Sunday - Columbus, OH

Well, we're getting there... Today we knocked out a good chunk on a day that started out perfect, but turned out hot and ugly by afternoon. Which is par for the course for me on these trips, it seems. We did get checked into the hotel just before the rains came, and are sure glad to be high and dry.

One of our party awoke feeling sick, and when it got to 90 degrees by lunchtime we were all concerned that he wasn't going to make it through the afternoon. But Joe is a sturdy old fella and toughed it out like a champ. I was truly impressed, and here we all are right where we planned to be.

Our travels today brought us 250 miles further along the National Road, through the rest of Maryland, the southwest corner of PA, the 15 miles or so through West Virginia, and here just outside Columbus. Along the way, we saw some old toll houses, two of the Madonna of the Trail monuments honoring the spirit of the pioneer woman, and some crazy S-shaped stone bridges. We even made our way down a forgotten stretch of the road still paved with bricks. Very much a fascinating trip back through time.
Amazing when you think a wagoneer on this road would be thrilled to advance 10-12 miles in a day.

Finally, after something like 5 trips near Columbus on the bike, I'm going to see the National Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum. Every time I've come through here it's either been closed for the day or I was too far behind schedule. That's actually the case again here, but the group decided to reprioritize it, put ourselves behind schedule right off the bat tomorrow, and deal with it later. Check back tomorrow to see how we fare. At least the weather is supposed to be clear and over 10 degrees cooler. So far, so good!