Day 8 - The long, horrible, painful road to Indy...

So... As the title might indicate, today was not the best of days... After a bit of a late start (8:00) we were able to make it down the road 130 miles before stopping for breakfast at an Eat'n'Park. Good breakfast, but when we came out, it started to rain. We headed to Home Depot to get a replacement bulb for one of Larkin's spotter lights, then got on the road to head to a BBQ place to snap a pic for PA. Right across the street from our destination for the pic was a covered gas station so we took shelter to try and ride the storm out. We donned our bootie covers (for the wet roads) but that was it since the rain had mostly stopped. There was another little storm behind it, but we weren't too worried. So off we went.

We wanted to get to Columbus, so we could have just one more stop before Indy. Unfortunately, traffic had other plans. Shortly after crossing into Ohio, we ran into stopped traffic for construction. So we sat, and sat, and moved 50 feet and sat (similar to day 1). A car (from Chantilly no less) attempted to lane share with me. When I blasted my horn instead of backing off, they just kept being their shiny black Lexus SUV right into me. I gave up and backed off. It was so pointless for the to move over anyways! We're barely moving!! And the two lanes are moving at basically the same speed!! Ugh.

After awhile, five motorcycles rode by on the shoulder. After some debating of pro/cons, we decided to go for it. "They can't write us all!" was Larkin's mindset. My fan had been on way too long, I was starting to get dehydrated, and my left hand was cramping up bad. We didn't go very far at all when a car jumped out in front of the bikes we were joining up with. He was trying to block them, but they were able to slip by somehow. By the time we got to him he was out for blood. He was no longer using his vehicle to block, but rather as a weapon. I got pissed and opted to just pull over. I needed Motrin and some water. A few cars back from battering ram guy, was a guy who asked if I wanted to borrow his 9mm. Thanks dude, would love to!! Just kidding, but this guy was trying to kill me. So we hydrate a bit, take some Motrin and try to ride the shoulder again. (I'll note that we're STUCK on the interstate. Since we hit construction traffic there hasn't been an exit, so we literally have no where to go.) As soon as we get up to the guy, he swerves to the shoulder, fully, so I take his place in the regular lane. He's not going to have that either, as he starts pushing towards me, Larkin says "He has nothing to lose" so I back off. I'm so angry, I back off. Larkin starts talking to the guy, pleading because of how I'm feeling. He doesn't care. After calling him a d-bag numerous times the guy admits to riding a Harley!! WTF dude!! Ugh!! The car behind us appears to be trying to pass us, and I think he's pissed at battering ram guy. We let him around so he can try and deal with the fool. But alas, he's not able to right this guy either. I'm near my breaking point when it finally let's up. So not what we needed for this day...

Instead of stopping, we hammer down to get to Columbus which is about 100mi away at this point. We take a much needed break there, but end up taking an hour and a half. We're just so beat physically and mentally. We have about 160mi left so we saddle up and get moving.

The last leg is uneventful save for a false neutral that freaked me out. I couldn't get the bike into gear so I put on my flashers and pulled off the interstate and asked Larkin to pull off ahead of me, I'd coast up to him. As soon as I pulled off, so did a big, black Suburban from CT. A guy jumped out and waved for us to ride up to them. Some fellow riders headed to Indy, he just wanted to make sure we were okay. I was able to get it into gear at that point so we thanked him and said we were good. He offered to ride behind us just in case but we declined. Just a minor recurring issue I hadn't been able to fix on the fly. :-)

So after a very painful 160mi, we made it to our dinner stop to meet up with Jeremy and Stacy. We were going to go to Jersey Cafe (apparently it was on the travel channel) but it was packed so we opted for an Italian place nearby that was pretty yummy. After some debating on what to do, camp at the track or get a hotel room (which most everything was sold out) Jeremy and Stacy offered their pull-out for us. Which was awesome cause then we could shower and clean-up, and camp at the track tomorrow night.

So after a quick shower we passed out. Two 550 mile days back to back had really done us in. A lot of learning, and this will really help for next year. Sweet dreams!! :-)