Miles: 350
The strategy of riding further on Day Six in order to reduce the miles on the final day certainly paid off. We left the Hampton in a foggy mist that made it difficult to see in the dark and the sub freezing temperature made it all the more dicey. We rode a short distance to the IHOP where we arrived before the place opened. Once seated we were served by a waitress that I can best describe as psychotic. She ended up providing decent service but she seemed a bit unstable. I truly think she wanted to leave on the back of Steve's bike. Back out into the fog and mist we began our ride. We stayed on WV7 and rode with great care knowing the temperature was still below freezing. The fog and mist would build up on our face shields and we had to scrape the ice off with our gloves. Good thing for heated grips and seats, but I was still very cold. We considered stopping and letting things warm up but we also weren't sure how quickly that would happen. It remained cold, and our speed was way down all the way to the Ohio River where we stopped at the Hannibal Locks for a rest. We kept our gear on but it was warming up after two hours of riding. Once across the river we stayed on OH78 as we headed towards our next stop at the Big Muskie Bucket. The weather had gotten really nice and we were able to ride very comfortably and when we stopped around 11:00 we were beginning to shed layers. The Big Muskie Bucket is that remains of the World's Largest Earth Moving Machine when it was in service. It was built in 1969 and was inservice until 1991 moving 34 tons of earth every hour. The bucket sitting in the park has some steps going up into it so people can stand inside for a pic. Upon reaching Junction City we headed south towards Hocking Hills where we looked for a place to stop but there were people and cars everywhere, so we did a loop and just continued. We finally stopped at Rocky Fork Lake for a brief stop before we hit our last leg home. It ended up being a good ride but in hindsight, despite riding very cautiously we probably should have waited an hour or so before leaving in the morning.