I have to say Ohio and I were not friends. I went thru Ohio the same day I went thru West Virginia so it was cold and rainy. I should of known it wasn't going to be fun when the wind picked up and I lost my temporary plate on my trailer... must of been soon after crossing into Ohio. Guess it wanted to stay in Ohio where it came from.
I stopped at a gas station to dry off and have some lunch and the cashier kept telling me I was almost out of the rain... like everyone had been saying all day. Well when I got to Columbus it was still raining and cold and the wind picked up tremendously. It had to be a constant wind around 20mph with gust up to 40mph. With a motorcycle heavy winds are difficult and pulling a trailer I wasn't sure what was going to happen.
As I was driving around Columbus on the I-270 in the rain and wind and I started to hydroplane. No joke... I was going 55mph and my front tire was going all over the place. I wasn't scared, I wasn't mad... it was more of a disappointment. As my front tire was going side to side and Blue was leaning from side to side all I could say was "Oh F%@&!" and then thought "are you serious... I haven't made it 600 miles in my new life and I am going to die." and then I said in complete disappointment "Jesus Christ"... As soon as I said that I regained control and was driving like nothing happened.
The key to not dying... was pure luck... I have really great guardian angels... and not panicking. I didn't slow down but kept my speed and kept my arms firm... I didn't let the bike take my arms all over the place. Staying calm and taking control is what saved me. Whoever says a woman can't ride can just kiss my rear... I pulled that back together as good if not better than any man.
So of course after that experience I took the next exit to take a breath. I was really exhausted at this time and was thinking about spending the night where I was and heading out again the next day but the weather was not going to get better but worse. So I had to get back on the horse and get myself out of the weather.
I was still a bit timid from my earlier experience and the wind was getting worse. So I went about 50mph and got off at every exit. Finally about 30 miles down the road I just couldn't get back on the interstate. The wind picked up and was constant and the rain was coming down more and was colder. I thought again I should stop for the night but at the gas station I was at they were talking about getting feet of snow... right then I knew I had to find a way out. Luckily at that point I finally was at a place with a back highway I could take.... so I took it. The great thing about the back highway I could go a bit slower and the wind was a lot less. It went thru towns where I could relax a bit. Finally just outside of Cincinnati the rain had stopped. I finally had enough courage to get back on the interstate. The first few cars that went by when I got on gave me a thumbs up. You have no idea how much I deserved and took in those thumbs up.
It sure felt like a beating today and I was so happy to hit Kentucky. I only went another hour or so before I stopped north of Louisville for the night. I only had about 4 hours to my parents house the next day... but of course life is never that easy.....
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