The mission has begun! It’s July 30, 2004.
On day -3 I had the fortune of traveling to the Atlantic Ocean by way of North Topsail, North Carolina on my motorcycle to meet Gloria, Olivia and Helen and some of Gloria’s family at the beach there. This was the official start of my “East to West coast Journey” on my motorcycle. In the days that follow I will go to the Pacific Ocean and return back home.
On day -1 on my way to Saint Louis I stayed with a good friend of mine, Craig Severson, and had dinner with two other good friends of mine, Mike Carpenter (A Yamaha pilot) and Patrick Smith (VPN God) in Granville, Ohio. Specifically at N40º 03.992′ W82º 30.258′. Where is Granville one might ask? Oh, that’s simple … near Lancaster. Where’s the nearest place you see people wearing shirts and shoes in the gas station? Yea, that’s Columbus. 🙂
Tomorrow it’s a straight interstate 70 drive to Saint Louis and a long one at that. Some 450 miles. Craig hooked me up with a seat cushion of sorts so hopefully that will help, even if just a little, with the drive tomorrow.
Tomorrow I am going to hopefully miss a cold front weather system coming through the Ohio valley this evening. Maybe if I can delay as long as possible I won’t have to ride in the rain. It appears to be pretty good weather after the front passes so I’m hoping for he best. Riding in the rain isn’t a huge problem, but it is distracting. And not so much distractin to me as to the other drivers who, apparently, believe they can stop as soon in rain as in the dry weather.
I got rained on today hard coming through West Virginia. Luckily I had all my rain gear on and rode through it all. Lots of people were pulled over under bridges waiting for the weather to clear. It rained on and off all day.
In all in two days I’ll travel 800 miles to get to Saint Louis for the start of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Trail.
My girls called me tonight and left a voice mail when I was having dinner with friends. What beautiful people they are. It makes my day hearing their voices.
Signing off for now.
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30 Jul 2004