ESTN Day 5: Ending Super Times Nicely

Monday morning, we helped ourselves to the complimentary breakfast at the Microtel before heading to the nearby gas station to fuel up so we could spend the entire morning "playing" in southeast Ohio. The roads in SE Ohio are spectacular! Last year's ESTN was based in Marietta and a number of ST.Ners have extolled the glories of SE Ohio. Chris had been on the roads before; he hit SE Ohio in August 2011 with Jerry, Jeff, David, and Kurt. He'd told me that riding in that part of the state was like riding one gigantic roller coaster. He was not lying! If the roads weren't twisty, they were chock full of elevation changes; most of the time they were both! Some had rises in the road where you couldn't see what was beyond...always interesting! Thankfully, Chris had the benefit of experience and GPS!

The route that Chris had planned for Monday morning began with OH 26 and included OH 800 and OH 255 among others. It was a gorgeous morning to play in SE Ohio!

Once we were done tooling around SE Ohio, we made our way into West Virginia at New Martinsville.

It's hard to tell, but there's a silhouette of a dog on the ball field meant to scare off the geese (seen departing the picture on the left).

Crossing the Ohio River into West Virginia.

We stopped at Sheetz in Morgantown, WV for a stretch break and a snack. Despite the fun we'd had that morning, my cold was really starting to wear on me. My throat was on fire and my ears were killing me. Still, I really had no choice but to soldier on, so I did. Another dose of Vitamin I (ibuprofen), a bottle of orange juice, and a hug from Chris and I was ready to get back on the bike and keep on keepin' on. 

We stopped again at Ohiopyle State Park for another stretch break (I was really fading as the day wore on) and to check out the water.

We stopped again in Johnstown, PA for another stretch break, more Advil, and another bottle of orange juice. At that point, we decided to hop onto the highway until we got to the Tyrone exit off of I-99. We exited at PA 453 so we could take PA 550 all the way back to the house.

Giving Chris bunny ears on I-99.

Just before we got to the house, we hit a big milestone on our Concours - 35,000 miles!!! 

ESTN 2012 to/from Sparta, NC proved to be an even better trip than ESTN 2010 (also in Sparta). The only thing missing was our friend, Sara. We really missed her!!!

Our total mileage for the trip was 1,543 miles over five days. Not too shabby!!! 

It did stink being sick on the trip. Riding all day wears me out normally; being sick meant that by the end of each day, I was toast! I slept so well each night, which was good. And it's not like I had any other option for getting home, so I just made the best of it. I dozed on and off a few times on the way home Monday and wound up taking a sick day on Tuesday to sleep most of the day (after I'd sent Chris out for NyQuil, DayQuil, cough drops, more Kleenex, and decaf hot tea bags). 

But the trip - even with the cold - was another fantastic time on the Concours with Chris and our ST.N friends! (Thanks, honey!!!)