Time for another road trip story…

You may remember that I don’t work in June and July.  I decided to take one day trip a week during those months.   The first one was to Smuckers and not necessarily the success story I had hoped it would be, but I did it.

For my next trip, I went to Clifton Mills.   This was closer to home and I had heard that it was lovely there and they had a great home cooking type of restaurant.   I wanted to include eating alone in a restaurant as part of my weekly adventures.   I ventured out around 9am on a Thursday morning in June.   It was a beautiful day so I had my sunroof open and followed my GPS along the back roads.   

As I was getting closer, there seemed to be an unusual number of  ROAD CLOSED AHEAD signs.   I was not at all familiar with the route so I didn't know how this would affect me.   I continued and then as I was really close, there were policemen in the road, forcing the traffic to turn right.   I needed to turn left to get to Clifton Mills.   Now what?

I turned right and poor Siri..."re-routing"  "re-routing"  "do you wish to continue?"  AHHHHH!!  I went around the block and again, my choice was to turn right or go straight. But I wanted to go left.   I opted to go straight this time and turn left a little further up.   

I managed to find a left hand turn about 1/2 a mile ahead.   As I approached the Clifton Mills from the opposite direction, I began to see what was happening.   Picture this...about 200 men, all ages, with bikes (not motorcycles), dressed in the full biking gear...helmets, UnderArmour bicycle jersey shirts and the dreaded, and I mean DREADED bicycle shorts!  OMG!   The worst piece of apparel for a man...EVER!   Please, friends who wear these, do not take offense...I'm just saying that it is not something I have ever become accustomed to.  I can only picture Cam on Modern Family wearing these shorts and his crotch being pixillated through the whole episode!  I needed pixillation now more than ever!!   Somehow, it was like watching a train wreck...I couldn't stop staring!

Now, normally, being a single woman and running into 200 men (in my age range) would be a dream come true!   But this was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  There was no way I would be able to get to the Mill or the restaurant that had been highly recommended.   I was quite sure I would be slightly traumatized by this scene for quite awhile.   There are some things you just can't "un-see."

So, I did the only thing I could do...I drove around two more times, just to look at all of those men, trying to avoid looking at their shorts, and then headed home.   

This time, I was a little turned around and found another back road route to follow back home.   Along the way, I was driving through what seemed to be a small college campus and I realized that I was on the the grounds of Wilberforce University.   I had no idea there was a Wilberforce University.  So, my trip wasn't a total waste.   

I got home in plenty of time to change clothes and hurry to the pool for the afternoon.   This trip...uneventful but eye opening!!  LOL!!

Now in my book of road trips, I'm 0 for 2.   Maybe the next one one will be the winner...you'll have to keep reading to find out!!   

After the Gala in March, I'm hoping to start doing a day trip, once a month.   I have a short list of places around Ohio to go...so hope to start exploring soon.