August 8th.
At 8 AM on this date three brave individuals (Steve, George & Hugh) mounted their motorcycles and rode to the Addison Dunkin Donuts on US Route 20 for an overnight ride to beautiful Waldo, Ohio, home of the G & R Tavern and their world famous Fried Balogna sandwiches.
“This is where the magic happens”.
We headed west out of Dunkin Donuts, jumped on Southbound I-355 to pick up Eastbound I-80 which took up to Northbound I- 57 witch we followed to Kankakee where we picked up Southbound IL-1, that was the beginning of my chosen route.
We stayed on Southbound IL-1 until we picked up IN-28 east, which we rode across the entire state of Indiana. IN-28 was not a special road as it was not a rider’s paradise and it was not graced with miles of twistys and mountains of elevation changes.
In case you forgot why I wrote this story or why we rode here.
It was not an unpleasant road, just flat land with corn-field after corn- Field with a break in the monotony by the many small towns along its route. It did have one thing in its favor in that it took us completely across Indiana without having to use the Interstate. Also, leading George III and Hugh Brandt on a ride is at times like trying to heard cats. So with fewer turns there was less chance of losing either of them.
Left: Keith, George, Steve. Right: Ken, Rhys, George, Hugh.
IN-28 took us to OH-47 which we followed into Sidney, OH where we bunked in for the night at the Comfort Inn. After a couple of adult beverages at the hotel bar Georg, Hugh and I walked across the parking lot to the restaurant for dinner.
After a hearty meal and, I might add, a few more adult beverages, we walked back to the hotel where we headed for the lobby to partake in some more sparking and stimulating conversation. When we were all talked out (not George, just Hugh and I) we headed off to our rooms for some needed sleep.
August 9th
“The Magic” !
After a satisfactory breakfast we saddled-up rode the final 74 miles on OH-47 into Waldo and our destination the G & R Tavern. OH-47 from Sidney to Waldo turned out to be a rider’s delight. It was beautiful twisty road with lots of elevation changes thrown in for good measure to keep you on your toes.
YUM! YUM! YUM!
At 11:30 am local time (EST), four riders from the Detroit area BMW club I belong to rolled into town and joined us for lunch. I myself decided to skip their equally world famous pie and have two balogna sandwich’s while George and Hugh each had one sandwich and split a (rather generous) piece of pie.
The seven of us shared a lot of conversation at the lunch table before we split up and headed for home. Hugh Brandt left us in Waldo so he could ride a few more days on some of Ohio’ s more famous, or should I say infamous roads. George and I headed down US-23 to the Ohio Turnpike and the quick route home.
Only the brave dare enter here………………………..
Except for a couple of back-ups on the Indiana toll road, the ride home was quick and uneventful. I pulled into my driveway at 6:30 PM having ridden 350 miles. Our ride to Waldo on the two-lanes netted us 475 unhurried miles.
I hope to attract more riders the next time I lead people to Waldo to enjoy the gourmet food and the “Exotic Scenery” you’ll see on the ride there. Steve.
I arrived somewhat late to McD’s, 10 minutes before “kick stands up”. The other riders were already there and deep in a discussion of their electric vests. It turns out that Bill’s new vest operated only at max heat with no known way to dial it down. Well, once Steve got into this conversation, we had 3 guys appearing to disrobe inside McD’s pulling all sorts of wires out of vest, pants and gloves. I was waiting for Steve to hook some of his 
wires to Bill’s to see what would happen. George and I just sat there in amazement of this debate. Then the debaters each took their stand as being correct until Bill called the shop which sold him his vest and asked for instructions on hooking it up and plugging it into the bike’s electrical system. This caused even more controversy until Steve realized his vest was an older model and the hook up and controls on the newer vests were different. This solved the problem and finally, 30 minutes after “kick stands up”, and with Bill now all hooked up and presumably warm, we hit the road.
Not using the original planned route I decided on taking scenic roads up to Wilmot and then turn left. Our destination was a small, friendly tavern in Twin Lakes, WI. That would normally be an easy task but we had Bob, and that meant a roundabout had to be in the route or else I’d hear about. So, to make sure Bob would be totally satisfied I decided to include not 1, but 2 roundabouts and negotiate both with 270° turns. So I set my 
sights on the Roberts Road roundabout followed by Johnsburg. The 270° in Johnsburg put us heading west out of town, the opposite direction from Twin Lakes but I had to believe Bob was smiling and happy. I later found out that unfortunately, no, Bob wasn’t completely happy. I then had to explain why I had my left turn signal on going into the roundabouts which, of course, didn’t satisfy Bob. He thought I should have put on the right turn signal despite the fact that we were going to exit the roundabouts to 
the left (WHAT?). And finally, Bob was whining about not doing full circles at both roundabouts, 630° instead of the 270°. I just don’t know how Marge puts up with this guy.
Our lovely server, Joyce, was a bonus for our table. I couldn’t figure out why, when I was talking, none of my table mates were looking nor paying attention to what I was saying. Turns out lovely Joyce was the distraction. Joyce had a charming tat in a very prominent location which demanded immediate and focused attention of most, if not all of their male customers. Watching my table mates’ heads swiveling in unison as though controlled by stepping motors as lovely Joyce and the tat moved around 
was entertaining to say the least. I don’t think Steve even realized that his lunch was in front of him until the tat moved from view. It is quite remarkable what a well placed tat can do. The half-pound burgers were excellent, as advertized, enjoyed by all. When it came time to head home our exit seemed to take forever. What was quickly decided on however was that we had to return to the TOC next LRW lunch season.
Thanks for the recommendation Bill. It sure was a hit.
