Saturday's (mis) Adventures in north central Ohio

[waynesworld]

I decided to head to Thiel's Wheels Saturday for their open house, since I bought my Bonne there recently. They're Harley only now, but they seemed like decent folk otherwise... 

Taking 315 to 23 seemed really boring, so I mapped the route with the "Avoid Highways" option on Google Maps on my home computer, and tried to memorize the first half, thinking I would check halfway and get the rest. I couldn't find a way to use the "Avoid Highways" option on the phone app. I also mapped using the Navigator app with a downloaded map of Ohio, since I have T-Mobile and therefore have lousy coverage outside 270. And off I went. 

I went up 33, which is maybe a mile from my house, out of the Grandview area, which just seemed to become 257 without me doing anything. Great so far. Then Home Road briefly to Section Line Road. Still no problem. (Nothing terribly eventful on the 33/257 section to mention, but not bad. Section Line was mostly straight north also.) 

Then I thought I needed to turn right on 37 to get to 203. Which I did. Which was wrong. I realized that after a few miles on 37, when I wound up in what turns out to be far western Delaware. So I got that sorted, turned around, and went back to the intersection of my mistake and headed north on 203. 

203. I really liked 203. It had a mix of straight roads through farmland, through Prospect, beside the river, and some sweeping turns. There was the occasional tighter turn, but not much of that. Basically a pretty nice, fairly high speed run north, and all of the traffic was going the other way. And smooth. Very nice. 

I was on 203 for so long that I started thinking I had missed a turn somewhere, so I stopped to check. I don't know if it really said this, but I thought my GPS app showed me going left on 309 next at Big Island. (BTW - who knew there was a Big Island Ohio?) Which I did. Which was wrong. 309 was flat out straight line farm land. Not very exciting, but very fast. Unfortunately for me, I was going fast in the wrong direction. 

So I roll into Kenton, wondering "Where the hell in Kenton?". I try to get my bearings on my phone and once again fail. And now I need fuel. The guy at the gas station tells me to take 53 to get to "Upper", so I do. Eventually I wind up in a town called Forest. (Who knew we had a Forest Ohio also?) I checked my GPS and took 37 toward 30. Now I'm on track, right? 

I get to 30 and head East. Going 80, passing semis, now I'm on my way. I've seen 30 from 23, south of "Upper", so I'm sure that I need to go north and I'll be there in no time. So I do. Which was wrong. And I continue north for a while. 10 miles or so. Then I start seeing signs for Findlay and Toledo, but none for "Upper". Doesn't seem right. So I pull over on some township road and try again to check my GPS, and again fail to figure out where the hell I am. But I'm pretty sure I'm too far north. Though I can't figure out why. So I head back south. 

For the first time on the entire trip, I'm now pissed. I KNOW that the 23/30 intersection is south of my destination, yet I turned north on 23 and was instantly recruited by the Toledo Mud Hens. I don't know where I am in relation to "Upper". I still don't know where Kenton is, but I know that I was there 45 minutes ago. And it's 4:02. Thiel's closed at 4:00. Time to turn around and head south on 23. 

Pretty soon I see signs for "Upper". Turns out that I was RIGHT THERE when I got on 23, but should have gone south. I had no idea that 30 used 23 as a junction around "Upper". Now I do. 

To shorten this already long story a bit: I got to Thiel's. They were still open, with tons of people and Harleys in the lot. (My Bonne was, of course, the best looking bike there.) I stayed about 15 minutes, then took 23 and 315 home. Roughly an hour and 15 minutes, including misguided attempts to stop for food in Waldo and Delaware. 

190 miles. Most of an afternoon. (I left home at 1:20 and returned at 6:00. Lots of stops to try and figure out where the hell I was.) 

My main takeaways:

Buy a paper map of Ohio.

I definitely recommend riding 203. Nothing terribly exciting, but it's a pretty nice road. If you're going somewhere around there, give it a try. 

If you don't have a timeline, enjoy getting lost. I didn't mind taking a wrong turn. What bothered me was that I couldn't figure it out. 

Wayne

[JCMathis]

Sounds like you had a nice tour of plenty of farm land.

[Connie14]

 

Sounds like a good day of riding.

You may want to check out a ram mount xgrip. You can use your phone's GPS while you are riding.  It is especially nice if you have an in helmet ggo bluetooth system.

[bmwnut]

Was on 203 also today found it by chance ran from north to south morral to prospect  that section along the river was the best but the rest was to flat and strait

 

Edited April 18, 2016 by bmwnut

[waynesworld]

5 minutes ago, bmwnut said:

Was on 203 also today found it by chance ran from north to south morral to prospect  that section along the river was the best but the rest was to flat and strait

 

I agree that parts were very flat and straight. It got me north quickly though, without going 23. And yes, the section along the river was best. 

 

[waynesworld]

19 minutes ago, Connie14 said:

 

Sounds like a good day of riding.

You may want to check out a ram mount xgrip. You can use your phone's GPS while you are riding.  It is especially nice if you have an in helmet ggo bluetooth system.

I'm still trying to figure out a suitable solution. My phone battery was down to 24% by the time I turned around near Michigan. And it's a pretty decent battery (Nexus 6). I did have two GPS programs running though. And my phone was searching for a signal much of the way. 

[Wojo72]

24 minutes ago, waynesworld said:

I'm still trying to figure out a suitable solution. My phone battery was down to 24% by the time I turned around near Michigan. And it's a pretty decent battery (Nexus 6). I did have two GPS programs running though. And my phone was searching for a signal much of the way. 

Pick up a cheap external battery to shove in your pocket.  I picked one up that will recharge my N6 a couple of times for less than $20.

[Tonik]

27 minutes ago, waynesworld said:

I'm still trying to figure out a suitable solution. My phone battery was down to 24% by the time I turned around near Michigan. And it's a pretty decent battery (Nexus 6). I did have two GPS programs running though. And my phone was searching for a signal much of the way. 

One you need a power cord for it. It will kill your battery. I nav with my phone all the time, on long days.

Two you need a nav program that does not need a signal...for data. I use Sygic. Its like 25 bucks for all of north america. Takes up about 5 gigs if you download it all but I just download the states I need.

Then you need to mount it so you can see it, or earbud it.

Edited April 18, 2016 by Tonik

[Wojo72]

2 minutes ago, Tonik said:

One you need a power cord for it. It will kill your battery. I nav with my phone all the time, on long days.

Two you need a nav program that does not need a signal...for data. I use Sygic. Its like 25 bucks for all of north america. Takes up about 5 gigs if you download it all but I just download the states I need.

Then you need to mount it so you can see it, or earbud it.

If you are looking for a cheap option Google Maps will let you download a region.  I was able to get most of OH without too much drama.

[waynesworld]

I have two. That may be the simplest solution. 

[waynesworld]

8 minutes ago, Tonik said:

One you need a power cord for it. It will kill your battery. I nav with my phone all the time, on long days.

Two you need a nav program that does not need a signal...for data. I use Sygic. Its like 25 bucks for all of north america. Takes up about 5 gigs if you download it all but I just download the states I need.

Then you need to mount it so you can see it, or earbud it.

I have a Nav program that doesn't need a signal, referenced in the post. Never heard of Sygic though. I'll check that out. Thanks. 

I still don't know about the mounting solution, or bluetooth. Trial and error, I suppose. 

[waynesworld]

7 minutes ago, Wojo72 said:

If you are looking for a cheap option Google Maps will let you download a region.  I was able to get most of OH without too much drama.

Thanks. I do have the downloaded solution referenced, but they both seemed to fail me Saturday. Though I didn't have the Google Maps downloaded. 

 

[Tonik]

Mounting, earbud..bluetooth.  Yea it takes some experimenting to figure out what is best for you.  Took me awhile.  I ended up on my handlebars with a Ram Mount but I have a big fairing so it has to rain really hard before I have to do something.  So power from the fairing was easy, then I ran a aux cable under the tank that comes up right under my seat.  Run the earbuds under my jacket and plug in. Also ran a second cable so I can just aux it into the bike's stereo.  Can't really hear what she is saying that way but I can hear her...know that something is coming up and glance at the phone.

I got really tired of bluetoothing it, seemed like I was always dicking around paring up or charging.  But that was awhile ago, the newer sena's seem to work much better than what I had.

[2talltim]

This is the simplest solution for phone charging on a bike.

http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/battery-tender-usb-charger

Plugs into your tender lead and just use your usb cable. If you don't have a tender and a lead you really should have one. The Schumacher is a nice unit and can be had at wally mart for around $20-$25

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Schumacher-MC-1-6-12-Volt-1A-Charger-Trickle-6-12-Volt-Each/21642124

[Casper]

1 hour ago, 2talltim said:

 

This is the simplest solution for phone charging on a bike.

 

http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/battery-tender-usb-charger

 

Plugs into your tender lead and just use your usb cable. If you don't have a tender and a lead you really should have one. The Schumacher is a nice unit and can be had at wally mart for around $20-$25

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Schumacher-MC-1-6-12-Volt-1A-Charger-Trickle-6-12-Volt-Each/21642124

Agreed 100%. 

[Tonik]

Depends on your setup.  In my case it would be a retarded solution since my phone is right next to my fairing and there are four spare factory switched leads in there to plug in to.

[waynesworld]

8 hours ago, Tonik said:

Mounting, earbud..bluetooth.  Yea it takes some experimenting to figure out what is best for you.  Took me awhile.  I ended up on my handlebars with a Ram Mount but I have a big fairing so it has to rain really hard before I have to do something.  So power from the fairing was easy, then I ran a aux cable under the tank that comes up right under my seat.  Run the earbuds under my jacket and plug in. Also ran a second cable so I can just aux it into the bike's stereo.  Can't really hear what she is saying that way but I can hear her...know that something is coming up and glance at the phone.

I got really tired of bluetoothing it, seemed like I was always dicking around paring up or charging.  But that was awhile ago, the newer sena's seem to work much better than what I had.

Pretty much my thoughts too. Thanks! 

[waynesworld]

5 hours ago, Casper said:

Agreed 100%. 

Thanks Tim. This sounds simple, which is what I want. 

I do not yet have a tender, but intend to buy one. Thanks for the recommendation on that too.