OHIO

[schnowz]

    Arrived home from Ohio last night, after 6 glorious days and 2200 miles 
of riding..  Originally the forecast called for thunderstorms every day but 
I only experienced two half hour episodes on Friday in WV.
    After  a boring slab ride to NJ, I couldn't wait to get the hell off. 
Took a spin thru Hackettstown but the Mr Maggitz GPZ was not sighted. I 
ended the the night in PA in a Motel that made the Econo lodge look like a 
palace. The next day I got to run the upper end of a most excellent road I 
was on last year and checked out as many new roads as possible as I made my 
way thru PA and WV. Some great, some not as good.  Rolled into the Motel in 
Marrietta around 5:30pm? to find the GPZ bretheren suckin refreshments by 
the pool. Greetings and introductions were made and within no time Steve 
rolls in on the other black steed.. I swear i could hear Dave Daniels Geeper 
admiring mines sheepskin in the background..but mine was having non of it 
and actually dug it's centerstand about 1" into the ashphalt to prevent any 
hanky panky..
  That night at dinner Jerry passes a chance to call the waitresses bluff 
with a ride on the ZX.. I guess she lived to close to him to start a serious 
relationship..;-)
    Saturday Paul led us around some great roads and handled the Geeper 2 up 
with much more aplomb than i ever could. We split at some point in the 
afternoon as there were more roads i wanted to check out . I wasn't 
dissapointed.
 When we met up again, back at the Motel the others had already eaten so I 
dined on the best Walmart cuisine and Guiness..
  Early Sunday I hear a GPZ burble as Steve heads out.. I call into work to 
tell them I won't be back til Wednesday - just too many nice roads to ride. 
We were originally going to head into WV, but Jerry and Paul both live North 
so we head in that direction where they both split off and head for home 
after we stop at the big Muskie bucket monument . The remainder of the crew 
Dave and Dave and Pat and myself do a zig zag route Northeast of Marrietta 
and covered some most excellent roads, some i had marked on my map 2 years 
ago. There was a little confusion at the end of the ride as we had followed 
one of the few cars we saw at a snails pace for several miles. I couldn't 
take it anymore and blasted past. When I make a pass I generally don't slow 
down immediately, as nothing pisses me off more than a leader who makes a 
pass then slows down immediately so the others have to brake like hell to 
get back in line between the leader and the cage. Anyway I missed the cutoff 
and then a series of hairpins wasn't conducive to U turns so I waited at the 
end of the road. After a while I realized they, being smarter than me, made 
the turn. We were close to the Hotel so I head to the Hotel to see if they 
were there, and they rolled up shortly after. They waited at the turn for 
Pat on the cruiser. I would be pretty scared on a cruiser on those roads 
with the limited ground clearance.. but to each his own..
 That night against my better judgement we head out to eat without covering 
the bikes. Nice hostess - but I digress. Of course the skies open up and 
hail the size of quarters bounce off the roof. We head back after a decent 
meal and of course the sheepskin is soaked, but nothing a garbage bag can't 
cure.
  The next day we say out goodbyes and I head back into WV to hit a couple 
of roads I heard about one was Rt 15 between Sutton and Webster Springs. 
With a surface like a Billiard table and plenty of twisties I wasn't 
dissapointed definitely a winner. The section of 219 and 33 I took was 
mostly void of traffic being a weekday  and this section of 219 has some 
high speed sweepers and 33 both nice turns and excellent scenery as you go 
over the mountain into VA. As I headed North I found smoke hole road which I 
heard a lot about on various lists. The first part follows a river and then 
heads over the mountain but the road is narrow with a series of blind turns 
and my horn wasn't working because rain had got in the relay in last nights 
soaking. Luckily I only saw one car coming the other way.
 Stopped the night at mom and pop Motel in Bedford PA. At $35 and a carport 
for the bike - can't be bad..
Tuesday I headed North and strung together a series of roads i had heard of. 
As I turn and head East i am constantly cresting the hills that run 
North/South with some great views of the surrounding farmland. As I get into 
eastern PA the traffic picks up near Jim Thorpe so I headed North thru the 
Poconos  Rt 423 was a nice road. Pulled into the driveway around 7:30pm 
avoiding most of the CT rush hour mayhem.
 Those roads in OH and some in WV put New England roads to shame.
  Good to see some old and new faces and thanks to the Dave duo for getting 
this organized.

    Pete Staniforth