Day 116, Wilmington to Buckeye Lake, 129 Miles
"Done is better than perfect."
~Alan Weiss, Ph.D.
After three and a half months, we are still living on Pacific Time, so we hit the sack at midnight then we roll out around 7:30 and 8:30. While this seems fine, it makes for a short day. Today we got up, enjoyed breakfast, loaded up and moved out by 11:30. By the time we rode, fueled, did a radio interview and ate lunch, we'd gone a hundred miles and rolled into the AMA Hall of Fame Museum at 4. It closed at 5. Ow.
The cities fascinate me, as the houses were built before Las Vegas was old enough to spell 'gangster.' Their quality runs from old and rickety to better than new and everything in between. And the churches, oh my. They really knew how to build magnificent buildings back then.
We rode through Sabina (sah bee' nuh) today and I declared it to be my favorite named town. Go ahead. Say Sabina out loud three times. Isn't it a fine name? But Topeka (tow pee' kuh) tops my list. Say it three times. See? QG loves Shipshawana the best, but try to say it three times and forget it. But the locals call it 'Shipshe' for short.
Lancaster disappointed. Too big for its breeches, it stops you a number of times at intersections with lights that should be two way stops and let the highways run through at 25. But no, some 'forward planner' decided lights would be good. And don't get me started on unsynchronized lights. You synchronize traffic lights and we are on the way to world peace, trust me.
We stopped at a bar in Baltimore and the bartender, Luke, chatted with us. When he heard our story, he said "You're living my dream!" Well, truth be told, we're living our dream. It's funny though that after a hundred plus days, we forget what a dream it is until someone else illuminates it. We left smiling. Hopefully, Luke makes it his goal not just a dream.
A bit west, we entered Pickerington and a quaint downtown. Restored to excellence, Pickerington looks like a Norman Rockwell painting. Stores and houses stood proudly side by side, their windows gleaming against new siding.
The town just kept going, becoming suburbs and franchises then a freeway underpass. We got some directions and found the best kept secret in Ohio, the AMA Hall of Fame and Museum. I call it the best kept secret because we haven't found a single brochure on it anywhere.
The museum is young and a bit small, but well presented and full of great tributes to the bikes and people that have made motorcycling what it is today. Names like DeCoster, Payton, Nixon and Springsteen, and bikes including Ossas, BSAs, Triumphs and Hendersons. They devoted an entire room to Honda and its history. If you're interested, read the previous blog, and I'll provide more in the next few days.
A great exhibit and I'm proud to be a member of the AMA.
3 comments:
Don't let those unsynchronized traffice signals turn your dream into a nightmare. No, I know you won't do that, but remember... keep smiling!
In my perfect world, you go into town and wait at the first light. When it tunrs green you proceed at 29 miles per hour, and every light turns green as you approach it. Evergreen Way in Everett Washington featured these lights in the seventies. Can't we do that??? I think it would eliminate domestic voilence, gangs, and drug use. People would wave to one another as they tended their carnations along the parking strip. Dogs would get along with cats. And garbage would smell less offensive.
There are dreamers, and then there are... uh, DREAMERS! It looks like you fit quite nicely into the second catagory. As the saying goes, "Dream big or go home!" You're obviously too far from home, so keep the dream alive, bro!
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