Rode from Macon to Clayton on 129 and 441 last Friday was tryin to make time so I went a little quicker than I like coming out of Fla. after Irma. but I always enjoy it. It is fun being able to see America instead of just cement. Enjoy the ride. We are having great weather in East Tenn this week.
Short day today, only about 220 miles but the scenery in the Kentucky mountains is amazing. Did several smaller one lane back roads which really made the ride fly by.
I alao spotted the the worlds smallest Post Office and a nice view from the top of a mountain.
Ended my ride with a stop at a Harley dealership to get my 1000 mile service done.
So so all in all it was a good day, just one state and very few miles but I thoroughly enjoyed myself and that's what matters.
You might want to add to your list:
Lip balm as your lips may dry, crack & bleed due to wind. Also-
Visine or other eye care solution from wind/dust/dirt during your ad venture.
Sorry for no update for a few days, I'm currently in Connecticut, so I have hit the following states so far: Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and of course Connecticut. I had some rather pleasant days meandering through the mountains in no hurry what's so ever, everything was very uneventful, that is until the night before last. I was in Virginia, in the mountains (really beautiful country) and I had a detour planned in to go through the Blue Ridge Parkway the issue was that I hit it when it was just starting to get dark. This was an issue because, even though I had ridden my bike at night, it was never quite that dark so i never noticed how badly my headlight was adjusted... When I say that my light stopped 12 feet from my front fender, I am not kidding. So, on that note I limped on up the mountain white knuckled as heck until I sound the Peaks of Otter Lodge and got a room. Nice place by the way, and they had one of the best burgers I've had in a really long time. Got started early (12:00) the next day and finished the parkway. If you ever get a chance to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway, do it, the views are amazing (I'll post a pic tomorrow as it's on my phone). I then stopped by Stonewall Harley Davidson and they adjusted my light. Very nice folks there, didn't even charge me. That leads us to today... Today I clocked the most miles I have done yet (over 400) and I broke my right hand running board. I was making a u-turn on a side street (see rant about stupid Boom Navigation) and hit a rock. The street was tight and off camber and I just didn't have the room. The rock sheered off the bolt that holds the front floorboard support to the frame and bent it a little. It also bent the heck out of the bell my daughter bought me. Luckily I brought some tools (not all I'll need) with me and I'm fairly handy. So tomorrow I'll hit Home Depot and get a file and a hammer and fix it. I'll take pictures (it should be good lol). My plan is to take the floorboard off the rest of the way then file a flat side on two sides of the bolt, the use the adjustable wrench I have to remove the bolt. Once bolt is removed, I can determine what size I need and go back in HD and get one that will work and put it all back together. Shouldn't take long (I hope).
This leads me to a new section I'm going to do after from time to time called lessons learned. Here are my lessons learned from this trip so far:
Jeans are good for about 3 days (maybe more) when you aren't sweating like crazy.
If you are like me you WILL by t-shirts along the way, pack accordingly
Carry some cash at all times. Lots of tolls only take cash and the soda machine at your hotel will NOT take a card if you are really thirsty
Know the Boom Navigation extremely well before you take a long trip, I recommend the Law Abiding Biker series of videos (they are not free) to help with this. I wish I would have watched them before starting my journey. For some odd reason, Boom likes to plug in random waypoints for no good reason. These waypoints are usually in a parking lot, in front of some random blue house, or by the odd stone laying on the side of the road. The best part is that these waypoints are always on a dead end, one lane road, that goes sharply uphill.
take all your bags and hold them, if the heaviest bag is the trunk bag, repack. Do this until the two side bags are the heaviest and weigh about the same.
apply sunscreen in the room before you go to the bike, that way you can wipe your hands off and keep from getting your grips nasty.
OCC, of course. Had dinner there last night, and no I didn't get to meet Joe Sr or Jr. LOL.
The rest of the pics below are of the repair. As you can see I sheered the bolt off of the front floorboard support. I stopped at HD (Home Depot) and got a few tools and removed the bracket and the floorboard. I was lucky that the bolt that was sheered off came out the back of the bracket, so a little love with a set of vice grips and the bolt was out. I then went back into HD and got a 2" grade 8 bolt and some locktite to put it back together. One issue I had was that the actual pan was bent. This was quickly fixed by putting a calibrated amount of pressure on it while it leaned on a curb... After that it all went back to gather fairly well with only minor persuasion. It's not pretty, but I don't really care, I'll replace it when I get home, but for now it works and I'm pleased.
On to the rest of the day. Only did about 275 miles today due to the repair. I made it through Connecticut, Massachusetts, Road Island, and I'm now in New Hampshire. I personally loved going through RI, it seemed so old... Everything seemed old, the guard cables were rusted, the road was sun bleached and stained with what looked like rust. The streets were narrow and the houses butted right up to them. The speed limit through most of the state was 35... I loved it.
When I got to New Hampshire it was dark but I also loved it... The smell was right out of a fisherman's tail... It smelled like I was on a boat at the dock ready to get bait for a big day at sea... Wonderful. I'm really glad I stopped here for the night as I want to do a little exploring here tomorrow.
Which brings me to tomorrow. I plan on going into Old Port Maine and having lunch then on the Mt Washington, which I plan on riding up. I checked the weather and there is a 30% chance of rain and temps should be in the 60's so I think I'll be fine. I have been so blessed with the weather to this point that I feel like I'm due for something. Today it was 93 deg when I left CT... 93 in late September... Crazy...
09-19-2017, 06:42 AM
