John Colter Trail 1807 — 1808

Day 7: August 20th, 2005 Pittsburgh — Cloverdale

88 S10 Blazer Rear

88 S10 Blazer Front

First I re–tighten my lug nuts. Then I fill the air up in my tires to my highway level of 35 psi. Now the forever taking task of storing the stuff in my car starts. Finally I take some pictures of my car with the new tires.

I say good–bye to Helen and drive over to the next gas station. First I fill up my spare cans, then my truck. I really get tears in my eyes when I see the gas prices of $2.559…

Around 10am I take the in the meantime well known way to I–79.

I–70, Ohio River, PA

At Washington I take the exit to I–70.

I–70, State Line PA and WV

I–470, State Line WV and OH

This time I don’t forget to take the bypass Interstate around Wheeling, which saves me from driving through the city Interstate.

I–70, Columbus, OH

On I–70 I drive through Columbus, Ohio.

I–70, OH

I–70, OH

Today I have mixed weather until I pass the bad weather with a heavy thunderstorm in Ohio. This gives me the chance to test my new tires: Even with a lot of water on the road I have no issues with hydroplaning. It seems these tires are really great.

My stop over to gas up is at Dayton, where the price is a bit cheaper with $2.469…

I–70, State Line OH and IN

I–70, State Line OH and IN

The bad weather is now completely gone and I pass the state line to Indiana.

I–70, Indianapolis, IN

Then I drive on I–70 with plenty of sunshine through Indianapolis.

Around half past five I arrive at my reserved Motel 6 in Cloverdale. The motel really looks fancy, according to the price. Yesterday I was not able to make a reservation at my usual motel in Terre Haute. Now I realize why: The new motel guide is no longer listing this motel…

Next I check the video taping of today. This time I even don’t have this much headaches. Anyways, I still take one Ibuprofen, because I do not really feel well. Maybe I should start generally with a shorter trip on my first day in the future.

After I have checked all video taping I fill up my water can first. Lucky me they also don’t use chlorine around here for the water! I put my water can back in my car and drive off for dinner. The employee recommended “Rick’s Steakhouse” for dinner. And it really seems to be a very good place. The restaurant is completely full.

But after a short waiting I already receive a table. The restaurant has a rustic interior with regular tables in the middle of the room. I am lucky and receive a comfortable table at the side. Then my server apologizes, that waiting took so long — whereas this was a maximum of five minutes!

They seem to really care about their customers. Let’s see, if this stays that way also next year. I order a Rib–eye, which is plenty and delicious. All in all this restaurant is definitely a recommendation! Around half past eight I pay and drive back to my motel.