Heading out of Sandy Hook and the first surprise this morning is that gas has gone up to $5.09. When I arrived in the US on the 24th May it was $4.30. Well it is what it is. onward and upwards, but not before stopping for the best Hawaiian Pizza with EXTRA pineapple yum. I could only eat half of it and couldn’t eat more than a sausage for dinner.

My friend Collen arranged for me to stay with her sister Jennifer and her brother-in-Law Paul in Frazeysburg, Ohio. They live in the back of beyond in a quiet country area on a farm surrounded by forest and open land. It is totally idyllic, although I arrived a lot later than expected.

I had selected avoid tolls and highways on my GPS in order to ride some small country roads … GPS took this very seriously and decided to test the v-strom. It took me through some serious hilly bad dirt roads. The pictures I took do not do the steep roads justice, but needless to say even on road tires the v-strom did an awesome job.

Surviving the roads, I arrived at Jennifer’s place and had a lovely afternoon watching the birds and squirrels with Paul. I also got to play Frisby with Hermani (aka Pony) the most awesome yellow lab. He also showed me his woodwork studio and the amazing furniture he makes. After Jennifer got home, she introduced me to her horses and the next day we went for an awesome ride, spotting a deer and plenty of bunnies. Paul then took me on a great ride through Amish country before I said goodbye and headed off to Pennsylvania.