You gotta tell me when you left. I dated a girl some years back that lives very close to you. I live in Kenosha now so all your trips go right past me.

 

I envie you, sounds like a nice set up + new bike WOW. I'm doing this so I can keep track. ride safe.

 

Thanks for lettings us follow along

 

Subscribed!!! Thanks for helping us through another winter Bob.

 

Thanks Bob.

Looks like the new bike is working out good. I know you were sure liking it in Ark. Glad Cheryl feels the same.

Bill

 

Hey bob the 107 was not Touring friendly?

 

Hi Bill - It took Cheryl a long time to come around to the new bike. She hated the color and how quiet it is. To this day she prefers the Black Ultra, but I'll bet if she got back on it after getting used to the new bike, she would realize how nice this bike is.

At 1st it was great. Plenty of power and decent mileage. But after a while I couldn't stand the noise. I took the D&D Fatcat off and put a Supertrapp on which strangled the power and killed the mileage. I'm not sure why that would be as many people have good results with the Supertrapp. I had it dyno tuned, which made it worse, so I'm thinking I got a bad tune.

Truth is, since the crank scissored, the bike was never the same. I decided to cut my losses instead of chasing my tail by trying to make that bike work better. That said, I'm sure the 107 is fine. Many people run them with no issue. But when you add that much power and heat, I believe it takes it's toll on the crank imo.

 

Day 2 -

No alarm today. After all, we only have 350 miles to go. Easy right? I had asked around on HDForums about a route from Charleston to Raleigh. The good people in Road Trips gave me a number of great ideas. A local suggested we take US 60 east to Hwy 311 and run it south to 220. I liked the idea of taking US 60. We've been on it a number of times well west of here and it was great. It runs from the Atlantic all the way through AZ and damn near to the Pacific. Some day I would like to ride it in it's entirety.



Back to our route for the day - I had looked the route over on Mapsource (old school I know) back at home and it looked very promising. Here it is -



We did a leisurely departure, having breakfast at Bob Evans and then gassing up at the beer station. We were anxious to find out if we could just stay on the bike and never go home. No luck. Or should I say not enough luck. Our lottery tickets yielded 5 bucks - half our investment.

The morning was cool (45) and the mountains cloudy. Traffic was light and we headed southish on Hwy 60. The area is pretty but you have to look past some industry to see the beauty -



as well as churches -



and coal operations which would be a recurring theme throughout this region -


Once out of town, Hwy 60 was a very pleasant ride along the river and railroad tracks. The heated gear was on simmer and life was good.







Now and then we would roll into small towns along the river. They reminded us much of the small towns we've ridden through along the Mississippi. Some nice. Some a bit run down. All photo worthy.



We always appreciate the architecture that we see in various regions. All a bit different from what we're used to.

 

As mentioned, our destination was 350ish miles away. Because of that, gas wasn't really a concern. There were towns all along the way if we did need to stop, but I knew our only gas stop would be at lunch somewhere along our route. I was shooting for White Sulfur Springs where we would pick up Hwy 311. But that was at least 2 hours down the road. For the time being we soaked in the curves, climbs, vistas, and small towns that dotted our route.





I can't overstate how great it is having Cheryl on back taking pictures. When riding, I'm pretty focused regardless of speed. Of course I see a lot of things along the way, but my things are the squirrel that's thinking about crossing the road, or a gravel driveway that has some stones out on the road. She gets to see all the cool stuff.



Occasionally we'll see something particularly noteworthy and I'll turn around. We cruised past a waterfall just off the road, so I did want to take that in. Of course, turning around on a curvy road with only gravel driveways for pull outs can be dicey. One needs to exercise caution when doing this.



After taking in the waterfall we continued along our way. The climbs and switchbacks really kept me on my toes. I think we probably averaged about 45 MPH through much of it. There were times when the curves were so tight that the bike scraped the floorboards once in awhile. I will note that fully loaded, with lowered boards made touching down come sooner than usual. US 60 is a great road. If you ever get out this way, check it out.





One of the things we really enjoy about travelling on 2 wheels is when we come across the unexpected. Out here in the middle of nowhere we came upon this place -



Usually we'll stop to take a closer look. But this establishment didn't appear to be open. On top of which, out here in the middle of nowhere, I don't think I want to wander into anyplace called "The Mystery Hole".

 

Great stuff! So fun to ride along on someone else's ride. I really like that your wife takes photos from the bike while moving. I haven't asked my wife to do that so I only get photos of things where there is a place to pull over whether I am solo or 2-up. I think I'll show my wife your photos to get her interested.

Thanks again. Fun to look at, especially since we had our first shovelable snow of the season today. (Subscribed)