Last weekend we took a trip to the Hocking Hills and attended the Hocking Hills Poker Run. The run is to benefit the Friends of Hocking Hills.
It has been a while since I visited the area, and I had forgotten how nice the area is. The whole area really is a motorcycle paradise. Rt. 78 in particular is a great road, probably the best road in the state. 78 has a real nice mix of scenery with small towns, medium towns, farmland, and winding sections through various state parks and national forests.
Skidplate, Mark and I left the Youngstown area at 7:30AM and hooked up with Jnor, Mnor, and Bugsz near Newark. We ran into some rain in the beginning of the ride, so we were too late to hook up with some more folks we were planning on meeting in Logan.
The ride down was pretty uneventfull, just a lot of freeway riding. We took 664 down into Logan and it was a really nice ride. Upon arrival at the start point of the poker run we were greeted with a large box of donuts. Nothing gets a ride off on the right start like a box of donuts!
The entire route of the poker run was spectacular. All of the checkpoints were in state parks and the scenery and riding was spectacular. Hot dogs and snacks were provided at the Ash Cave checkpoint. At the conclusion of the run there was barbeque provided by Millstone BBQ that was just spectacular.
Nobody was really paying much attention to the map we had been provided with and everyone was just following everyone else. From time to time the guy in front would realize that he had missed a turn and all the sudden there would be 100 bikes making a Uturn in the middle of the road. It was really funny.
I finally got a chance to eat at Jimbos, and it was a great place to eat. Pictured below is Jimbo himself, and he is an interesting guy. Those really are some big tasty burgers. The inside is also very festive.
We spent the night at the Holiday Inn and Mark returned home that night. We spent Sunday just wandering around southern Ohio having a great time. It was a bit cool, but for the most part the weather was pretty good.
On our way to see the Custer memorial the weather started turning ugly. I checked the radar and decided we should just start heading toward home because there was a lot of rain. Soon after taking a little break and getting on the bikes things got really ugly. The sky turned dark and the heavens opened up. The temperature dropped to 43 degrees. It was pure misery. Lucky for us we only had to suffer through that for about 40 miles and then we were home. It took us hours to get warmed back up. In fact, it probably took an hour until I could feel my feet.
Even with the terrible ending, the weekend was a lot of fun. We rode with a great group of people on roads that were just spectacular. The run was very well organized and it was one of the best runs I have ever been on. I plan on attending this run every year from now on.