Apple Creek resident completes unusual adventure
In 1999 James Weaver started spending as much time as he could in pursuit of his goal of riding his 1984 Honda Nighthawk 650 on every road in Ohio. Some 280,000 miles and two bikes later, the Apple Creek man completed his mission.
James Weaver has had a life-long love for maps and for most of his years a passion for motorcycles. A little more than 20 years ago, the Apple Creek resident found a way to combine the two.
From 1999 until not long ago when he completed his mission, Weaver spent as much time as he could with a goal of riding his 1984 Honda Nighthawk 650 on every road in Ohio. Some 280,000 miles and two bikes later, Weaver has seen nearly everything the state has to offer.
“When I was a boy, I bicycled on every road in Wayne County,” Weaver said. “This was just a big extension of that.”
Weaver’s quest started originally in the early-1990s when he rode to every town in Ohio. That took five years. Weaver wanted to see more, so a bigger challenge began.
The ride, which actually was a combination of perhaps hundreds of rides, was preceded by Weaver calling the county engineers from Ohio’s 88 counties and requesting updated maps. Sometimes he had to chip in a buck or two for shipping, but most engineers just sent them.
“Every county engineer would send me one,” Weaver said.
Once he had a map in hand, he began plotting his route. Every road in Ohio meant major roads. In rural areas that meant county roads, state routes and roads through towns and hamlets across Ohio.
In more urban settings, it meant the major roads. Weaver didn’t go to every street in every suburb, which would have added years to the project, which he learned early on was going to take a long time to complete.
“I just would concentrate on doing a little bit at a time and not worry about the big picture,” he said. “I had little goals that were manageable. The way I looked at it was I just wanted to finish this particular county, then I went on to this or that county. I didn’t worry about how big it was. It was too much to think about all at once.”
One thing he did very little of was stop — for anything. He packed food and drinks to take care of those needs as much as possible. Sometimes he would grab a snack during a gas stop, and he camped in a tent when necessary.
He followed his maps, which he clipped to his handlebars and which were adorned with arrows, lines and dots marking his routes. No GPS devices were involved. He also took tools with him to do minor repairs on his bike if necessary.
Someday, Weaver said, he might like to go back to some places he saw on the journey. He said Ohio is full of roadside attractions.
“There are a lot of things to see in Ohio that are interesting,” he said. “There’s interesting museums throughout Ohio. There’s the Serpent Mound down in Adams County that I’d like to stop at some time.”
Occasionally, a road would be closed for repairs or a road that was on a map just wouldn’t be there. For closed roads Weaver would circle back another time or just carefully make his way over the closed portion.
Weaver said he hit about four counties per summer, and by the time he was finished, he had spent a total of 840 days on the road. He ultimately needed a second bike to cover the final 60,000 miles or so. He was able to find another ’84 Nighthawk 650, which he scooped up for $1,000.
“The reason I got it so cheaply is most people might not be that comfortable on that old of a bike,” he said. “There were other motorcycles I took I called duel-purpose bikes. If a county had dead-end roads — some counties in Southern Ohio have hundreds of dead-end roads — to turn around on dead-end roads on a street bike can be difficult, especially when dogs are trying to chase you and catch you.”
Weaver documented a good bit of his journey with his camera. Things he looked for included unusual vehicles and statues, bicentennial barns, round barns, square barns, canal locks, gas stations with analog pumps, and Mail Pouch Tobacco Barns.
“I spent a couple hours a day writing in my journal what happened during a day,” said Weaver, who said he has no immediate plans for another trip of this nature. “It wasn’t just a motorcycle ride. It ended up being an Ohio adventure.”