The Home Stretch...?
After leaving lovely Portage, Indiana, I got on Interstate 80/90, tucked in behind the DL's windshield, and screamed across the Midwest towards home. As the hours and the miles ticked by, I was making good enough time to actually stop and have a quick bite to eat around 1:00 PM at one of Ohio's many rest areas. I was still back on the road within a half an hour, and was rapidly eating up miles again.
Then the demons invaded my stomach. I'm not sure if it was the crappy rest stop food, the crappier chicken sandwich from the night before, or the constant river of caffeinated beverages I was pouring down my throat, but my stomach revolted somewhere around the middle of Ohio.
OK, no problem, I thought. So I lose a little time at a rest area - I can still totally make it back to NYC today.
Well, maybe not. No one is well served by a graphic account of my time spent visiting various rest areas on I-80, so I'll skip the gory details. Suffice to say that after making GREAT time for the first five or so hours I was on the bike, I ended up barely crossing the state line into Pennsylvania by the time the sun was setting. Frustrated that I wasn't going to make it back to NYC that day (unless I was willing to ride until well after midnight, something my stomach was strenuously objecting to), I stopped in some little town and looked for a room. After the only place in town (well, the only place that wasn't a Super 8) claimed that the pungent urine smell in their rooms was just their air conditioning, I hopped back on the DL and rode to the next town. There, I was rescued by a Microtel that was everything a biker could ask for - clean, cheap, and available for the night. I hesitate to offer endorsements here, but I have never gone wrong with those guys. I haven't stayed in more than a handful of them, but they were each a great value, super-clean, and they all have wireless internet that actually works (see? I knew it was possible!).
Once again, bright and early I was on the road pointed east towards home. The demons from the day before were properly exorcised and the DL and I were ready for the last run of the trip. Short of divine intervention, we were gonna see the NYC skyline in just a matter of hours.
Ride ON!
Then the demons invaded my stomach. I'm not sure if it was the crappy rest stop food, the crappier chicken sandwich from the night before, or the constant river of caffeinated beverages I was pouring down my throat, but my stomach revolted somewhere around the middle of Ohio.
OK, no problem, I thought. So I lose a little time at a rest area - I can still totally make it back to NYC today.
Well, maybe not. No one is well served by a graphic account of my time spent visiting various rest areas on I-80, so I'll skip the gory details. Suffice to say that after making GREAT time for the first five or so hours I was on the bike, I ended up barely crossing the state line into Pennsylvania by the time the sun was setting. Frustrated that I wasn't going to make it back to NYC that day (unless I was willing to ride until well after midnight, something my stomach was strenuously objecting to), I stopped in some little town and looked for a room. After the only place in town (well, the only place that wasn't a Super 8) claimed that the pungent urine smell in their rooms was just their air conditioning, I hopped back on the DL and rode to the next town. There, I was rescued by a Microtel that was everything a biker could ask for - clean, cheap, and available for the night. I hesitate to offer endorsements here, but I have never gone wrong with those guys. I haven't stayed in more than a handful of them, but they were each a great value, super-clean, and they all have wireless internet that actually works (see? I knew it was possible!).
Once again, bright and early I was on the road pointed east towards home. The demons from the day before were properly exorcised and the DL and I were ready for the last run of the trip. Short of divine intervention, we were gonna see the NYC skyline in just a matter of hours.
Ride ON!
posted by Mathew Elsner at 11:25 PM
1 Comments:
Please, people, only REAL comments belong here, not those from someone trying to get their commercial blog some traffic.
Is there some sort of blog-bot that posts these things? Anyone know? That would be horrible, but wouldn't surprise me.
ME
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