Sitting in the hotel room or lobby watching it rain is not exactly what I call a vacation. It was raining when we got up this morning in Washington Courthouse, Ohio. We ate the non-spectacular breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express after stalling in our room as long as we could. Breakfast closed promptly at 9:30. We sat there long after that. It rained the entire time. Finally at 2:00 PM I couldn’t take it anymore. The radar showed a minimal break in the clouds and the tv weather people were saying it would all clear up by early afternoon. They were wrong.

We were only 140 miles or so from out next destination. I have been trying to plan our route on 2 lane roads as much as possible. That really was in our favor today. I’ve never seen so many trucks running down the road at one time. Many of them were tandem trailer versions. You can guess how much water a semi truck with 2 trailers behind it can kick up. It also was still raining. Water from above, road spray from every direction – none of it was enjoyable on our motorcycles. We were hearing warnings of streets being flooded and severe thunderstorms everywhere around us. Making a U-turn and heading for the Rambling Ranch was starting to sound like a great solution. Mrs. Henry would have none of that.

A smart thing to do would be to break out the dreaded rain suits. I refused more out of stubborness than any logical reason. Off we went. Within 10 miles my jeans were soaked through. We kept going.

I knew we would need gas eventually so when we came within sight of a pretty rickety looking gas station, in we went. They had 93 octane gas and a clean restroom. What more could you ask. We even splurged and bought a couple of bottles of water. Just what we needed more water. We kept going.

It was getting pretty chilly and we were both soaked. We actually crossed the Ohio River and were now in West Virginia. I needed to stop. Mrs. Henry needed to stop. I saw a Wendy’s at the next exit. “Let’s stop and get a coke and get out of this rain. Who knew that Wendy was trying to compete with Dairy Queen. They offered their own version of a Sundae and a Blizzard. What better remedy for two rain-soaked travelers than having some ice cream. The store was so cold we had to sit outside. It was not raining at that exact moment.

We were within 45 miles of our final destination. The ice cream helped but was not a cure all for all the rain and all the traffic still on the road. I kept my eye on the GPS which tracks miles to your destination. Bad idea. I swear at times we were getting farther away from where we wanted to end up.

After what seemed like forever, the roadside information signs pointed to the Fairfield Inn at Huntington, West Virginia. I guess that’s the part that’s “almost heaven” – finally seeing your home for the night after a long day of treading water and avoiding getting in the way of the trucking population.

No restaurants were within walking distance and I wasn’t going to get back on the bike today. I even started to investigate Door Dash. I got frustrated very fast and we opted for snacks from the kiosk at the hotel. Fine dining at it’s best.

Jana stopped at the front desk and got some quarters so we could dry out the clothes we were wearing. The bikes and us were a dirty mess. I already knew, I was in for the night. All of this weather system is supposed to be out of the area by tomorrow morning. The forecasters have been wrong before.

Guess what happened within 15 minutes of our arrival at the hotel. Yep – sunshine. Hope for tomorrow.