with this whole thing I thought I will just head home.  It was also about 2:30  or so, I headed out of town on 83 going north I thought it was headed west.  Then I took Co rd. 1 west to 514, this was my favorite road all day.   Plenty of hills with nice curves. Went thru the small town of Nashville.  Any ways I got home about 5:45  I saw lots of Amish. One guy was just sitting with his team of horses in the field, must have been giving them a break. He smiled and waved.  No other contact with anyone else.  Did about 250 miles today.

Sept. 25 Athens, OH

Laura and I contacted each other in the morning and checked out the net of what to do and where to go.  We really enjoy hiking so we headed down to Athens to go to the Strouds Run State Park.  We got down there around 12:30 and it was time to eat.  Laura did college at OU so she knew of this great little spot with great chicken, Millers Chicken.  Real small place that was constatly busy the whole time we were there.  Very good and moist chicken, I heard so many gizzards ordered that after we had eaten I oreded a half of an order.  Wow they were good.  I brought them home for Paul to enjoy.
Now for  the  hiking,   we get to the park and find  the map. Well that did not look to hard, the trails were not named on the map except for 1 or 2 but we thought we could do it in about an hour or so.  No need to bring the walking sticks with the compass, the trails won't be to ruged.   Five minutes into it we relized those sticks might have been handy, we were headed straight up.  We talked with a guy that said that we were about 1/2 way up and when we get to the top if we go left it would level out and take us back to the parking lot.   We decide we will go right to see if we could find the scenic over look.

Well 2 1/2 hrs. later, after many spider webs,  we are trying to figure out were we were headed.  We both hate to back track so that kept us going forward.  We took a path that we eventually relized it was a horse trail by the large droppings in the middle of the trail.  So we finally caved into the whole thing of back tracking since the sun was starting to get lower in the sky  and headed back the way we came.  About 3 hrs. from the start, we are back in the car, drinking water and enjoying  the air.   Oh what fun, we survived!

September 21, 2010 Yellow Springs

Susan and Kim met here at my house and we headed south to Yellow Springs.  Was a bit chili but we were fine.  I was to lead but sure enough I almost took off with a pair of sandles (which I didn't use) sitting on my saddle bag, that is exactly how I lost my rain pants.  Thank goodness Susan caught me and I stuffed them away securely.   So we headed out on rt 4, to 161, to Catawba Mutual rd. and then to 54 to the Speedway in South Vienna.  There we met 3 more, Dru, Lynn and Margret.  On down 54 to 41 to 42 then over by Clifton were we took 343  to 68.  Was not a long ride but was nice and peaceful, with leaves falling into our path, very enjoyable.  We pulled in around 10:15 and meet up with Carolyn and Lisa from Cincinnati  (Susan and I  had bunked with Carolyn at Hocking Hills).  Carolyn rides a Shadow 600 and Lisa is on an Indian, wow that thing was cool. We did brunch at a small coffee shop and then walked around till the Cinci girls had to leave.  Did a bit more shopping and played with hats,  then headed to Young's Dairy for Ice Cream.  We headed home by way of 68,  Lynn and Dru broke off at 70,  Susan and Margret at 161 and Kim and I came on to my house.  We had a nice visit on the front porch sipping water and rocking in our chairs.  Was a great day!!

September 17, 2010

I have enjoyed sharing a part of my world of back roads and farm lands with friends.  I had a friend come last week on Sept. 17 and we rode to Urbana for lunch at a wonderful little cafe, and then to West Liberty for Maries Chocolates.  On the way there and back we pass through 2 covered bridges and drove by 2 others.  We had a great time and the weather was beautiful.

Solo Trip to Ashville, NC 9-1-10 return trip 9-6-10

I left at 6:45 am, heading south through London, Mt Sterling took 207 to Chillicothe and then 23 and 104, I had alot of  fog in southern OH. Once I got into Kentucky I got off of the 4 lane road and onto more back roads, Rt.7.  They were beautiful and fun, then I came to a road block which had a turn off to the left but it was so small and crossed a single laned covered bridge, seemed like a lane more then a road.  I stopped, no signs directing for a detour. 

 A farmer came along in his truck and instructed me which way to go.   I followed him and he led me out of it.   I wish I had got off my bike and took pictures, it was like another world.  I found a picture of the bridge on google, it is called Bennett Mill Covered Bridge.  So I get back on Rt. 7 and sure enough again it was closed with no detour  signs.  I turned left but did not know where that would take me so I turned around and got back on 7 thinking that my next turn may be before the block.  Well sure enough there was a little gas station and sure enough there was my farmer.  We laughed and he told me how to get back on  23.  I stayed on 23 until I got to Big Stone Gap, got off for gas and a break, bought some caffine and headed to a Jefferson National State park. Theses pictures are where I ate my lunch.

I took 23 the rest of the way until I got to Kingsport and  wanted some more back roads. I stopped at a gas station and 4 different people came up to talk with me. They all asked where I was from and were amazed that I came that far alone.  One women use to ride and taught herself how to ride by reading library books.  Another old guy that was toothless talked with me for awhile.  And then a sweet older lady who said her husband rides and she rides with him a bit, was picking up her cigarettes.  And then a younger man came along and talked awhile and helped me with directions.  They all complemented me on my bike and all had sweet southern accents.  I really enjoyed that stop, was the friendliest gas station, on the corner of 23 and 224.  I took 224 and then 93 was a great curvy, hilly country road.
So I finally get to my parents home around 5:45 and  because I had driven the steep gravel drive last year I thought I could do it again but I did not know about the new gravel put on in Dec., OH MY.  So I get half way up and I stop, my tires spin. I grip the brake and gather myself and try again.  I go a little ways and my tires spin again.  I freeze squeezing the   clutch and the brake, I think what do I do now I try again and I start to go backwards and then I almost dropped it. Oh the images of my Shad sliding down the hill on his tank.  I use every muscle and keep it up.  Ok now my legs are rubber, I can't move so I lay on the horn.  My dad comes up on the mower from the barn and my brother comes down from the house. Oh what a relief to have help, my brother climbs on as soon as I climb off  and my dad and I help him turn around and he walks it back down to the barn and that is where it stays until it is time  to come home.
My ride home was nice I rode 23 most of the way home.  Katie, Laban, Renee, and the girls where behind me all the way even thou we did not travel together.  They never did catch up with me except when we meet for lunch, was nice they could call me as I was driving with my blue tooth Scala rider set.  I got home around 7:00 they came in about 1/2 hr. later.
Nice trip!!!!