Finally on the Road

After what seeems like months of preparation, we're on the road! Today's ride, from piedmont NC to Jackson, TN, was 572 miles.

The day started out cloudy and misty, but not raining. We left Gary's house about 7:45am, stopped at a nearby fast food restaurant for biscuits and coffee, but didn't get any because a bus load of people just stopped and had the place full. We didn't want to wait, so we got back on the bikes and rode across a big parking lot to another one. Unfortunately, the other place had the other half of the bus!! So we decided to ride up the road another 20 miles or so for something to eat.

Breakfast was unremarkable. But upon leaving, the first mishap occurred. Gary was getting ready to leave, was on his bike, and dropped his bike right there in the parking lot! He had raised his kickstand and had reached down to pick up his communications lead to plug it into his helmet, the bike leaned, and it fell over! He thought the kickstand was down, and his foot was not out away from the bike to support it. No damage to anything but the crashbar, and only scratches on it. No damage to luggage or plastic. So, his GS is no longer a virgin.

We had other small glitches, all with communications. His Autocom unit has a short in it, making it malfunction in sometimes him not hearing me, and sometimes me not hearing him. Also one of the major problems was me forgetting to turn on my radio! Talk about operator error--I could be the definition of operator error!

The ride itself was long and not exciting. The high for the day was supposed to be around 85 degrees, but it actually reached almost 95! So, the Roadcrafter got its first day of hot wearing, and it wasn't unbearable. Hot, but not miserable. Had I known it was going to be so hot, I would have worn the mesh. Tomorrow it will be mesh for sure.

Got here about 6:00pm, checked in to the hotel, washed today's stinking clothes, and jumped into the pool to relax a few minutes. Had dinner at a Logan's. The beer was great, but the rest of the meal was just average. Then back to the hotel and to this blog.

Tomorrow, another long ride--to Oklahoma City. Hot!

Stay tuned!