Day 8 - And He Starts!

When I first woke up this morning, I had a nagging cough that occasionally was one of those nice wheezy kinds, and that convinced me I needed more sleeping. So I did, snuggled under my SpongeBob SquarePants quilt. Got up around 9 a.m., feeling better and without the bark. Once again, I began to zip the luggage back up, trying not to miss anything, and Pat stopped downstairs to ask if I'd like some tea then, and to ask what type of juice I'd like with breakfast. I gratefully took the tea, and shortly thereafter trundled upstairs to a breakfast of two eggs over hard (yolks broken, just the way I like them) and some thin sliced home fries from potatoes that had been grown in the garden out in front of the house. Toast. Cranberry juice. Tea. Nothing much was making me want to get on the road, except for thinking about miles yet to go, and securing my place for the night.

The big question, however, would be whether or not Mr. Crunchy would want to start up or not this morning. After breakfast was done, I figured it was time to find out, so we walked out to the garage and after I had to go back in to get my key, I flipped the switches, pulled levers, and pushed the starter button. The crank was immediate and strong! Hallelujah! It was very nice to hear that sound, and I was very thankful for that answered prayer! Once that was determined to be good, Pat helped me tote and load the luggage on the bike, and I put on my final layers before heading off. While yesterday had been almost balmy, this morning had dropped into the 30s, so layers were a definite. As was the case yesterday, there was rain in the early a.m., but upon my departure (at 10:45...egads!) the skies were gray, but dry. I didn't have definite directions for where I was going this evening, since I wasn't online the night before, so I rode as far as I could on my tank of gas, and stopped at the last service center on the Thruway before getting to PA. The center had WiFi, so I grabbed my netbook and tankbag, heading inside through the first of today's rain. It was a little before 1 p.m., and I figured I had three hours to go. I wrote out the steps to get to the branch in Solon, called one of my guys here to make sure he wouldn't be gone home if I got here after 4, sent a couple of emails, and packed everything back up. By now, it was a pretty steady rain, though still light, and I rolled up to the gas pumps to top off. Wiped down the bike as well I could before putting the tank bag back on, and headed out for the last 170 miles of the day. The rain came, the rain went. Wind came with some of the rain too (that was fun...) The skies stayed grim, and by the time I got to the outside of Cleveland, it was coming down in earnest. I wanted to shake my head like a dog to clear the face shield, but it wouldn't do much good. It was a good thing I didn't have too many steps to remember, because traffic was picking up. I got off on my exit, starting to go from memory from when I'd visited the branch three years ago for training. I rolled off the main road right behind a stretch Lincoln Navigator who was kind enough to let me pass. Turned left into the parking lot and walked back into the warehouse. After the initial hello, I went and rode the bike up into the warehouse, out of the rain, and proceeded to do the onion peel dance to get the layers off. The plant has an apartment upstairs, fully equipped, so I was able to get a hot shower right away, and change, ready to head out for supper with Jim and Sally, who are hosting me tonight.

Before leaving, however, I got to be a spectator in what must be the most bizarre card game known to man. Apparently, this group of guys started playing Gin around 15 years ago, but got bored with it after a while, and came up with at least a dozen variations, changing wild cards, point cards, requiring passes, skipping alternating numbers high and low, and whoever deals decides which variation they play. And hopes that they remember all of the variations which apply to that particular version (quad black, over under, triple double). At 5:30, I rode with Jim to his house seeing four or five does and fawns along the way (thankfully no encounters on the bike yet). He and Sally and I went to their favorite Mexican restaurant for a tasty supper and good flan for dessert, before coming back home around 8.

Right now, everything is drip drying, awaiting the last, loooong trip tomorrow. The goal is to be home tomorrow night. Which means I've got to ride 600 miles. I might get one of those 14th winds and it'll go by like a flash, or I might just sit by the side of the road and cry after 400 miles. We'll see how it goes. It's near midnight now, but I wanted to get today's update in here (which was delayed, due to wifi technicalities...who knew you could broadcast a signal, but not show the name so people could find it? Somehow, through a couple of phone calls and google searching, my hostess and I managed to stumble across the way to manually add their invisible wifi to my little 'puter. Thanks again, Sally!)

Nyquil is my friend tonight.