Sandbox Route Day 2, St Clairesville OH to Lafayette IN

Up bright and early to get to all the routine morning happenings. After breakfast we departed the Mall and headed into downtown St Clairesville for their Memorial Day program. The High School Band played our National Anthem to get this started, as always it sounded great. We also were given the privilege of hearing a speech by Madison Miller who was Crowned Miss Ohio for 2023. She spoke about Patriotism, Veterans and Run For The Wall. Wow was she good! Speaking with her afterward I commented to her that I did not see her looking at any notes. She explained that “I research the topics and people I am asked to speak about to learn as much as I can. I then just start and speak from the heart.” That she did!!

We left St Clairesville to the cheering of many citizens headed on west toward our first fuel stop. As we were approaching the 70/77 interchange which is 1-2 miles East of Cambridge OH there was some chatter by teams ahead of us about “friendlies” on overpasses. The State Route 209 overpass had a Cambridge Ladder Truck and 12-15 people who cheered us on, a first for this new route.

 

As we continued west there were several more overpasses between Cambridge and Zanesville that had spectators present. One of our riders is from the area and a friend of theirs reported 35 people on an overpass in Zanesville along with the local NBC/Fox TV Affiliate on a bridge and coverage on the news. We are getting increasing support on this route and it sure helped pump up the riders!!

At a rest area 35 miles east of Columbus OH the Columbus Police Motor Officers joined us to escort us to and through the Columbus Metro area. These Officers are great and they shut down the Interstate to keep cages from joining us on the highway! Next was our fuel stop at a Love’s Truck Stop near Etna OH on SR 310, which is new this year and went very well. The fuelers and stagers did a fantastic job with the organization of this new stop.

Onward we go, Next stop Brown & Small VFW Post 5434 in Union OH. This small VFW puts out plenty of great food for us. Fried chicken to deli sandwiches it was all good!

After lunch we did a small hop of about 9 miles to fuel in Brookville OH at a Speedway. After a brief stop here, since we had just had lunch, we “Soldiered on” toward Lafayette IN. After a tad more than 60 miles we stopped for one last daily fueling in Knightstown IN at the Speedway. It was now after 4pm and riders were looking forward to getting this last leg in and having dinner and a Gold Star Mother’s Candlelight Vigil at Hunter’s Moon Harley Davidson. This dealership and their staff are amazing! Our evening dinner is provided by Hunter’s Moon HD but the biggest bonus here is their service department is OPEN, yes that’s correct, the service department is open in the evening on Memorial Day and will stay until the bikes needing service are completed if at all possible. WOW, how great is that.