The Geeks Go Rambling

[BikerGeek99]

The Geeks Go Rambling

Last weekend, there was a little gathering in Marietta, Ohio, called the South East Ohio Spring Ramble. Being so close to home, it woulda been almost remiss of us to miss it. So we didn’t.

For us, the Ramble started a little early ‘cause our buddy RaYzerman came down the da Great White North and stayed a coupla nights with us.

He arrived at Casa de Geek on Wednesday and it was a beautiful spring evening, so we went to one of our local hangouts- the Winking Lizard - and sat on the patio. Left-to-right is RaYzerman, Sooze, and yours truly.



We chowed on some southwestern egg rolls.



Nothing like starting off a ride report with food ****, right? Ray had a steak (top), Sooze had wrap (middle), and I had a Rueben (bottom). With cheese and bacon covered fries.



That wraps up Wednesday.

Thursday, Sooze and I worked and RaYzerman visited with some friends of his in the area, and we had dinner with Woovis, a fellow ’04 FJR owner but didn’t take any pictures. Oh, well.

Friday morning was clear and crisp. For central Ohio, it was a beautiful spring morning. While I was farting around loading the bike (and totally rocking the cargo shorts and black socks look, no less), Ray was convinced that his Canadian air was not compatible with ‘Merican air, so he checked to make sure his metric tire pressures were OK in this non-metric part of the world.



There is a favorite spot of ours we wanted to show Ray before heading outta town, but they do not open until 9:00. So, we decided to show Ray a local attraction / oddity. On the way there, we crossed the mighty Scioto River. Hard to believe people pay top-dollar for a house along what some of us all the Scumoto. It’s kinda nasty.



Anyway, the local oddity / attraction? A field of concrete corn cobs. Welcome to Ohio, *******.



As we pulled up and stopped the bike, I could hear Ray laughing. Yes, kiddies, it’s real.



Ray was trying to figure out how to ‘harvest’ one to take back across the border.



Or maybe he was trying to be all sly and ****, thinking we’d miss his hi-viz helmet-wearing ***. Canadian humour. I don’t get it some times.

 

[BikerGeek99]

After Sooze and I got married, a photog friend of ours did some wedding pictures of us here. Yes, we are geeks.

Ray took a pic of us – I just felt compelled to caress the concrete corn cob. Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it.



Google it. Swing by. Take pictures.




Our breakfast destination was the Starliner Diner. If you are ever in northwest Columbus, check it out. Sooze and I are geeks and are fans of “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” and think this would be a great place for Guy Fieri to check out.



It doesn’t really look like much from the outside, but those are some of the best places out there.



Having the first-ride-of-the-year-pre-ride-jitters, I wasn’t too hungry but munched on some Cuban French toast.



Sooze had eggs, toast, ‘taters and bacon.



All fueled up and ready to roll, and after a lengthy parking lot discussion aboot which route to take to get pointed in the general direction we wanted, we hit I-270 knowing there was construction. And, of course, a traffic slow-down. Ray decided this would be a good time to light up a smoke – ya can’t see it from this angle, but it’s there. It made me laugh.



Finally, we made it through and were on our way.



This will be a common sight over the next coupla days.



In case you were not aware, all roads in Ohio suck. They are all straight, flat, and boring. That’s why the Ramble exists – for all of us to lament on how crap-tastic Ohio roads are. The Hocking Hills area truly exemplifies this – stay away.

 

[BikerGeek99]

This was a cool-looking country cemetery.



Some pics along the way.



The weather was - FINALLY! – damn near perfect.






After hopping on to OH 555 off of OH 7 along the Ohio River, we stopped for a smoke break.

The roads down there suck.

Flat.



Straight. Boring.



We managed to enjoy ourselves, though.






Coming in to Marietta, there are murals.



And we rolled in to Ramble Central – the MicroTel.

 

[BikerGeek99]

Safely at Ramble Central, RaYzerman had a shopping list to take care of, so he headed out to do what he had to do. In style.



We hung out for a bit as more folks rolled in.



Extrememarine (the guy in the grey shirt fondling his moob) made it. It was good to see that he made it all the way from Detroit without wadding up another FJR.



Ever see the Clint Eastwood movie Heartbreak Ridge? A line from that movie has stuck with me for years: Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. Ray (gray ray, not RaYzerman), NAILED it: Kmart next door? That sells beer? And a cooler? And ice? Just borrow one of their shopping carts!



Petey congratulates Ray on his ninja skills.



Captain U-Turn, AKA Bungie, made with his buddy on the VFR along.



It was getting to be about dinner time, so a few of us headed out.

Helmet? Check.

Armored riding jacket? Check.

Bermuda shorts & foo-foo-shoes? Check.

ATTGATT, *******.



We went with Ray and Dave to the Boathouse for a pretty durn tasty dinner right along the Ohio River.



Sooze had a wrap.



I had some yummy grilled shrimp with mac n cheese that had a REALLY good BBQ taste to em.



More to come...

 

[Niehart]

Liking this, thanks

 

[Mihalis fjr]

Nice pictures!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[bluejag]

Awesome ..another Geeks adventure!

Calling Guy Fieri now..... Hmmm I wonder if he rides?? (Prolly a Harley guy?)

 

[wheatonFJR]

Good job geekster...

 

[majicmaker]

Nice Report! Thanks

 

[dcarver]

"Anyway, the local oddity / attraction? A field of concrete corn cobs. Welcome to Ohio, *******."

:rofl:l Loving it!

Good to see ya'll ya'alls on the road!

 

[cota95]

Makes me yearn to get on the road again, thanks for the report.

 

[Geezer]

I have been to Dublin, OH many times and never seen the concrete corn. I'll make sure to get a close look next time I'm in the area. Whether or not you like the corn art, that Columbus area has an excellent zoo and the best library system I've ever seen.

 

[El Toro Joe]

Great start to yer RR Andy. Looking forward to more.

 

[BikerGeek99]

While we were eating, this chugged by us.



After we wrapped up our yummy dinner, we headed back to the hotel and had some good laughs in the parking lot with the other Ramblers before calling it a night.

Total miles today was somewhere right at 200.

Saturday, May 4, 2013.

In the morning, we could hear bikes firing up as early as 7:30. Thats way too early for us, so we slept in a bit and took the relaxed approach to the day. We had an east route or a west route to choose from for our ride.

We chose neither.

There were a couple of things I wanted to see. They were not on either route. In other words, we were just gonna do our own thing at our own pace. My riding just felt really rusty so I was not eager at all to go and try to push the pace in the twisties. I attribute that to my whole aversion to pain and strong self-preservation instinct. Go figure.

By the time we were ready, most everyone else had left the hotel. There were a few folks hanging out who were interested in riding with us: Heidi, Joe, Phil, Bob, and Fred. I didnt really think anyone would wanna do what we were gonna do, but I was wrong. So our 6-bike group of hack-razers got ready to roll.

But first, Joe ever the gentleman - helped Heidi with the vents on her jacket.



There was one lone bike in the parking lot that did not have a rider. Bobs brother enjoyed himself in the parking lot festivities the night before and had contracted altitude sickness, so he wasnt ready to roll and his BMW was the lone bike left.



We headed east-ish out of Marietta on SR 26.



See how straight the roads are around here? Sheesh. Just terrible.



The rest of the heck-razers following us.



If you cut your grass and find a school bus, you just might be a redneck.



LOTS of barns out here.



I love the Mail Pouch barns.



For the record, Sooze takes the pictures. No way in hell could I get shots like this.

 

[BikerGeek99]

Bob and Joe, and Fred behind Bob.



Miscellaneous something-or-other.



One covered bridge along the way.



And another. I probably would not have stopped, but Soozes helmet came unplugged from the Starcom. Yet another reason why I want to go Bluetooth wireless.



A few pics from the bridge stop.







All plugged back in, we were back on the road. After a long, crappy winter and crap-tastic spring, we finally had some perfect riding weather.



Somewhat to my surprise, we saw several log-style homes. I was not really expecting that.



When I was in college, we nicknamed one of the more strange guys (and were talking strange even for a music major, which is saying something!) Mail Pouch.

 

[BikerGeek99]

When SR 26 hit SR 800, we turned right and headed south towards the Ohio River. 800 had nice high-speed sweepers that are more to my liking. Unfortunately we got stuck behind an imbecile in an Impala. Said imbecile refused to pull over and let us by, instead trying to run a faster pace which included him going left-of-center several times. With 6 bikes in the group, I wasn’t feeling the need to push things too much and there really were not many places to attempt a pass, much less a pass for all 6 bikes, so we just kinda kicked back and chilled, taking in the scenery.

The rolling hills of SE Ohio.



If you remember from earlier, I said there were a couple of things I wanted to see this day. This is one of ‘em. A road that goes straight into the Ohio River! Amazing, eh?



Nah – I’m kidding. It’s actually a ferry across the Ohio River over to Sisterville, West Virginia.

Joe doing something important, I’m sure.



Me doing something important, I’m sure.



A cool thing about this ferry – when pulling away from shore, the tug goes in reverse and once away from shore, the pilot swings the tug 180 degrees alongside. It was kinda neat.



I have been hearing about this ferry for years and, finally, I can now say, “Yep – did that back in May 2013.”



Once across, we were in West Virginny.



After a bio break at a BP (get it – ‘bio’ break at a bP? I crack myself up…) we headed out on Route 2, following the Ohio River.



We saw several of these. They’re not nuclear – they’re coal fired. I mean, c’mon – we ARE in West Virginia, where coal is a big part of the state economy.

 

[BikerGeek99]

After getting myself all turned around in Parkersburg, I put the address of the place we were going and just let the GPS get us there. Along the way, Heidi and Fred decided to head back to the hotel which was a shame, ‘cause we were headed to….



Hillbilly Hotdogs! Sooze and I saw this place on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” a while back and have been wanting to go here for a while. Today was our day to do so.



It’s, ah, “interesting,” to say the least.






If you’re ever in the area, stop by and check the place out.



Just be aware if you pull into their parking lot area on your bike – the gravel is that loose, deep crap. We parked out along the road. With a crap-ton of others.



More pictures of Hillbilly Hotdogs ‘décor,’ if you can call it that.



If you are gonna eat outside, this is where they will call your name to grab your grub – you order inside.






Read it. Learn it. Live it.

 

[BikerGeek99]

The line to order moved, but it still took a while to get inside to order.






One thing for sure – they don’t really take themselves too serious.



Proof that triple-D was here.



The hot dogs were pretty good, but their onion rings were REALLY tasty!



I got their Buckeye dog & onion rings, while Sooze got their West Virginia dog and fried pickles.



The deer head on the grille made me laugh.



The Geeks inside the Hillbilly Express.



Our missions for the day accomplished, it was getting later in the afternoon so we decided to continue on Route 2 down to Huntington, cross the river back in to Ohio, and take Route 7 back towards Marietta.

We saw this along the way and got a chuckle out of it.



The mighty Ohio River.

 

[BikerGeek99]

No more pictures from that return ride because, well, the roads in Ohio suck. All of ‘em.

After my stupid GPS routed me across a toll bridge back into Parkersburg, we eventually made it back to the hotel for some more BSing in the parking lot.

Left-to-right: Ken, Heidi, Steve, Bob, moi, Joe, and Phil.



Ray and Dave (the guys we had dinner with on Friday night) had themselves some ice cream. Looks like they forgot to bring some for Petey and he’s about to go all ninja on ‘em.



We were getting some hunger on, so we walked over to a Mexican joint for some grub. It was pretty damn good, too!



We ate with Ken and Randall (I think?). Ken officially has a herd of kids and grandkids.



Me and Phil. We ordered the same thing. I could only eat about half of mine and Phil was licking his plate clean. Dunno where he put it, but he ate it all.



Nom nom nom….



Then it was time for a Ramble tradition: the parking lot slow-ride contest.

The prizes.



The competition began, brother versus brother.



After getting hollered at by the lady running the desk at the hotel (and not wanting to piss ‘em off so that we can come back), Wayne hopped on his bike to quickly secure the trophy. Really – that’s him.



More – quieter – general BSing continued before everyone called it a night.