Sunday - June 13, 2010
 

Well, rain and cold weather was finally not an issue. What was an issue however, was the heat. It has hot! We left home at about 6:00 am. The plan was to be at Flying J at 7:30 for breakfast. That is awfully early in the morning. The one good thing about it was that it was the best riding weather of the day....cool and very little traffic. We managed to arrive at Flying J at about 7:45 where we met up with everyone else. After a good breakfast and some chit chat we headed out. It was getting close to 9:00 by the time we pulled out, and already the heat was building up.

The ride down was nice. It was warm, but not bad. the breeze from the ride was still cooling. It is a long ride down and we stopped a little over halfway to top off the tanks and grab some cool drinks....and to get some "saddle" relief.

In short order we were back on the bikes and headed down the road to the park. It was a nice summer day. Warm but not really unbearable. Park is about an hour from Columbus and we arrived there around noon. We paid our five bucks to park and headed for a parking place. We got off the bikes and headed to the visitor center, which it turned out was closed. There are several paths and trails around the park and without hesitation we headed out on a trail.

It wasn't bad walking. We were basically walking through the woods and had plenty of shade. It was actually a little cooler walking than it had been on the bikes with the sun bearing down on us. We did notice that the path we were on was on a decline and jokingly made a few comments about going down being a lot easier than coming back up. Before we knew it we were on the canyon floor. At this point the trail became a riverbed....complete with trickling water. There were numerous trails leading to various "canyons". We headed to canyon #1. After following the 'trail' for about thirty minutes we arrived at a dead end.

By now we were hot. The sun managed to break thru the tree cover and found its way to our skin and the exertion of hiking was catching up with us. We reluctantly accepted the fact that we now had to go back UP the path we had come down. We started out okay, but about half way UP we started taking frequent breaks to rest, catch our breath and cool off. The further we went the more frequent the stops became...and it wasn't just one of us.....it was all of us.

After a very long time, we finally reached the starting point and the visitor center. Even though it was closed there were bathrooms, a coke machine and a water fountain. We basically collapsed onto the benches with wet towels on our heads, chests and other body parts that were very overheated. Some poured cold water on their heads and bodies. We were very overheated and probably very close to heat stoke. After about thirty minutes our faces were no longer bright red and we were breathing normally.

With visions of cold air conditioning and iced tea on our minds we ventured out into the hot sun, mounted our very hot bikes and headed for Country BBQ. I think it kind of slipped out minds that we were about an hour away from there. By the time we finally arrived at the restaurant we were back in overheated status. Some not feeling well from the heat.

Country BBQ was not extremely cool inside, but it was cool enough and better than being out in the sun. We were joined at the restaurant by Stephanie's, mother, sister and grandson. We drank a lot of water and tea. We were in no hurry and enjoyed the time to just sit. We did order and ate some really good bbq. Service was good the food was good, the company was good and the coolness was great.

Eventually we summoned up the courage to head home. Actually, it was noticeably cooler. Maybe it was just as hot and we were cooler so it didn't seem so hot, but whatever the reason, the ride was a lot more comfortable. As we did coming down, we stopped about halfway for fuel and to rehydrate. We also plotted our coursed to our various homes.

Overall, it was a great day. It was hot.....a little too hot, but still worth the trip. Being with my STAR family is always worth the effort. I would do it all again....even with the heat.

Chapter Members Attending:

Doug & Teresa Turco
Gary & Maria Kohl
Preston & Stephanie Howard
Rick Campbell