Wheelersburg, OH to Flatwoods, WV

Day 2 - 230 miles through Ohio and West Virginia

First order of the day was gas and food. There were not many choices for the food so we ended up stopping at Wendy’s. It was almost 11AM by the time we got on our bikes and headed out of town and it was already getting hot and humid.



Mike's Tiger hidden underneath the stairs from the night before



Days Inn in Wheelersburg, OH

I would have liked to get on the road early so at the end of today we could enjoy the outdoors, since we were planning on camping tonight, but since we arrived so late last night that just wasn’t going to happen.



From Wheelersburg we took 54 to 140 which were OK roads, then we took 279 and 325, not as twisty as the KY roads 227 and 22 we did yesterday, but fun in thier own way, Mike liked 325 since it was very hilly and had a lot of blind turns



279 in Ohio

Somewhere in some town on 279

The roads were hilly with curves and hardly any traffic until we arrived at 124 that runs parallel to the Ohio River, there was some traffic here.

Following the Ohio River on 124

Mike getting the camcorder ready while we sit in construction traffic on 124

124 and the Ohio River

Gas station break on 124, the river is right behind those trees

That's West Virginia on the other side of the bridge

At some point earlier today I had developed a headache that was starting to bug me now, I was probably getting dehydrated since I wasn’t drinking enough water and I don’t deal well with hot and humid weather. It was well in to the 90’s now and I had to cool off quick. I found a McDonalds and a cold vanilla milkshake. Cooling off inside with the AC and looking over the route and at the time we needed to get to the state park, we now needed to change our route.

The direct route would be to take 33 east which I’ve been on parts of and enjoyed. I wanted to ride some new roads but all of them went a bit out of the way and I really didn’t want to set up camp in the middle of the night. So 33 it was, it’s a good road with plenty of sweepers and tight stuff.

Not the route we had originally planned, 33 to I-79 is what happened today

33 is a great road with many very tight sections, I took all the pictures of the road while riding so there are no pictures of the tight stuff since I had to concentrate on the road

I really liked the looks of Weston, WV, lots of nice architecture

The sun was really low in the sky now and Tygart Lake State Park was still quite a ways away, since the park doesn’t take reservations, we didn’t have one, leaving us open to stay anywhere. We looked at the GPS and found a state park just 15 miles from where we were at but when we arrived at the Stonewall Jackson State Park, we didn’t see any camp sites there. It was already getting dark and who knows how long it was going to take us to find the camp sites if they had any, with no more sun light to enjoy the camping experience, we headed for I-79 to find us a cheap motel.

A bridge in Burnsville, WV

Around Burnsville there was a billboard advertising such a place, motel 79, but when we arrived there the rooms cost a bit more because of the holiday weekend and the place didn’t look that great. We headed back to the interstate and took the Flatwoods exit. I’ve actually stayed here before a couple of years ago so knew of one place, but we found an ever better place so we grabbed a room at the Sutton Lane Motel.

It was completely dark now, happy with a cheap (around $60) and decent motel room, we got out of our gear and walked down the restaurant that was adjacent to the motel. Even though the sign said it was open 24 hours, the place was decent, with good food and even better prices.

At the Waffle Hut, I had a really nice chicken dinner

Mike's dinner was a huge breakfast

Many plates of food and he finished it all

The motel was up on a hill, we had a balcony and a beautify view of the interstate and the restaurant and gas station below.

A view from our balcony at the Sutton Lane Motel

Chicago, IL to Wheelersburg, OH

Day 1 - 520 miles through Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio

With the sun just barely peaking over the horizon, we’re heading east. The ST3 growling beneath me, Mike and the Tiger just a black spec in my rear view mirror. It’s early on a Saturday morning of Labor Day Weekend and the traffic is actually moving on the Interstate just east of Chicago… it’s a miracle. Especially since the road is under construction and has been for years. I think they are almost done, it’s looking good now. And even though I just finished packing this morning, we only managed to leave 45 minutes behind schedule, another miracle.

Getting close to the Indiana border now, I rev up the engine and get the Duc up to 80MPH, maybe more. My brand new tires, still looking very shiny, glide over the pavement effortlessly even though the bike is weighed down with enough crap to get us through a 9 day trip that includes a few days of camping.

Yep, I’ve got all the important stuff you need on a motorcycle tour and some stuff you really don’t need but it’s good to have anyway. I have the tire plug kit and a mini air compressor incase one of us gets a flat. The gas siphon in case one of us runs out of gas. I even have a camping pillow and a compact hair drier, my little luxuries, all the stuff is stowed away nicely in the two side cases, the top case, the tail bag and the tank bag. This is by far the best packing job I’ve ever done.
And I have some electronics also, a cell phone, a GPS, two digital cameras and a video camcorder, a laptop.

I notice right away that the bikes weighs more than it have ever weighed before. At least 20 lbs. more then it did last year on the 10 day trip out west. It’s all the electronics and their chargers, all together they weigh a ton. I just pray that I don’t end up dropping the bike on this trip since it’s so heavy and I don’t flat foot it.



Slabbing on I-65 through Indianapolis, IN

We continue south, the interstate portion of the ride is over and we roll down our first back road of the day. We stop in Greensburg, IN to shed some layers, it’s getting warm now. I’ve seen this place on TV actually. Greensburg, Indiana's claim to fame is a tree growing out of the roof of the courthouse in the center of town and we just happened to be passing right by it.





Greensburg, Indiana courthouse and the famous tree on the roof



Downtown Greensburg, IN



421 between Greensburg and Versallies, IN

We head for the Ohio River but we get detoured to an unplanned road. Now arriving at the road we need, I realize we went out of the way but there are any a few places to cross the river, so we have no choice, we can either cross east or west of here, we go west. The roads are getting somewhat twisty now, some have rollercoaster qualities.



We wanted 129 but it was closed, the detour took us on 250 and 56





The curves and hills finally start in Southern Indiana

We cross the Ohio River in to Kentucky and we pass a restaurant on the river but I have hopes of something better in the town of Warsaw. A few miles later we get in to town and see nothing, so we turn around and ride the few miles back to the Sunset Grill.



Lunch at the Sunset Grill on 42 West of Warsaw, KY



View of the Ohio River from our table at the Sunset Grill

This seems to be a popular motorcycle joint, there are many bikes parked out front. We grab a table outside with the river view. There is nothing better than a good lunch with a good view, unfortunately the service is slow, the food isn’t good or cheap, but we do have a good view. Now stuffed with food and feeling sluggish, a cold Red Bull from the bar gets us on our way.



Mike's Burger

My chicken sandwitch

The roads are getting good. 35 heading south from Warsaw, has some twists, but 227 south of Owenton is as twisty as I remember it the last time I was through here. We turn on 607 heading east, also twisty with brand new pavement.

We went the wrong way on 227 and had to turn around, so we got a few extra curves in since south and north of here, 227 is a great road

227 South of Owentown is a very fun road

227 South of Owentown

It’s getting late now and our breaks are getting shorter. We grab 330 heading east but somehow we end up heading toward the west, the road is good and we’re still going toward 22 which I wanted to take, except now we need to get on 25 to get to 22, but it’s worth it, 22 turns out to be the best road of the day twisting and turning through the hills. All the roads are kind of narrow and many of the turns are blind, which slows me down some but Mike really likes that kind of stuff. The next road we take is 10, which is still pretty darn good but the light is fading now.

22 was the best road of the day, not a lot of straight sections here

These curves on 22 were a lot of fun, better than 227

22 was the best road of the day

We cross the Ohio River again, this time we’re in Ohio. The sun sets so we pull over for gas, to put on some layers and I need to change out the tinted helmet shield for my clear one. We estimate we’ll be there in an hour or so. There being a motel we had made a reservation at since we knew we’d be rolling in late and didn’t want to be hunting for a motel room on a holiday weekend.

Then as we pull out of the gas station we accidentally go the wrong way. I didn’t catch it until many miles later because I have turned my GPS off (I can’t really see it in the dark anyway) and there were no directions posted over the route sign, it just said we’re traveling on route 52.

Went the wrong way on 52, it was late, so we had dinner in Ripley

Eating outside at the Dairy Yum Yum in Ripley, OH

Corndogs and chicken strips, the ultimate road food

The night is pleasant and we’re riding along the Ohio River gazing at the many reflections on its surface, it could be worst. And then I realize, we still have one more hour or so of riding and I’m hungry and many places could be closed by the time we get to the motel, plus I don’t want to eat so late. We didn’t want to eat too much and get sleepy, so a snack is all we needed. The road food of choice for us is always corn dogs and chicken strips. The joint closed even before we were done eating, I had to finish my chicken strips in the dark. The food was cheap and that made it even better tasting.

Following the Ohio River all the way to the Days Inn in Wheelersburg, OH

The last leg of the trip was not as fun. I was tired, it was kind of getting cold and there were cops looking for speeders. The deer signs had me looking more in the bushes than on the road itself. I was counting the miles we had left. Finally we rolled through Portsmouth, OH and found ourselves some heavy traffic. We caught every red right all the way from Portsmouth to the Day’s Inn in Wheelersburg,. And every time the traffic stopped at the red light, some guy in the car behind us shouted something out of his car. We don’t know what he was shouting since we had ear plugs in. We arrived at the motel at 10:30PM our time, it was already 11:30 in Ohio. A long day on the bikes considering we were on the road by 6:45AM.

Preparing for a 9 day ride with no electricity

The crazy weather continues. Last weekend we experienced heavy rain, thunderstorms and flooding in Southeastern Minnesota and Western Wisconsin.



Damaged roads due to floods in Wisconsin and Minnesota

These same storms moved east hitting Ohio, causing more floods and damage there, we in Chicago, were somehow spared that time. Then some more bad weather came this way, this time right in my backyard - literally. A tree fell on to the powerlines.

On Thursday August 23 in the afternoon, intense thunderstorms creating tornado-like conditions swept through the Chicago area. The skies turned dark and the tornado sirens sounded.



The storms took hours to pass and did a lot of damage. Winds as high as 90MPH were reported and lots of flooding and fallen trees resulted from the storm.



From the local paper's website



From the Chicago paper's website

The electric power went out across the city and suburbs, I lost power at 3:30PM on Thursday and I finally got the power back at 3:30PM Today – Monday. If this was any other weekend, we could have just packed up the bike and went riding somewhere, the weather on Saturday and Sunday was great, but this weekend we were getting the bikes ready for our 9 day trip and needed to get the laundry done and start packing also. I also was still working on the route and making campsite reservations.

Just not a good weekend to have no power. And it wasn't just us, no one around us had any power either. A lot of business were closed. Even supermarkets and gas stations. A lot of that needed to be done for this trip, simply wasn't.

We did remove and install the wheels on my ST3 without power, so I could get some new tires mounted, but we could only work during the day, while the sun was shining and the garage door was open. I'm glad we have electricity back, but now we have to kick it up a notch and hurry up since we couldn't do much over the weekend.

Avon Azaro tires - 10,300 mile review

Bye Bye Azaros!

The Avon Azaros have now been removed from the ST3 and as of yesterday I’m sporting some new Continental Road Attacks, which means it’s time to review the Azaros that I’ve been riding on since end of August of 2006.

The tires lasted 10,300 miles and actually they still “look” like they have some life left in them. Unfortunately as good as they look, they stopped “feeling” good a long time ago but I wasn’t going to get rid of tires prematurely and waste money so I’ve been riding on them until the tread wear indicator showed that they were done. Well that didn’t happen yet but I have a long trip coming up so I need to get new rubber mounted on the ST3.

A small crack and bulge in the front

What I’ve done in the past with tires was just replace the back tire and the second time around get a new back and front. I was thinking this time around to get to get a new Avon Storm for the back since the Storm replaced the Azaro. But on the last three rides I’ve been experiencing some minor front wheel wobble and some shaking of the handlebars, mostly at speeds over 50MPH.

I checked the tire, but couldn't really see anything wrong with it. When the day arrived to place the order for a new tire, I ended up getting a new set, front and back.

Once the wheels were removed I inspected the front tire again and there was a crack in the rubber, and if you ran your finger across it, there was definitely a bulge in the rubber at the same location.



New Road Attack rear tire on the left, old Azaro rear tire on the right



New Road Attack front tire on the left, old Azaro front tire on the right with the crack and bulge circled

And of course, there is no shaking or wobble now that I’m running the new Road Attack tires, so that’s what it was.

My Azaro experience

Last year, same time, I had removed the tires the ST3 came with and had the Azaros mounted. Then I packed up the bike and took off for a 10 day - 4,000 mile ride out west.

I have to admit it was a weird feeling first time riding on the Azaros. I pulled out of the garage the first day of my trip, the bike all loaded up and heavy and I was experiencing the slow-speed front wheel wobble of a new Azaro tire that some people claim to experience. It only lasted for the first 200 miles or so and knowing what it was since I read about it, it wasn’t a big deal.

I fell in love with the tires instantly. First, I’m short and the Azaros made the bike sit lower. Second, they gripped really well too and I rode them hard though some parts of Utah and Colorado (I love the roads out there). On day 8 of the trip I had noticed some minor “cheese grating” on the rubber. I’ve only seen that before on my tires after I’ve done a track day, and on sport tires, not touring tires. And finally, the Azaros also handled very well in the rain, and we had a lot of rain to ride though towards the end of the trip and many twisty roads were ridden in a downpour.

After those first 4,500 - 5,000 miles of riding unfortunately the tires never felt as good as when they were new, they deteriorated very quickly. They were still OK on dry pavement for the reminder of the rides but slid around a bit on wet pavement and I just never had too much confidence with them.

Seemed like they were a really great tire in the beginning and they lasted a long time, but they lost their grippiness after only 5,000 miles, kind of disappointing.

I’d like to try the Avon Storms one day, but I’ll wait until the tire has been around for a while.

Day 2: Flat 4 Tour - Winona, MN

In the morning we clicked on the TV to check the weather. It was not looking good at all. The area we were in was now flooded, there were landslides, roads were washed away, many roads were under water and the rest were closed to traffic. And it was still raining and it was going to continue raining all day and in to the night, here and in Chicago and everywhere in between.

We originally knew that there was a pretty good chance of rain for both days, but I rarely pay too much attention to the weather and even if the forecast calls for rain, it hardly ever rains for two days straight.



Quality Inn parking lot

The bad weather and road closings had me worried, but another thing that had me worried also was that I wasn’t feeling good this morning. It was something I ate that wasn’t agreeing with me. My stomach was killing me and I also had a had a headache. The last thing I wanted to do right now was get on a bike and ride 300+ miles home in the rain.

Things weren’t improving, actually they were getting worst. Everyone had left already to get home and I was still laying in bed feeling like total crap. Then finally at 10:30AM, last nights dinner decided it wanted out of my stomach. After I threw up all of the smoked chicken ravioli and the cheesecake, it was 11AM and time to pack up and check out of the room.

The lobby was packed with people, many waiting to get some food at the Perkin’s next door, many waiting to check in to their rooms. There was a sign posted of the “only” open road out of town, which was 43 south that was going to take us to I-90.

Since others had the ravioli last night, I really didn’t know what made me sick, but I was still feeling sick, not feeling like I was capable of riding a motorcycle in the rain, so I sat in the lobby on the couch trying to rest as much as I could. At 2PM we had to make a decision, either try to get a room around here or try and get back home. As much as I didn’t want to ride feeling sick I didn’t want to try and find a motel room in town, with so many people’s houses flooding, many were checking in to the motels, there probably wasn’t very many rooms available around here.

It was drizzling when we left Winona. As if being sick and having to ride in the rain wasn’t bad enough, I was riding on my old Avon Azaro tires, which now had about 10,000 miles on them and not as much traction as they used to. My new tires came in last week but there was no time to get them mounted before this trip and the Azaros still looked decent.

The ST3 didn’t like the rain either, the left blinker was on, but not flashing, and all the lights on the dash took turns lighting up by themselves, first it was the hi beams even though they weren’t on, then it was the oil light then the engine light and finally the signals. That continued for a couple hours, finally the blinker light was off and the instrument cluster stopped its madness.

The traffic got heavier as we headed further south on I-90, the drizzle stayed with us, sometimes turning to light rain. By the time we got to RT 12 and Lake Delton, I needed to stop and take a break. I hadn’t eaten anything all day and I was starting to feel very week. We pulled over at a gas station and went in to the adjacent sub/pizza place. It was good to be off the bike for a while. I ordered a turkey sub, not feeling like telling the guy all the stuff I wanted on it, I just told him to put all the toppings on that he had, I would just take off what I didn’t like. When I got to my table and I unwrapped my sandwich, I was very surprised to see on my turkey and cheese sandwich covered in lettuce, tomatoes, olives, bacon bits and fresh mushrooms. Bacon bits and fresh mushrooms?



Lunch stop near Lake Delton, WI - is that a banana tree?

This gas station only had low octane gas so we rode past the interstate to the other side to get gas there. This gas station was totally busy. Back on I-90, traffic grew heavier by the minute, at times all you could see was brake lights and cars slowing down to 40-30MPH for no apparent reason. Around Madison, WI for the first time today, there was no rain on my helmet’s visor, but that only lasted 15-20 minutes then the drizzle started again which turned to rain. The traffic started to creep and crawl again, so we took the next exit which was for RT 59 around Milton, WI. If the traffic on the interstate continued this way I was contemplating taking back roads all the way, realizing that we were still very far from home and it was getting late, and if we took back roads we would be getting home at midnight, but then we glanced at the interstate and it looked to be moving again, so we got back on.



More rain

A few minutes later we stared approaching very dark skies and what appeared to be a large volume of water falling from the sky directly ahead of us. Shortly later we entered the curtain of water and I was instantly soaked. With so many hours of steady drizzle and light rain, the rain was already starting to penetrate the waterproof fabric of my gear, but it took hours of rain to do that, now with the down pour I was instantly soaked, as the rain forced itself in to every crevice and nook. Not to mention I started riding today with my gear still wet from yesterday. The traffic slowed down to 30MPH and I could barely make out the tail lights of the car in front of me. Many cars were just pulling off on to the shoulder. About 10-15 minutes later, the downpour was done and heavy rain continued as we entered Illinois. We continued though the suburbs, I so wanted to pull over again and rest but I so wanted just to get home, so I kept going, arriving home just after 9PM.

At least I was feeling better now, having eaten something, but with the rain, heavy interstate traffic and feeling sick, this was so far the toughest day on a bike for me.

I definitely should brought rain gear and my rain gloves. The waterproof textiles are great for some rain, but not for two straight days of rain.


The rain made national news, these were the headlines from Winona Daily News