It's been real, Ohio. You can go keep your winter.

Four and a half years in the Buckeye State have finally come to an end. I'm packed up and rolling out of here!

For real-time tracking of my whereabouts (if you are oh so curious), visit the "Where Am I?" section of this blog. It'll be a long drive, so feel free to send a few messages my way. The right side of this blog offers a couple methods of contacting me including a direct e-mail message and Google voicemail.

Below is the route I'm taking. Doing this in the middle of the winter and on a bit of a schedule doesn't offer many opportunities for recreation. No worries...more fun times are ahead.

Day 15: Back to Eastlake...and the long THANK YOU LIST

**This series of posts recap my two-week trip to Billings, MT and back from July 1-16, 2013. For the entire list of my featured rides, click here.**

I took my time and left Moline around 9AM and stayed in Peoria (less than 120 miles away) for the night, the same place where I started this whirlwind 15-day tour of the United States and the Women On Wheels® International Ride-In™.

US-150 through Northern Illinois does provide quite a bit of serenity in a straight line.

There are too many people to thank and I want them to know that they're appreciated. Here are some that I could come up with witty remarks on...believe me, if you're not listed I didn't forget you! :)

Thank you to...
Pam who did everything in her power and then some to make sure my tuchus made it to Billings, MT and stayed there. Thank you for paying, at times, a disturbing amount of attention to details that were both important and necessary to the success of this event. You're the only person I know who I can send out to find a needle in haystack and return with a dozen additional needles that were also missing.

My roommate Deana for splitting the room with me and not sending me to the looney bin after catching me having a conversation/staring contest with Annagator the Alligator, one of TWO Ride-In™ Animal Ambassadors one morning. I appreciate the tube of toothpaste and two-step with Roberta during Cris' American Idol audition during the opening ceremonies. JAZZ HANDS...!!!!


Speaking of which...Bert with the DIY Wisconsin maps of Oconomowoc for Closing Ceremonies and running that registration table LIKE A BOSS. Geography rocks, and that's the best use of a bingo dauber I've seen in a long time...at least when one is not dealing with intoxicated college students.

Cris, I still wonder how you pull this stuff off. Then again, fourth time is a charm? Are you going for 5th or 6th time, because I still need some practice. :)

Patti for the donation of cherries, an apple, crackers, peanut butter, and Greek yogurt on Tuesday evening so I didn't have to order takeout at 11PM. after cleaning up the Opening Ceremonies. Those were tasty. The extra toothpaste? I didn't eat that, but it was great for cleaning my teeth.

All of the ladies that hung out with me at the merchandise table and let me play with their smartphones (and teach them a think or two) in between transactions. Hope your stuff works now. If not, you know where to find me. :)

Whoever had the integrity to return my wallet completely intact on Tuesday night, you're awesome. Besides, you couldn't do much with a single dollar, a credit card with a pretty low limit, and an ID that doesn't look at all like you anyway. Still though, that probably wasn't the motivation for your honesty, or so I'd like to think.

The California gals for bringing a little of that sunshine with them to Billings. You could've left some of that heat at home though. And all the ladies who I've had the chance to have meals with. I could go for another one of those breakfast burritos.

Carolee for reminding us that "woo-hoos" will suffice when announcing that one has won the carnival games raffle, not the recitation of the Preamble of the US Constitution. Thanks for taking away whatever composure I had left during the Closing Ceremonies. Can you do it again another year?

And Rebecca for putting up with me for 1200 miles and six states. It was an honor and a privilege to be your sweep rider. Thanks for letting me have at it on the Beartooth Pass and Chief Joseph Highway; I do apologize for the carbon cloud when I really opened the bike up on a straightaway. Eleanor says "excuse me." She needed to let it all out.

My friends are so freakin' awesome. :)

Day 3: A Gas Shortage in Iowa, near Waterloo. Couldn't escape if I wanted to.

**This series of posts recap my two-week trip to Billings, MT and back from July 1-16, 2013. For the entire list of my featured rides, click here.**

Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."

I don't know who you are, Murphy, but if I ever meet you in a parking lot, you're getting a swift kick to the nuts.

At least the first part of the day was just fine and dandy. Actually it wasn't.

Days 1 and 2: Getting off my tuchus and getting it to Peoria...

**This series of posts recap my two-week trip to Billings, MT and back from July 1-16, 2013. For the entire list of my featured rides, click here.**

When I said that I had to (get to packing) to leave for this trip in the previous post, I wasn't joking; I hadn't even started until I hit the "publish" button and stepped away from the computer. Since it's one of those typical long-distance trips that I make every so often, prep falls into a very organized system that has me up and out in about an hour or less. Additionally, Eleanor was serviced/repaired about two weeks ago so she was ready to go...I had to catch up with her.

Of course, that one hour window is pretty accurate, unless I'm completely lazy and just taking my sweet damn time, which I did, since the ride to Peoria to see my best buddy, Susy, has become more or less a routine, 450-500 mile ride that I've made many times before. It's the other place I hang my hat when I can make it westward, and for this year's cross-country trip, it's the first stop of a chain of friends I get to see along the way. Speaking of friends, Mr. Doppler Radar helped me avoid a downpour across I-80 because of the deliberate delay.

I left Eastlake, OH at 5PM and took I-80 across most of the way. This was the first time I've ridden to Peoria from there (I usually left from Columbus, OH via I-70 and I-65 out of Indianapolis). I'm glad I took cash with me because of the turnpike tolls, but other than that, it was an uneventful ride through the night that had me there and in bed by 3AM Central Time. Yep, I'm a slacker.

South Bend, IN...I think I'm the only person wearing any Cardinal and Gold in here. This is quite awkward.

Midwest Road Ramblings in Indy and Peoria - Part 2

It usually doesn't take me this long to get a second part to a ride on the blogspace, but I can explain...

So I left my friend's place in Peoria and headed up toward Downer's Grove, IL, a suburb near Chicago. I almost made it in an entire tank but chickened out on the attempt, stopping for fuel in Channahon. I'm glad I did, because with a 6.6 gallon gas tank on Eleanor, filling up with this much gas was a very nice OMG-get-ready-to-slightly-panic moment.

After that little adventure, I found myself at one of the several locations of Total Hockey, a budding chain of hockey stores that actually have a comprehensive selection of gear. Sadly enough, I had to travel this far just to get a pair of hockey referee shorts. I wish there was a store like this in Columbus, OH, but when you have the Columbus Blue Jackets for a minor league team, nobody really takes the sport that seriously.

Midwest Road Ramblings in Indy and Peoria - Part 1

For many a motorcycle racing fan, last weekend was the Indianapolis Moto GP races. Thanks to an long string of events, an old California buddy acquired luxury suite passes for the entire event and as a result, I got to meet her for dinner and another friend of mine received free passes to the races (isn't it fun when things work out like that?).

So after work on Saturday, I jumped on my bike and barreled west on I-70 to meet up with my friend at Dick's Bodacious BBQ located in the main square in the middle of Downtown Indianapolis. Mind you, this is the first time I've ever been down to the city during Moto GP weekend, so the tens of thousands of motorcycles that lined up the plaza and the surrounding areas was amazing. It was a sea of machines with a variety that I had never seen before in a single place. Thanks to the event security (ran by volunteers of Indiana ABATE), I was able to park Eleanor within walking distance of the restaurant.

This was the tip of a very, very huge iceberg of bikes.