A Late Afternoon Storm
by Linda Carruth

Friday, June 1, 2007
Oh my gosh, it's June already! Where did the spring go? Wait a minute, what spring?

We decided we'd better go early today. Scott got me up around nine. We had planned on going to Mrs. Yoder's, but there was a 30-40% chance of rain today, and a 20-30% chance tomorrow. So we changed our plans, thinking we'd do the valley today and make a Yoder run tomorrow. The valley is shadier anyway and it's supposed to be two or three degrees hotter today. A cold front is coming through on Sunday and there will be a 50-60% chance of rain, possibly with storms. I have to go to a bridal shower in Youngstown on Sunday anyway; my nephew is getting married this summer.

We got showered and fed pretty quick, but still ended up leaving around noon. We went around to the gas station, and after fueling, my bike didn't want to start up again. It took several times as the starter button did absolutely nothing. I finally got it started, just as I was about to push it out of the way of the pumps, and Scott turned around and said let's head out to State8.

We headed over to Brookpark and found ourselves pretty much weaving in and out of lunchtime traffic as we made our way down to Canal. It was hot and humid with no breeze, so the wind on the bike felt good. We hung a right on Canal, and that was a nice ride. The canal was either almost drained or pretty dried up, probably the former. Not much water means not much cool to come off of it. It was cooler past Rockside though. Between the vegetation (and less concrete and buildings) and the fact that there was more water in the canal made the breeze off of it nice and cool.

We made our way through the construction area and up the hill. Once you past the mess, it's a nice ride. We turned right on Boyden, left on Highland, and then right again on Brandywine Rd. We used that route to get over to Old Route 8, jagging over on 303 to head out to State8 the easiest fastest way. We pulled in and parked and I went and got Mike to come out and check out my bike. It was fussy starting for him too. He rode it around the parking lot for a while. Scott told me I'll have to get rid of my pipes… because they sound so good. I have to admit, it did sound good to hear Mike riding it around us because I could hear it from all sides, and I could hear him slowing down and speeding up. It sounded nice and loud and it has such a nice throaty rumble. When Mike came back, he said he thought it was weird because the bike ran so well. He asked the electrical tech, the older guy who worked on it before. I wondered about the starter itself (we already have a new switch) or the charging system. The tech seemed to think it might be the starter relay. Mike said I could make an appointment; I guess I'm riding it out of here, I thought. We will bring it in on Tuesday for them to work on it Wednesday. Scott asked if it should be okay to ride and they seemed to think it would be. Then Mike told me to just give it some gas if I have trouble starting it. That's what he did. We both hit the bathroom and then we left.

We headed over to Quick Rd and started down that way. Scott seemed to be in a hurry as I lagged behind. The curves had 35mph posted and on the right side of the road were new gravel holes, as if they were trying to fill in where pieces of the road fell off of the edge. These were big areas that took up the whole right third of the lane. It wasn't long before Scott was way ahead of me. I got up to speed but I would have had to go too fast to catch up. When I got down to the bottom of the hill, Scott asked if there was something wrong with my bike. He said the posted speed limit is forty-five. Not on the curves it isn't. I don't remember flying through there before, and anyway, it's too hard to do forty-five with those gravel pits and oncoming traffic.

So now Scott's mad, but I'm not too concerned about it. He gets mad, he softens, he gets mad, he softens. Why the hell should I let it ruin MY day? It's his problem, not mine.

We turned left on Akron-Peninsula Rd, heading south. We turned right on Bath Rd to go up through those little twisties. We took Bath to Rt 21 and cut over to Granger Rd. We took Granger past Medina Line Rd and hung a right on State Rd to head back north. We had to slow several times on State to go around some work vehicles, but it was still a nice ride through there.

We turned left on West Drive in Hinckley Reservation. I really had to hit the bathroom already and I was hoping we'd stop at that little deserted place on East Drive. We're drinking water only today because of the heat, and at this point it was a good thing I used the facilities at State8 because we stopped at the overlook. No bathrooms there.

Scott seemed to think that the bike might start better if it cooled off. It was barely warmed up at the gas station earlier, so that made absolutely no sense to me. We took only a short break there, and I was going to mention making a bathroom stop, but it was getting cloudy to the west. There was always a chance of a storm bubbling up in the afternoon on these hot and humid days and it looked like that was exactly what was happening. I was already nervous that my bike wouldn't start back up, but I was more nervous about what I was seeing in the sky. I had to pee, but the longer I looked at the sky, I didn't think we had time for a stop. Scott said we'd better get going and should head for home. He got no objection from me. It already looked worse than when we got there and we were barely there for five minutes.

We saddled up and left out, hanging a left on State to go north. We were going kind of fast, even after we crossed Rt 303, all the way until we got up to Rt 82, which is about where it starts to get busier. Below that is more rural. When we get to about 82, we consider that "back in the city" already, even though it's really outlying suburbs of Cleveland.

The sky was looking worse and worse. After we passed Rt 82, I kept thinking about all the main drags we would have to pass. We made most of the lights, and stopped only briefly at Wallings and at Sprague. We had to stop at Pleasant Valley Rd and it was getting darker to the west. I was getting really nervous and I was literally praying we'd make it. It must have showed because Scott looked over at me and told me not to worry, we'd make it. I knew that slower traffic loomed ahead of us, and more of it, as it got later and afternoon rush was beginning.

After Pleasant Valley, we got in the right lane. That was good though. We were going kind of fast and I was keeping up. I wanted to get home. We started to get sprinkled on at Ridgewood and I hoped we wouldn't get caught in a downpour. And now we were getting stopped by more and more lights, and all the while the wind was kicking up. A lot.

At Snow Rd, we stopped for a red light. I could smell rain. I looked down and noticed that it had already rained there. But the weather around us was getting worse; it was getting blacker and windier. Scott turns to me and says, "see, I told you we'd make it." We haven't made it yet, I thought.

Once we got going again, it became darker still and windier. We finally passed Fortune Ave, the last traffic light before our street, and eventuall turned right on Russell just as a car swung around and pulled up to the stop sign. I had to dip to make my turn closer. I finally reached our driveway and made the rolling right turn into it. I parked behind Scott and waited. Once parked, I gave it good rev and shut her off. Scott was happy at that. 62 miles today.

By now it was very windy and dark. We just made it. I took my gear in and headed for the bathroom. By the time I came out, not two minutes later, it started to pour. It rained hard, still blowing, and we looked for something to eat. I had some hot dogs and stuff left over from during the week, so we had that for an early dinner. After that, I checked my email and took care of a couple of important things. I took a quick nap. I woke up after five and it was sunny again. Scott suggested we vacuum the pool, and he would help me. Then we sat in the back for a while and when Matt got home from work, those two were watching the birds for a bit.

We started getting hungry again. If we hadn't been working outside, our hot dog and potato salad early dinner would have sufficed. So I went to the store to pick up a few things, visited the ATM, and got us some small subs. We will try to get out early tomorrow. It should be a repeat of today, which a chance of a storm bubbling up again mid afternoon. If we get home early we can probably get a pool nap in and perhaps a ride later on if it clears up like it did the day before.

Ah, riding motorcycles and naps on a raft. Summer is here!

©2008 The L.W. Wallace Co., Inc.