Mikey's Blog from CreativeBurn

Ok I think this post is the last thing I’m trying to catch up on! Maybe not. Last Sept 5, my dad and I went to Wal Mart in Blairsville, PA to meet Anthony who was bringing other friends that I dunno. Anthony texted me that they had already arrived. I looked around and it can’t be. Maybe they were on the other side? Then I realized they went to a different Wal Mart which was in Delmont, PA. Dooh so we decided it would be better for them to meet us at my parent’s home since my dad wanted to go back and rest. LOL

Finally we all met up and I was surprised that Anthony’s wife, Shelly came along to ride as a passenger with Anthony which was great. But at the same time I was hoping she could handle it cuz it’s a long trip. Anthony and Shelly introduced their friends: Matt, a neighbor, and Jamie, from work at school.

It was kind of cool, I mean it’s cold when riding in the morning. Jamie didn’t have a coat cuz she didn’t have experience before and not on a long trip. Lucky I had extra gloves that she could borrow. We rode and stopped at Sheetz (gas station) at Clymer, PA. I felt bad cuz I realized when you pass Blairsville to the East from Pittsburgh, there’s more cold air cuz we’re on the mountains. So it was cold for Jamie to ride but good thing Anthony or Shelly had an extra jacket for Jamie to wear so she could enjoy her riding experience.

We rode on a lot of country roads and finally arrived in Curwensville, PA, for a car and bike show. It was kind of simple, not too many cars and bikes. Maybe we arrived there a little bit too early but I doubt it. We didn’t stay there too long. We looked for a place to eat lunch. Problem is they didn’t care which one and it’s like hmm… I had to decide so I thought Sheetz will do cuz they have lots of choices what to eat. My dad almost fell with his bike there but lucky his guard bar held it up. Cuz he accidentally braked it when he was supposed to clutch it when turning to park. After lunch, I took the lead and we rode on I-80 then finally exited to stop for gas before we hit the country road to go to Allegheny National forest.

It was kind of long and hoped I’m right abt where I am going… Then finally arrived at the place where I assumed it was and turned out I was right. It was more like a camp ground which is not what I expected. We parked and walked. There were tons of gnats everywhere and they chased some of us, especially Jamie. You could actually see a group of gnats that chased Jamie where she went. I realized this is not what I want to see so we bailed out. Of course, my iPhone service was out of range. I figured out by the sun’s position and went south/west but we were in the mountains where the roads were in totally different directions. Like when you ride in a curve and you see the sun in a different position, which kind of makes you lose your sense of navigation. Very confusing. I decided to pull over to a small parking spot to rest and wanted Anthony to lead cuz I knew he had a GPS navigator. Mostly, people needed a break. I knew Anthony and I can keep going and it was kind of funny to look at everybody else. So we took a break and then continued on. We arrived at a gas station before we hit the road onto I-80 where dad and I split up with friends. One of them needed to be home before 7pm which I was not aware of before. We got some gas and were ready to go.

We arrived in Dubois, PA as I followed dad but dad couldn’t find the road he was looking for… it was kind of funny but we finally found it. Passed Punxsutawney, Indiana, then Homer City where Dad had to get a refill of gas. My dad couldn’t believe it was such a long trip…he had a very sore back and butt, he wondered how the hell I can keep riding like that cuz his bike is softer and smoother than mine.

Then we just blazed all the way to home. It was 362.8 miles total. I tried to figure out and hoped it was not my long day trip record. Anthony said our trip to Niagara Falls, NY still held the record which he didn’t want to beat. We had an insane ride and great memories. I checked my blog archive, it just mentioned the time but not miles so I checked on google maps to tell me the total miles and it’s 492! That even beats my road trip to TX (miles per day, not total) last year. Yea I don’t want to beat that too. Oh yea, the next day, dad got a really sore neck and throat… Turned out it was caused from where he almost fell and held the bike. He’s fine now after he made a trip to the chiropractor

2010-05-06 Updated: I was cleaning my computer’s files and I saw a doc file contains road trip plan to TX. Then I look my old posted and realized that I planned to ride from Memphis TN to Louisville, KY, but I decided to keep going until Columbus, OH (you can check out my posted, “Road Trip on Sept 2008: Part 6″) which was about 575 miles… Ohh… Sorry Anthony, but one day we will ride together again and our goal will be to reach 600 miles.