Days 1 & 2: I really regret not buying new boots before the trip started...

I'm currently sitting in a Waffle House in the Indiana suburbs of Louisville, praying that the rain stops. I was originally planning to go to Red River Gorge today, but the forecast is showing heavy rain all day. 

Before I started this trip, I said I wouldn't drive in the rain. Three days in and I've driven in the rain everyday. Riding in the rain sucks for the first 30 minutes, but once your boots are waterlogged and you realize you can't get any wetter, it actually gets easier to keep going, and you can settle into a decent rhythm as long as you have a good play list bumping. That said, the thought of driving in the rain is still unappealing (at least until I get my new waterproof boots in Pittsburgh on 5/11) - hence why I'm still at the Waffle House. 

Day 1 - The Heart of It All, Part 1

The journey started Thursday morning around 9:30 am, with a nutritious breakfast of soy milk, buckwheat groats, and untoasted Ezekiel bread (had to get rid of those leftovers) before a short trek to the West Side of Cleveland to drop off my final bag at my buddy Keating's place. Before I departed, he gave me one of his old GoPros. Once I have this set up, I'm hoping to share some riding footage. A lot of the coolest things I've seen have been along the road in places where I couldn't stop to take photos, so hopefully the GoPro enables me to share more of the on-the-road experience. It drizzled slightly on my short 25 minute drive to Keating's, which I should have taken as an omen of what was to come. 

The Breakfast of Champions

The Rig - Harriet Fully Loaded

The ride to Columbus was actually rather sunny (some clouds and rain had been projected), which lulled me into thinking I'd have a clear day. The new helmet helped cut down on the highway noise so that I could bump some tunes on the road. Over the past few years, I've compiled a playlist of songs that helped me stay motivated to take this trip, so that seemed like the most suitable playlist to start the trip. If you're interested in checking it out, here's a link: 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0XDAM7DuOt27dv8OzTOGUr?si=cRyaGk49SWioqD61KZAkWA&pi=5_yAHTf7QCmM2

The playlist was way too short for a two hour drive though, so I ended up hearing "Break Away" by Kelly Clarkson 4 times on the way to Columbus. 

Upon arrival in Columbus, I realized one of the locking clips on my expensive saddle bag had failed and the bag had slipped onto the muffler for part of trip. The muffler melted through the bottom of the bag and into my hammock. Safe to say these bags won't be getting a 5 star review. 

The Damage Wrought by a Faulty Bag Clip

As the skies looked ominous, I put the rain cover over my parked bike, and when I tried to tighten the bottom snap, the strap broke. Then the cinch on the storage bag broke. Guess that's what I get for going with the cheap Amazon option. 

In Columbus, I had lunch at Tiger + Lily with Andrew, a buddy from college who I hadn't seen in a few years. I forgot to take pictures of the food at Tiger + Lily, but the Tiger's Signature Ramen was fantastic, 10/10 would recommend. 

Andrew: French Fry Connoisseur, Bankruptcy Expert, and Marathon Champion

When Andrew was in law school, he planned to be a prosecutor in his hometown of Cleveland, but since graduating from OSU (booooo), he has been working in bankruptcy law and has really enjoyed working at his firm. I let him know I may need his services in the future if this trip goes over budget. Since I last saw Andrew, he has gotten really into running. He set a personal record in his 4th marathon last Sunday, and more importantly, he finally secured bragging rights by beating his grade school buddy in a tight finish. He's already gearing up for the next one (Columbus) in September. 

After lunch, the radar looked foreboding, so I put on some of my rain gear before starting the ride to Cincinnati. The skies opened up about 10 minutes in, and after about 15 minutes in the thick of it I took shelter at a gas station until it lightened up. It started coming down again soon after I restarted and soon my gear was waterlogged, but some island music helped me stay grooving through the rain for the next hour and a half. On the way to Cincinnati, I passed the infamous "Hell is Real" billboard - one of the many great landmarks I was unable to capture on camera. As I approached the Cincinnati suburbs, I stopped at Waffle House to get a cup of coffee to warm up (in addition to Taco Bell's I'm hoping to go to a Waffle House in every state that has one). 

I stopped at my lodging for the night and had dinner before meeting my friends JT and Lauren for a drink at High Grain Brewery in Cincinnati. Going to High Grain was rather nostalgic - 4-5 years ago I went to High Grain while visiting a high school friend in  Cincinnati, and it was on that trip where the idea for this motorcycle odyssey was born. 

I forgot to take a picture with JT & Lauren, so here's JT's 7 year old Facebook profile picture

JT is just finishing his second year of law school, while Lauren is about to start her residency at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. The heavy workloads of medical school and law school have made it difficult to plan a wedding, but their patience has been rewarded as they were able to get a coveted date and time slot at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame. One of JT and Lauren's favorite Cincinnati traditions is a Christmas themed 5k where participants dress up as Santa and get a shot of eggnog at the end. 

I spent the night in Madiera (a suburb NE of Cincinnati) with Mike, Grace, and their 1 year old daughter, Monica. Sleeping in a bed was a refreshing change after close to a week on the couch. Mike and Grace set up a box fan and a dehumidifier to help dry my drenched gear. 

Mike & Grace with Harriet (Monica not pictured as she was down for a nap, but just imagine a 1 year old version of Grace)

Mike works as a data scientist and is currently pursing his master's degree. Grace was an accountant before Monica was born and is now a stay at home mom. They recently moved back to Ohio after 5 years in Chicago and are expecting kiddo #2 at the end of the summer. In true statistician fashion, Mike calculated the odds that the baby will be born during a friend's upcoming wedding in Cleveland (2 weeks prior to the due date) before RSVPing - as the chance that the baby will be born during the 48 hour period around the wedding is < 1%, Mike plans to attend the wedding. 

Thought of the Day: "The world isn't in your books and maps, it's out there!" - My friend, Chris L., quoting Gandolf from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Day 2: 3 States in 1 Day!

I started day two by going on an 8 mile run with Mike on a scenic bike path through the Indian Hills suburb of Cincinnati (gotta get in shape for a half marathon in NC I'm planning to run on 5/16). On the run Mike and I met some friendly bikers from VA (ironically, one of whom was biking to Cleveland via the rail-to-trails paths). 8 miles also provided plenty of time to get into the nitty-gritty philosophical questions of life. Mike had some interesting observations I thought were worth sharing:

- In America, as people get wealthier, they tend to isolate themselves more (bigger houses further from neighbors)

- Families that live in smaller houses tend to be closer as space constraints dictate that they must spend more tend time together

- Over the past 50 years or so, America has largely devalued the dignity of physical work. But there's something gratifying about seeing your physical effort, your sweat bear fruit. It can be harder to find this same type of fulfillment in a managment career where your impact is largely intangible and your time is largely spent in meetings. 

After a fantastic lunch at Grace & Mike's place, I departed for Sellersburg, IN (a suburb north of Louisville, KY) to catch up with my brother, Chip, and his girlfriend, Kate. On the way there, I stopped at my first Taco Bell of the trip in La Grange, KY, and left quite impressed - this will be a hard Taco Bell for other states to top:

La Grange, KY Taco Bell Sets the Bar High

Facilities: Clean with a festive teal tiling backsplash. 

Staff: Very friendly - I ordered via a walk up computer, but the cashier still took the time to stop by my table to see if I needed a drink and again to walk my order out to me. 

Food: I ordered the new chicken cantina taco and would have believed it if you had told me that it came from a much fancier restaurant. 

Unfortunately, the pit stop at Taco Bell led to me getting caught in a storm on the way to Chip and Kate's, requiring another night of box fans to dry out my gear. This time instead of just rain, it was also high winds that caused the trees to sway. A couple big gusts pushed my bike around and had me a bit on edge, but I made it safely to Sellersburg.  

Chip and Kate were in town to visit one of Kate's best friends from high school, Grace, and her husband, Jake, a Sellersburg native. They spent their trip at The Oaks (pre-Derby races) and ended $8 up from where they started. After I got there in the late afternoon, Grace threw a small birthday party for Jake.

The Epic Rager We Threw for Jake's 29th (From left to right, back row: Tyrone (whose name is inexplicably mispronounced quite frequently), yours truly, Jake (the birthday boy), Emery (who built his house by himself), Gavin (Jake's cousin who spent Jake's bachelor party sleeping on the dog bed); front row: Maddy (the definite favorite of Jake & Grace's dog Junebug), Kate (Top bettor at The Oaks), Chip (can you see the resemblance? I can't), Grace (Match maker extraordiare who introduced Chip & Kate); not pictured: Junebug, the Shaqaroni pizza from Papa John's)

I'm proud to say the girls & Kevin beat the boys in a tense game of Codenames. I also learned that Lillies are the official drink of The Oaks (the races preceding the Derby at Churchill Downs), and boy are they dangerous. 

Song of the Day: A Couple Acres Greener by Mipso. This tune came on soon after I crossed into KY. The bluegrass banjo and fiddle felt like a good fit for the transition to KY.

Day 3: Water, Water Everywhere but Not a Drop to Drink 

As previously mentioned, I was hoping to go to Red River Gorge or the Ark Encounter today, but the pink and yellow patches on a sea of blue covering Kentucky all day convinced me otherwise. Instead I've used the time to explore local coffee shops and catch up on the blog before I head to my cousin's south of Louisville to watch the derby this evening. 

And this is better than it looked this morning

That's all for now. Over and out. - Kevin