Long Days

I've wanted to ride my motorcycle home to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for some years.  I looked into ways of towing down during our annual Christmas visit, but none were feasible.   With cold weather coming and now owning a touring motorcycle, I decided to ride down last week.

For once I got a break on the weather,  Temperatures were already in the 50s when I left home so I didn't need electric gear.  I hit the road at 4:40 hoping to beat Washington rush hour traffic.  That was not to be.  Even though I got to Frederick, Maryland at 6 AM, route 270 into Washington was already stop and go.  Once I got to the Washington Beltway, though, things moved well.  The rest of the ride was uneventful.  I stayed on I 95 to Goldsboro, North Carolina, got off to have lunch at Wilber's, my favorite barbeque joint, then took Route 17 to Myrtle Beach.  The only hitch was unanticipated traffic due to construction in Wilmington which caused my clutch hand--which is already weak from having been broken playing softball in grad school--to become very painful and numb.

It was nice having the bike at the beach and the weather was gorgeous.

It was a little cool at the beginning of the ride back, dipping into the mid 40s for a brief period of time, but was in the 60s by the time I hit Fayetteville, North Carolina.

This time I got off I 95 at Emporia, Virginia, and took Route 15 all the way through Virginia. The weather was gorgeous as was the foliage.  I traced many Civil War campaigns and got to see some cute little towns like Orange and Culpepper.  Much of the road was two lane so I did have to do 15-20 passes around slow traffic, but the RT handled it with aplomb.  Again, though, I greatly underestimated the Washington area traffic.  It was bumper to bumper from Warrenton to Point of Rocks, Maryland--and this on a Sunday evening.

I wanted to get home before dark to avoid riding in deer alley during the fall rut but that didn't work out so the last two hours were in the dark.  Didn't see a deer, though.

The trip down and the one back are now my single longest rides ever: 570 down, 585 back with about twelve hours of seat time.  But the RT showed  how great it is for the long haul.  I put up the windshield, turned on the cruise control, and could have ridden all day and deep into the night.

October Is the Cruelist Month

...because it ends so soon.

I had to break out the electric gear in September--the earliest ever.  The fall has been eventful.  I've got 6500 on the RT despite it being grounded all summer, and finally saw wild elk and bald eagles during rides.  Winter is going to be long.  

Critter Spotting

One of the things I enjoy about riding in remote areas is the wildlife I see.  In addition to the usual deer and wild turkey, I've seen bear, fox, and otter.  But in the past two weeks, I've made interesting additions to the list.  Last weekend I left for my ride at 3:20 AM so I could arrive at Pennsylvania's wild elk area at sunrise when they're active.  It was socked in with fog so I didn't get any good pictures or see large herds, but I did see several standing beside the road.  So I can check that box.  Then yesterday I was on an isolated rural road in Virginia and came upon three bald eagles eating a road kill opossum.  I now wish I'd gotten out my camera and hung around to see if they'd come back, but at least I did get to see them.