230 miles didn’t sound like a difficult day on the motorcycles. We’ve frequently done a lot more than that. It turns out today was uncomfortably hot which made the mileage just barely tolerable.

We started with the best of intentions. The plan was to finish the loading process and roll out about 9:30 from the Rambling Ranch. We got close. I think the actual time was 10:12 AM which is close enough for vacation time. Whoops – forgot I needed to put gas in my trusty steed. I did remember to convert the Low Rider from cruiser mode to touring mode – saddlebags, different seat, and the back seat bag.

Now we really got rolling around 10:30. Still ok for being on vacation. First hint of an issue was that at this time of the morning it was pushing into the low 80’s temperature wise closely followed by the humidity. Ugh!

Neither of us were very hungry but we decided to pull into the local Denny’s anyway. We had travelled all of 21 miles so far. Denny’s All Star breakfast was less than stellar. This particular store is still observing the Covid protocols. They were only seating about 6 or 7 tables in a very sizeable restaurant. This created a 15 minute wait time for a table. The service was not the best and we ended up killing over an hour for this. OK – now it’s about 11:45 and we’ve covered 21 miles of the planned 230.

Did I mention that it is now over 90 degrees? We are both observing the “prudent motorcycist guide to hot weather riding” – long sleeves and lots of water. It didn’t help much. We cruised on through Madison, Indiana, crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky and stopped for gas. It’s after 2:00 in the afternoon and we’re halfway to our destination. It’s still vacation scheduling so we’re not very worried.

With about 80 miles remaining, it was 96 degrees and we were in bad need of some water and some air conditioning. Say what you want about their food but McDonalds has good a/c. We filled up with water but were still feeling the effects of heat.

The 80 miles shouldn’t have been an issue but we stopped for more water about 30 miles later. It was hot. So were we. Maybe the issue was that we hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast or the quantity of water still wasn’t enough. The last 50 miles was an endurance test.

The twisting Kentucky back roads were certainly scenic – that is what I could observe with sweat running down into my eyes. We did manage to encounter a very brief sprinkle that had maybe 7 drops of water. I would have parked the bike if I would have been forced to put on the rain suit at this point.

About 7:15 we pulled into the Best Western in Camblesville, Kentucky. We discussed plans for dinner and I bet that there would be a Mexican restaurant within walking distance. Sure enough it was right across the street from our hotel. The restaurant was packed. The A/C couldn’t keep up with all the heat that humans packed like sardines put off. The service was bad. The Fiesta Mexico did have good food but we scampered out of there without so much as a food picture.

The A/C is blasting cold air in the hotel room. We’re 230 miles from the ranch and looking forward to doing it all again tomorrow. Can you continue to Ramble if you’ve melted? We may find out tomorrow.