Day 14 - Nearly home

Today turned out to be a long day even though I only made about 170 miles. For starters, since I knew I didn't plan on driving a great distance, I allowed myself to sleep in a bit. After talking with some bikers from Indiana over breakfast, I got on the road about 10:00.  I then took a small detour to enjoy the horse farm area around Lexington. The family will recognize one of our past vacation spots here. 

I talked with a father taking a picture of his daughter in front of the sign and told him we visited the park when our kids were her age. They came from Ireland just to attend a special program here later in the week and were enjoying the beautiful countryside. 

I followed US 25 north as it paralleled I-75 all the way to the Ohio River. I took my time and encountered little traffic, taking in several more small towns along the way. The sun was shining most of the way, so it was a hot ride, especially whenever I stopped whether at a stop light or for gas. As I approached the end of this road in Covington I felt a drop.  That's when I noticed the sky had suddenly become much more cloudy. As soon as it actually began to rain on me, I cut into a parking lot hoping for shelter.  There happened to be a bank where I could duck under a covered ATM area.  I waited it out and continued on over the river when the rain ended. I have now driven across four bridges between Cincinnati  and Covington. Cincinnati was very slow going. Originally I planned to take the interstate at this point, but I noticed I could take another federal highway at least for a while. US 127 runs northwest out of town through many suburban communities. There were some nice areas and some less nice ones.  But there was lots of stop and go, and that also made this a long day. I made it to I-70 and took that a little way toward Dayton, and tonight I find myself in Brookville, OH, just west of Dayton. Tomorrow I will take I-75 the rest of the way home, mow the lawn if it needs it and give my motorcycle a very needed bath.

I met a guy here at the hotel from Lake Orion, MI, also a biker, who couldn't believe I rode to Miami and back. So maybe it was a crazy idea from the start. I'll have to think about whether I'd want to do a similar trip again. I do know I've enjoyed every day of this one, the Lord has blessed with safety and my bike has performed flawlessly. I've enjoyed having a pretty loose schedule with the ability to change plans if I felt inclined. This trip was defined by the objective of riding the entire length of two major highways. Maybe it would be better to define a trip to include more sightseeing of some sort. 

Well tomorrow is not expected to be a very interesting ride, as I'll just be zipping up 75.  So this should be my last post.  If anyone has read these daily accounts of my trip, I hope you've enjoyed them. Remember the title of my blog says that each of us is unique.  This has been a special time for me and has already given me a very unique summer vacation.