23rd July, 2016.
Day 1.

It was a relatively warm 77’F (25’C), muggy morning when I set out at 6:30 a.m.
A little later than I had actually planned to.
I spent the night before packing my gear and did not get to bed till 3:14 in the morning and waking at 5:39 a.m. So it was a no-brainer that I was tired. I literally had to “push” myself out of the house to begin the journey.
It promised to be a lovely clear morning. It was just after daybreak and looking out of the kitchen window as I had coffee, Lake Erie was unusually calm.
Lake Erie, the shallowest of The Great Lakes, has an average mean depth of 50’ (15m) and when the wind picks up, is susceptible to changes in water movement and turbulence making it a very treacherous body of water.
Living right by the lake, I have witnessed many an occasion when its conditions have gone from serenely calm to ocean-like in a relatively short period of time. Conditions with waves several feet/meters high that can accommodate any surf boarder.
So at times like this when the surface of the lake is almost like a sheet of glass, it cannot go unnoticed. Times like this are few and far apart.
Despite having had only 2 hours of sleep, I felt okay and very excited.
I always do when I go on tour. And as I began the journey, I was additionally calm and cautious as I looked forward to a day that was forecast to be hot and anticipated to be long!
Water, water. I could not pack enough water. I knew my riding stamina would depend on it.
My outlet from the lake area was OH 83 which I stayed on till it intersected with Interstate 71.
Turning south, I took advantage of the Interstate, pointing the ST in the direction of Cincinnati and “nailed it”, arriving there in good time around midday, only to get snarled in a traffic jam.
An accident somewhere ahead was responsible for this.
So stuck in this “bumper-to-bumper” traffic I took a few seconds to check my “vitals” being reported from the instrument gauge panel of the ST.
I was very low on fuel, which I already knew because my blinking, reserve fuel light had come on several miles ahead of my arrival in Cincinnati.
The plan at that time was to exit the highway system, take a bread off the road and fuel up before the afternoon-leg of the journey.
My next available exit was only in 2 miles (3.2 km) but ……… I was stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
We barely crawled along.
I was not sure I would have enough fuel to make it off the highway at this rate.
The stop-and-go conditions were and are an internal combustion engines’ adversary when it comes to fuel consumption/efficiency.
It was hot.
The cooling fan on the ST kicked on and efficiently did its job of maintaining the correct engine coolant operating temperature. But no sooner was this attained and it shut off, it was not long again when its services were required!
The fuel situation had me concerned.
I did not see how I would be able to push this massive 740 lb. (336 kg) machine, with additional 170 lb. (77 kg) of luggage off the highway and the rest of the way to a gas station, if I were to run out of gas right here!
I crossed the index and middle fingers on my right hand whilst still keeping a hold of the throttle and hoped for the best outcome.
Finally arriving at the exit off the highway, I was relieved to see the sign for a fuel station just beyond the overpass of the highway.
I headed directly there!
It had taken me 35 minutes to travel the 2 miles (3.2km) to get to fuel.
I bought an additional 6-pack of water and loaded it up with the gear, thereby increasing my “stash” of water to a little more than an imperial gallon.
As hot was it was and as hotter as it was forecast to get, I was taking no chances. I would need to rehydrate myself as often as I could.
I planned to do so every hour.
As I worked my way back onto the highway after hydrating the ST and myself - I had 1 pint (500 ml) of water The ST took on 7.48 gal (28.5 l) of fuel - which meant that I had less than a tenth of a gallon (0.5 l) of fuel remaining in the tank prior to filling up.
Whew, I think I made it here by the skin of my teeth on this remaining amount of fuel!
I joined the now very slow-moving traffic. Cars were all so close together.
There was literally no “wiggle room”
Don’t these folks have any concept of space and safety margins?
Obviously not!
I was stuck in the fast lane with them.
Up ahead in eyeshot on the shoulder of the road, I made out 2 “Harley” riders, one of whom was on the asphalt on all fours.
I couldn’t help but surmise that he was suffering from heat exhaustion.
I felt that I had to stop and offer some water - at the very least.
With blinker (trafficator) on, I tried to change lanes but the cars around me extended no courtesy to allow me to.
All this time still in gradually-flowing traffic, I was forced to pass by and missed the chance to have been able to stop and assist.
It worried me greatly and weighed on my mind.
I think back to that day and hope that he made out okay from whatever plagued him.
With each minute that went by, the traffic thinned out and picked up pace. Not too long afterward, the flow of vehicles was back to normal highway speeds.
The ambient temperature was climbing. It was getting very hot and I felt the need to stop and cool off.
2 hours later, I found myself in Louisville, KY.
Looking up ahead I made out the golden arches of a McDonald’s establishment and made a beeline for there for a forced lunch break. It was becoming unbearably hot!
As usual, to record details of my trip - I kept my GPS unit on. As I reached for it to remove it from its mount I couldn’t help but notice how hot the unit was.
I don’t remember it ever being this hot in all the time I had used it to date.
For the next 2 hours it malfunctioned, beginning with displaying information “backwards”.
As I motored along it displayed information in reverse. It seemed to be playing back my “tracks” backwards.
This alarmed me ‘cos I had made no inputs for it to behave as such.
As I tried to make sense of this and correct the issue it would not respond.
I now started getting distracted and felt I would be safer trying not to do this on the road.
I anticipated an exit ramp off the highway, one that I could not find in this area.
All of a sudden I felt lost!
I did not know where I was, did not know what direction I was heading and worst of all did not know how the rest of the journey would fare without the benefit of my GPS unit.
Well yes, I’d definitely be able to continue my trip but it would not be completely as planned.
This was shaping out to be a real adventure!
Soon, an exit made itself available and I promptly took the exit ramp and got off the highway to check the GPS.
I cannot tell you where I was. I don’t know. Somewhere in Kentucky on the other side of Louisville.
I pulled into a parking lot which had a tree, no, a large shrub in an attempt to get some shade. The sun was beating down mercilessly!
I looked at the GPS which now would not respond to any inputs whatsoever!
Well, I was stationary and did not have a clear view of the skies above me and I thought that could be blocking my signal acquisition.
I moved on. Back on the highway I was focussed on the GPS unit which still had not locked onto a signal.
I pulled off the highway at my next opportunity.
Again, I searched for a park place with some shade to escape the scorching sun.
I was hot - in more ways than one - not knowing where I was, the sun beating down on me and a malfunctioning GPS unit.
Oh boy, this was a first!
I found a lot with a tree in the back of the property and jumped at the chance to park underneath it and get some shade.
My only option now was to turn off the GPS unit and let it cool down.
I used this time to reach for some water from my luggage and rehydrate myself.
After several minutes passed I fired up the GPS unit again, hoping that it had had sufficient time to cool down, enough to “come back to life” - still no response to my inputs!
Now I really began to get concerned about this!
It seems that the unit had “fried”!
Well okay then, so it was. I had my “paper Atlas” on board so I would have to rely on that for the rest of the trip.
A paper atlas has always been one of the priorities of things to take on a trip in anticipation of a time like this when I would not have use of my GPS for one reason or another.
It is that item I need to have and hope not to have to use. So I knew I could eventually navigate my way during this trip, one way or another.
By now, I had tried everything I could to revive GPS unit.
Had I?
Wait a minute, there was just 1 more thing I had not tried.
Bingo!
I had a straw to cling to.
I took the now-much-cooled-off GPS off its mount and removed the battery. Waited about 10 seconds and re-inserted it.
Booted it up and presto, signal acquisition in a matter of seconds!
Tabbing through my Apps and selections to verify operation, the display had life and displayed right-side up and verified location accuracy.
Yes, you can imagine, a big smile on my face!
I made it lock into my present location, inserted that position into my pre-programmed route for this day and instructed it to resume the journey from this point.
The learning curve for this particular Garmin unit/model had been and still is (to a great extent) very steep. But with persistence and time I have learned some of its features a little at a time, or should I say a trip at a time.
I was ecstatic at being able to perform/instruct this particular feature. So following its directions/instructions, I quickly got back onto the highway and in no time, the GPS unit re-routed me back on track and we resumed the journey.
A couple of hours had gone by already and around 4:30 p.m. I pulled off the highway to seek some shelter from this blistering heat. The temp. gauge on the bike registered 95’F (35’C) in the shade, with no breeze!
This was a good time to call in and let my wife know how my day was going.
Reaching for my phone, my battery level was too low to make a call.
No problem. I reached into my “electronics” kit for my charging cable ……………….. and could not find it! Seems I had not remembered to bring it along! Shucks!
But hey, I was in the parking lot of a convenience store so I sauntered in and purchased one. So that sorted out the issue.
After phone calls I made my way back onto the highway and continued the long arduous journey towards Corpus Christi.
I began to realize that fatigue had played a major role in my preparation and organization for this trip in the days leading up to today.
I was not as mentally sharp as I should have been and ought to have relied on a written and organized list, rather than rely on my growing experience being gained from familiarity.
By 6:30 p.m. I had made it to Bowling Green, KY and decided to call it a traveling day, putting this one into the books.
I checked into America’s Best Value Inn right behind/next door to the National Corvette Museum.
With 41,842 mi showing on my odometer, the ST had carried me 462 mi (740 km) on this hot day.
I was about 200 mi (320 km) shy of my planned distance for the day, I would have a lot of ground to make up for tomorrow. I still had 1200 mi (1920 km) to go. No way I’d be making it to Corpus tomorrow.
That would mean another night “on the road”.

Next - South Texas Day 2.