On my fist half day of scooter rental, I have made it to Okayama. It was a beautiful day, albeit a bit cold. Getting out of Osaka city took longer than expected, as the first ~100km was city driving, with lots of congestion, and lots of traffic lights. This made me miss Himeji-jo, as the sun had already gone down when i reached Himeji city. After that, I hit a fantastic bit of the 250-route, running along the shore, with lots of bends, no traffic (except for a single fawn crossing the road), and had it not been dark, probably a great view too. Hopefully, I'll find more like it tomorrow.
The youth hostel i went to turned out to be closed, but the manager let me stay anyway. I got a whole dormitory, with a kotatsu, for myself.