First off, let me give you an update on the Scrambler: Powder coating done, spokes on (not aligned right), wrong handlebars, pipes on, seat painted … almost there.
Second, some Four Wheelin’: Over the Fourth of July, I got some four-wheeling in out at my grandmother’s place. Check out a few of these clips, it gets muddy! (Editor’s note: Links to the video clips are located in the introductory “The Ride” blurb on the front pages of www.redbullindianapolisgp.com and www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com.)
And now, Part 2 of Moto-Adventure:
Phil and I woke up early so that we could get a full day of riding and plenty of cushion for our projected 9 p.m. Indy arrival. We set off from Richmond International Raceway on Interstate 64 for about 2.5 hours before we decided to take an alternate route home. We ducked off the superhighway onto a two-lane highway that would take us all the way to Charleston. This was a great choice because the road was fast moving, semi-windy and took us through the best roads ever through West Virginia.
The only problem was, RAIN! That’s right, on this trip we hit rain in four different states and in West Virginia it just happened to be in the Mountains on the curviest roads on the trip. Thankfully I made a quick stop to Dreyer and picked up the “First Gear” rain suit and gloves that were perfect.
(Check out the picture of Phil in his Rain Gear, Still waiting for the picture of me from him … PHIL, SEND ME PICTURES!!!)
Thankfully the rain stopped once we got through the mountains and neither Phil nor I had any issues.
Fast Forward to our favorite place in Gauley Valley, which was dry … We made a few detours there and decided to make two trips up and down the valley at a more aggressive pace. If I ever get the video working I will have several clips to share. Once we were done “playing,” we got back on the highway and were slated to take the quickest route home according to Google maps, which would venture us through Ohio to Dayton and back to Indy. Once we started in that direction we noticed the massive thunder heads above us. We braved it anyway and decided to turn around when we saw soaked cars coming our way. This detour added about 1 hour to our trip! So it was back to I-64 where we dodged several rain storms traveling at 90 mph. The feeling when you escape a big storm is exhilarating! I felt victorious every time I sped through a section and popped out clear of a rain cloud!
It wasn’t until we got 40 miles south of Cincy where it got nasty. It was about 9 p.m. and the clouds were gloomy and we knew that it was going to rain. We also knew that it was getting dark. We pulled over, filled up with gas, put the rain gear back on and decided that we were going to roll with it until it got “too” dangerous. About 3 miles down the road for the next 30 it was dark and rainy! Really rainy and scary. Luckily for us the roads were pretty dry by the time we got into the city interchanges so it wasn’t that bad. Once we went through the interchange and got on I-74 to Indy we were hit with minor little sprinkles all the way until Indy. But it was in Indy were it started to rain again. I only got droplets but Phil got soaked. Phil lives on the west side and got pounded!