Bryon and I will never forget the loss that our mother's have lived with their entire lives as each of their fathers were killed in Korea during that war. Bryon's grandfather was in the Army, mine in the Air Force. We never new those men, but their lives and deaths have contributed greatly to ours, we are sad to have never met them, and we thank them forever for being so brave.
We took a break along the way at a Sheetz store, and when we pulled in had noticed some thug-looking bikers holding up the brick wall of the store. Well, we parked, and nope, not thugs, just some of the cool dudes of the V-Twins Motorcycle Club from back home! We were all heading to the Sandusky, Ohio area. They were going to Ohio Bike Week events for the day, and we were heading to other parts of the area. (When I scheduled the ride in January, I didn't know it was bike week!).
So we chatted briefly, then the V-Twin guys left, and soon we were on our way too.
As we continued on OH-303 west, we came to a T in the road on a sweeping open curve, and my printed directions DID NOT have this indicated, so we turned right after I spotted a - you'll find this hard to believe - a Dollar General store. We went there so I could look up some GPS directions on my phone. Turns out we needed to turn left at the T which was US-20. And is it just me or are Dollar General stores like the new convenient store for travelers?
Onward we went in the correct direction. We weren't far from the motel where we had reservations for the night. Off of US-20 we had to turn right onto Hartland Center Road, which is also OH-61. This took us north up to US-6 at another T. We turned left, and a short distance west on the right hand side was the Plantation Motel. I did a bang up job on picking yet another nice motel!
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| Here are the bikes parked while checking in at the Plantation Motel |
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| The owners were letting baby snapping turtle hatch in a bucket near the office. |
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| Meanie and I, and Tiny and Goldilocks were given small cabins for our single rooms. You park right in front. |
The motel has queen bed cabins with their own bathroom, AC, mini fridge, TV, etc, and was well taken care of. We'd stay there again for sure. After we unloaded, we walked the tree-covered lane from the rooms down to the overlook to see Lake Erie. It's set up really cool with a fire pit, picnic tables, and a path down a hill to a small private beach. There are also larger multi-room cabins to rent, and a chalet of sorts. You can also bring your camper.
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| One of the views of Lake Erie located at the end of road from the rooms. |
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| Path to the private beach |
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| Here's the weird red mannequin in a phone booth on the motel grounds. He's harmless. |
We unloaded the bikes, and took off for the main attraction: Tony Packo's restaurant in Toledo!!!
Tony Packo's is an established restaurant on Front Street on the east side of Toledo along the Maumee River. Known for it's Hungarian food, we went in search and found it. I had always recalled Packo's from the MASH television show, and then last year one of our customers, Tom, showed up at the store with a Packo's patch. Well, that did it! We had to get the patch, thus a trip with planned.
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It's bigger on the inside. A LOT bigger. The place is decked with tables and chairs, and booths, and the decor they are known for: framed hot dog buns signed by famous people. They didn't ask any of us if we'd sign a bun, but that's okay, maybe next time.
Meanie may have been the only one to get a photo of his food, as we all just dived in to our from excitement and hunger. Meanie got the standard chili dogs, not the Hungarian sausage hot dogs (the Packo's dog). I got that. I think everyone else dabbled in everything else from the pierogies to the fried pickles to the cucumber salad. All the food was really good, and I was glad I got the Packo's dog with their chili. The pickles are spicy, and on that note, there is a cool gift shop inside, too, where you can buy their jars of pickles, T-shirts, mugs, and yes, patches and pins!
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| Meanie's classic American chili dogs |
After we at we got pictures taken with Klinger and Hawkeye - a prized moment. If only they were real. Gosh, MASH was good TV, and television nowadays can never compete with the wit and humor of show writers from the 1970s. Then we shopped in the gift shop.
I had us leave early in the morning thinking it would take a good amount of time to get to the motel, but we arrived at least an hour and a half earlier than expected. That was a good thing. We got to Packo's earlier. When we left Packo's and got back onto the highway under the super cool bridges, and we were able to go to the places we had planned on for Monday morning: Marblehead Lighthouse and the Confederate Cemetery.
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| Someone snagged this pic of two riders in crazy helmets. |
Thanks to GPS, we found our way out onto the peninsula on OH-163 where Marblehead is located, just across the water from Put-In-Bay and Kelley's Island and Cedar Point. After all that savory food, we were ready for coffee and make it sweet, please! As we were riding along the peninsula, I saw a billboard for Biggby Coffee, and made it a point to stop for a break.
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| Hammer and his traditional photo wave. |
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| Goldilocks and I having private sessions with our lattes, mocha for me. |
Continuing on, we made it around to the point and located the Marblehead Lighthouse. We walked the grounds, played on the huge rocks, took lots of pictures, and I got my feet wet by a wave while fishing out rocks from a crevice. A great way to begin the evening!
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| fossils in the rocks |
After a nice stroll on the lighthouse grounds that includes a house with a gift shop, out buildings, and a nice restroom too, we went back to the bikes and took off for the last stop.
Continuing on OH-163 southish then wettish (also called Bayshore), I looked for the sign for Gaydos Drive, on the left hand side. This is the road to take to the Confederate Stockade and Cemetery on Johnson's Island. We found it. Upon reaching a gate and the sign for the island, I discovered that you have to pay a $2 fee to open the gate and enter the semi-private island area.
This turned into one of the highlights of the trip! Realizing that we had four motorcycles to get through and the gate lane being about 1 1/2 cars wide, I got out two dollars and hollered back to the others to follow me up to the gate and line up along the bar. I went first to get next to the toll box, Meanie lined up next to me, then Tiny and Goldilocks, and furthest right was Hammer and Chisel. There I was, have to put two dollar bills into the slot which was on my left - yep, clutch hand left - but I couldn't go into neutral because we had to take off when the gate lifted, so the clutch lever had to stay pulled in. So, I held that in with my right hand, and fed the money into the toll box with my left.
The starting gate lineup was tense with anticipation! Go and get out of the way or be slammed by the gate! And there was no way we were all paying two dollars per bike! LOL, oh my, so with the last dollar slipping into the feeder, it took all of three seconds that felt like ten, and lo and behold the gate lifted - and Meanie reverted to his motocross days and took off first in an AMAZING hole shot!!! Winner!
It was so funny! Slow down, cowboy, right? We still laugh about it. The prize was an easy ride across an arched bridge leading onto Johnson's Island.
This island was purchased by the Federal government to house Confederate prisoners during the American Civil War. Many of those prisoners perished there, and what was once a stockade, is now a preserved cemetery. Americans fighting for the freedoms they want and some dying for it was the reason to ride and remember that day and the next. It's nice that this history is kept sacred.
The sun was setting. Time to leave the island and head for the motel.
If you aren't familiar with Lake Erie in late May, don't feel alone, because we didn't either and wow, were there bugs! The ride back in the dark on the freeway was relentless with bugs. Here are my glasses and Meanie's bike that night and next morning. But what made the night super interesting was Chisel's phone call to Meanie screaming and freaking out becaaaauuuusssee: they left the light on in their room while we were gone all day, and along with the outside light on their building, their room was filled with young Mayflies! Poor harmless things, see how harmless all over my glasses! But she didn't think it was funny, and she wanted to leave for another hotel. We looked around our room and there were some staying far away along the ceiling corners. We told her to close her eyes and go to sleep, and we took our own advice too. (more on the mayflies in the next blog)
The morning came with a beautiful sunrise. I woke early like I often do, and with pajamas on and a no care attitude, I walked alone down the lane to the lake to watch the sun continue to rise and to play in the cool clear waters - a far different and calm time compared to the business of running the store 6-7 days a week with Meanie. The colors of the sky, sun, lake, and shore were gorgeous. These short moments with nature are good for me. Alone time is good for me. Many reading this will agree that a time without walls and ceilings, with soft nature sounds of birds and water and wind-rustled leaves heals one even if only briefly.
We kept going through Savannah, Ohio, and it wasn't until we got to Ashland that we found a Dunkin Donuts open. Done! We stopped there for a late breakfast and were glad for it. Our next stop was Grandpa's Cheesebarn, which was right down the road across I-71.
We had another nice break there with a little shopping for cheese and pickles, and I got my favorite dark chocolate covered raspberry jelly candies! Now it was a hot day on Memorial Day, and your thinking, really, she bought chocolates? Yes, yes I did. Did they melt. Yes, yes they did. But they were enclosed in plastic and became one big mash of deliciousness by the time we got home.
How did we get home from there? Well, we continued on OH-250 in the southeast manner that it runs, and after that, I am pretty sure that we took US-30 when we connected with it because I do recall going through Minerva, Ohio. And then gosh, being in one's early 50s sucks because I can only recall after that that we ended up at the Taco Bell on Western Reserve Road. No one else would let us inside to eat but TB; and then they didn't have Mexican Pizzas! No worries. We had a great trip to that point and nothing could spoil it.
We said our goodbyes and hugs there, mounted the bikes, and got on I-680 for our respective homes. We got lucky with the perfect weather. We saw new places and at new foods. We lived with mayflies and flew like them with the wind, and boldly put our knees in the breeze lubed in Albino 2000 sunscreen. LOL
Thank you for reading this blog, and I hope you'll get the time to go check out some of the cool places mentioned. Take it easy and enjoy the ride!
~ Holly, a.k.a. Stitchblade
