Hurricane, WV to Jackson, KY

Day 3 part 2
After getting stuck in Charleston... the pool was closed, got lost finding a walmart, and being paranoid about my packing skills... i finally headed out on rte. 60. I stopped at a chevron to start with, and got a little forgetful (first I parked in the full service lane, then I forgot to pay, then I forgot my helmet and sunglasses) - I blame it on the helmet mostly, but the attendant was distracting me with all sorts of questions, and all i wanted to do was get back on the road. After reallizing my gloves were not on my hands anymore, I backtracked... to find the station closed... then it occurs to me that the guy honking at me while getting back to the station might have been the attendant,.. and not a nervous driver. So I figure either I'll call or backtrack the next day. Just a few miles further the clouds ahead sharply turned into black - so I flipped a U and hightailed it back to Hurricane, WV where I left the gloves. I knew of just the perfect school with a large accessible hallway... less than a mile from where I lost my gloves. The storm (for those in CA - it was large and severe like most summer storms on the east coast - the kind that you don't want to get stuck in on your motorcycle... or just in your tent really either) has passed, and no sherriffs yet, so I'm probably ok - and there goes a firecracker... hmm...
No wifi though - unlike back in Virginia... hopefully tomorrow I can go to the swimming pool (and get cleen)... haha at least I brushed my teeth at walmart.

Day 4
Here's a fun game for you: the object of the game is to get across Kentucky without getting wet. You get a sport bike, a semi-decent map, and some money. Sound like fun? Watch out for turtles!

I played that game all day. No sherriffs stopped by my tent at the middle school, so when I woke up at 6:30 and heard thunder in outside, I decided that I didn't really have to get up yet. Stopped at Chevron to see if they had my gloves, nope, so I went to the Dollar General (they are all over the place) to get some snazzy sunglasses... usually I like to get girly ones - but all their girly ones were dumb... and actually they didn't look that girly they just looked like eurotrash - so I got some badass rectangle ones.

After getting into Huntington, which smells like a trash can, I tried out 23 - which was more like a freeway - and explored some roads that weren't on my map - and ended up on rte. 32 which was a fantastic road.

If you see a rock in the middle of the road in kentucky then its actually a turtle - I saw 5 so far today. After I saw the first three, I saw a caravan escorting a humongous tractor that took up both lanes... with tires to match - I hope the turtles survived! Then I got stung by a bee next to my left eye - it hurt real bad. Oh yeah and earlier in the day one headphone died and also the battery in my camera flew off... hmm i guess i need some duct tape on the latch... whenever I get a new battery - I couldn't find one.

Somewhere on this road, I lost my camera battery...

What with the rain, some lostness, and getting stung, I've been stopping pretty frequently, usually at markets. I've noticed some things about the markets around here. Usually they are markets with some other kind of store, like hardware or gardening supplies. Then they also serve up breakfast sandwiches and other stuff on a grill. The people (its a main hangout for some of the locals) there are really nice, but they say to watch out for everyone else. Two ladies gave me a markets address near West Liberty so that I can send them a postcard when I get home to let them know that I'm safe.

By the way racing back and forth to avoid the rain is most fun on a sport bike - because you feel like there this small sense of urgency - some cause for your speeding. Sorry officer, don't stop me cause I can't get my stuff wet!

And now after stopping in Jackson, KY at a chinese buffet - with some interesting midwest selections - and wifi nearby, I can get my bearings on this storm and stuff. I'm still having a lot of fun riding. Wondering yet again where I'll stay tonight :D Hoping tomorrow night I'll make it to chicago - i think so.