Captain's Log - Day 3
The creek was flowing well above its banks due to all of the spring rains, in fact, it more resembled a raging river! We were deep in the 6 mile gorge in Erie County (you know, the gorge you drive over on I-90 between the Wesleyville and Harborcreek exits) on our motorcycles and poised to cross the creek. My brother, Dick, was on his new Suzuki TS 250 and I was on my old Suzuki TS 185.
Dave Layton was the first to plunge into the water and as he did, the current quickly pushed his back wheel downstream. Now, pointed upstream with water flowing over his engine, he kept his RPM's up and slowly sidestepped the bike across the stream feathering the throttle to keep him from being swept downstream. Good thing the intake is high and under the seat! As he reached the far bank, he called, "No sweat! Come on over!"
I was sitting there thinking that he was nuts! As the youngest in the group, I couldn't show any fear but crossing the creek when it was raging like this seems insane! While contemplating this situation, Dick guns his bike and into the stream he plunges! In a moment we found that he wouldn't be as lucky as Dave, the current grabs both of his wheels and sweeps them out from under him and quickly pulls both the bike and my brother downstream through the rapids!
All of the riders jump in to help him by quickly forming a human chain from the shore to the bike while Dick is downstream of the bike looking for a foothold to slow down enough to allow everyone else to get to him! Finally it all comes together and we get hold of his bike, with him in tow, and drift him to shore. Just a few feet later and he would have plunged over a waterfall!
He couldn't get the bike started, so Dave ran back to our house to get a tow rope. He thoughtfully took the time to tell Mom, "Don't worry, Dick is alright. We'll be back soon," then left! [oh, what mothers have to go through!]
Dawn handled the weather really well. She was surprisingly calm throughout the journey today. She told me she was determined to stay relaxed and enjoy whatever came our way and she truly did that today.
You see, we left early this morning and felt like we were in a race to Kansas City, a race against the weather. The forecast was for severe thundershowers in KC beginning at noon so if we made good time, we could beat them to the Herford House that Ellen recommended. Well, we lost the race. Actually, the weather cheated and the storms moved in early so we were pinned down in a McDonald's an hour east of KC waiting for the storm to clear. After about an hour, it cleared enough that we could go on down the road for round two. [We never did make it to the Herford House and had to settle for McDonald's which serves up one wicked mocha latte!... maybe tomorrow we can go back?]
After 20 minutes, the lightning was flashing again and the sky was black so it was time to stop again. That is when I found myself in the parking lot of the gas station in Odessa. The water was flowing down the parking lot, people were feeling sorry for us and we were joking about what a great sense of humor God has! The bottom line - if you play outside long enough on your motorcycle, you're gonna get wet! After all, what Great Adventure would be complete without adversity?
The good news? Our rain gear, though it looks like Pillsbury Dough Boy meets Goodyear blimp, kept us totally dry - and I mean totally!
It slowed down enough that we made it the rest of the way into Lawrence, Kansas to meet up with Don and Kim (Dawn's sister). 
It has been nice spending the evening with them and will stay through the day tomorrow as well. Today we got to meet Malibu, Dora, and Diego along with many other pets! They are all so calm and lovey, you can tell they have a very good family!
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