We took absolutely zero pictures today.  Blame it on the weather or a rocky start to the day but we just didn’t see anything that was picture worthy.  We left the hotel and walked across the parking lot to Perkins for breakfast.  Another routine start to the day.  We packed up and pulled out about 10:00 AM.  I started the day with two different room reservations for the night.  It didn’t take me long to see that the day was going to be gray and overcast.  I cancelled the room that was farther from our starting point but closer to home.

We left Meadville, PA and were headed back to Marion, OH where we spent the first night away from home a week ago.  That was about 220 miles down the road.  We ended up following US-322 to OH-44.  Once we turned south on 44 I was checking the radar every few minutes.  (I’m not sure how I ever travelled without radar on the bike.)  By the looks of things we needed to slow down or we would run head-long into the storm.  We opted to just stop for lunch and stall a while at Ravina, OH.  By the time we ate and walked into a couple of “collectables” stores, we had spent about 90 minutes not riding.

I checked the radar again and with a little luck our timing was right on.  We ran 44 south until we hit US-62 and turned southwest to bypass most of Canton.  A few miles later and we were on US-30 once again headed due west.  We still had about 90 miles to our hotel but my back was really bothering me.  (I fear that a big contributor to my back issues on this trip is the new Corbin seat.  It’s rock hard and changed my seating position – pushing me another inch or so from the handlebars.  It will be hitting eBay soon.)

The pavement was wet and there was standing water but no rain.  I checked for any kind of restaurant and found something called “The Pines”.  It was at the next exit so it sounded perfect.  It wasn’t.  It was the snack bar at a golf course.  A fountain iced tea for me and a bottled diet Pepsi for Jana was the extent of our investment.

The rest of the miles went by easy enough and we are back in the Holiday Inn Express  in Marion, OH.  Dinner was a repeat of last Friday – at Steve’s Dakota Grill across the Lowe’s parking lot.

The route home tomorrow is pretty familiar.  We are going to chose between coming home on IN-67 through Portland or back on US-36 to the ranch. With luck all of the rain will have moved through the area and it will be dry whichever route we decide.

The trip has been ok – not great.  It’s missing the WOW factor that I was hoping for.  I think the combination of marginal weather and marginal roads had something to do with that.  It’s always a “catch 22” headed for home – I’m anxious to get there but don’t really want to go.