Man what a busted trip to Myrtle. My daughter is graduating from college on the second weeknd of Myrtle which is the time I usually go. So this year I have to go first weekend. Knowing I have to be back by Monday night for work obligations we decide to leave Thursday. Well the weather along the east coast was looking real iffy. We checked radar all day Thursday and saw a break and jumped on the bikes and blew 5 hours into Rocky Mount NC from Maryland. A good start since we could not checkin the condo till Friday at 3PM. Friday AM the weather is over cast but we hit the road early. Going down 95 at 70MPH and I hear something making a tinking noise. Look in the mirror and see something shiny bouncing. I thought it looked like a mirror. I check and I have both of mine. I catch up to my lead ride and he has both his. By the time I figured out what it was we are way down the road. It was my right passengers floorboard with chrome floors and chrome outer shell. About $400 in ****. Well long story short it is gone. Oh well we continue to Myrtle and the sun is out Friday afternoon. Saturday is good weather but it seemed to me the vendors were a lot less than the last few years. Not a lot of bikes down yet either. We wake up Sunday to high winds and rain. Radar says we have a brek Sunday afternoon but Monday looks bad. So we are forced to head out Sunday afternoon in the wind and light rain. Not a bad ride except we are hoping to get all the way home. Rain starts in below Richmond and by the time we hit the Richmond Beltway it gets ugly quick. Can't see and rain unreal. Of course its miles before an exit. Finally catch an exit and there is a gas station. We park the bikes in the car wash and go inside. Lady there was one of the nicest people you will ever meet. She says the nearest hotel is 8 miles and the rain is on us until the morning hard. She offers us to lock the car wash doors and put out of order sign on it and take her car to the hotel. You believe that! We got a little break and made it on the bikes to a hotel. Next day starts out 42 degrees and windy. No rain for the first 25 miles and then it hits. All the way from VA to MD it is raining. The worst and probably the most challenged I have ever been on a bike is when we are crossing the Potomac River bridge. Steep and windy as hell. We are holding our own but it is only two lanes. I look up nad here comes 4 18 wheelers. By the grace of god the wind from mother nature was pushing us the opposite as the trucks push of air. We get off the bridge and now my arms are tired from over gripping. I split from my partner and head east at Rt 50 and now I am heading into the worst of the rain. I have to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to get home which doesn't excite me but there are two spans and traffic will all be going one way eliminating the truck air. I get to the toll booth 12 miles away from home wet and tired and the toll operator says turn around honey the wind restrictions won't allow motorcycles across. Now I have to back track and go to my brothers house and wait for a ride home. Tired, hungry and glad to be safe. Not the fun I had been so looking forward to but put a bunch of miles in the seat and made it home safe.

 

quite an ordeal. At least ya got home safe. Was it worth it?? From what I hear, unless it picks up MBBW sounds kinda lame this year. But, I gotta go just to see for myself

 

Sounds like quite a white knuckle ride. I guess you crossed the Potomac on RT 301? That bridge is nasty sometimes in a cage. I guess the only thing worse would have been the Ches. Bay Bridge/Tunnel.

 

Yup that was a memorable trip. Glad your home safe.Got 1 question for ya What kind of goggles or glasses were you wearing. To ride that far in the rain they had to be pretty good. I rode for only 45 min. in the rain and I barely could see the road in front of me. I dont want to ever get caught without some good eye protection in the rain again ever... Was dangerous to say the least....I went 1st weekend also, had a good time but was not as good as the clean up weekend.......Mike

 

Wow. What an ordeal. Glad you made it back safe.

 

Jet II 3/4 helmet arrived UPS 2 hours before we left. Don't know where I would have been without it. Yep the 301 bridge. Not fun!

Myrtle vendors I spoke to where not expecting great sales. Daytona they said was down and their travel costs were killing them. I'll be back next year second weekend.

 

Sorry you had a back trip.............glad you made it home safe. I heard that the Vendors at the Broadway were not allowed to even open up until Monday -Tuesday since they didn't want to lose any Mothers Day weekend sales this year. Alot if them were not even coming in until today.

I am so glad we waited to go this weekend.

 

Glad you made it home safe. Weleft Sunday morning at 7am to head back to Greenville. Rode right through that crap. Pretty much blind for the first two hours. Rain stopped and we fought 35 mph winds the next 3 hours. All made it home safe, though.

Sorry to hear about the floorboard. That sucks!!

 

Ain't gonna say that your MB experience was "good" or even "enjoyable", but it is EXACTLY what we ride for andWHY we ride! It's the adventure, man! I've been doin' this since 1966 and I gotta tell ya the only thing I haven't ridden in is a hurricane(yes I've parked my ride in a barn in Wisconsin just before a tornado and straight line wind blew into the road we were on!) Safety hazards aside, what terrific tire kickin' sessions you canhave, sittin'around the campfire telling thesewonderful road tales. I'm from Minnesota and now reside in the Daytona Beach area of Florida. If I parked that motorcycle every time the weather liars spouted their doom and gloom doplar reports, I wouldn't have anywhere near the 93,000 + miles I've got on my '02 Standard! OK...you lost your passenger floor boards...an expensive lesson for sure. But you met that lady at the car wash who was gonna offer up the world to you! What an angel of mercy she was(and to think she was willing to help one of us with no hesitation). You made it through that horrendous couple of storms and can sit with your cup of coffee and smile just to think about it. AND, you survived the worst thing any biker can encounter on the road...A TRUCKER! Don't want to offend any of you truckers that ride...you ain't the ones I'm addressing. All the true bikers know of whom I speak. Realistically, your trip is the exception and not the norm. At any rate, dude, welcome to the world of road warriors. How boring would it be if we all rode every day in 85 degree sunshine on flat stretches of ground with no windy bridges to cross? You will tell this story for years to come and guess what...you'll be telling the sequel too! Just keep ridin' brother!

 

ORIGINAL: bikefxds

Ain't gonna say that your MB experience was "good" or even "enjoyable", but it is EXACTLY what we ride for andWHY we ride! It's the adventure, man! I've been doin' this since 1966 and I gotta tell ya the only thing I haven't ridden in is a hurricane(yes I've parked my ride in a barn in Wisconsin just before a tornado and straight line wind blew into the road we were on!) Safety hazards aside, what terrific tire kickin' sessions you canhave, sittin'around the campfire telling thesewonderful road tales. I'm from Minnesota and now reside in the Daytona Beach area of Florida. If I parked that motorcycle every time the weather liars spouted their doom and gloom doplar reports, I wouldn't have anywhere near the 93,000 + miles I've got on my '02 Standard! OK...you lost your passenger floor boards...an expensive lesson for sure. But you met that lady at the car wash who was gonna offer up the world to you! What an angel of mercy she was(and to think she was willing to help one of us with no hesitation). You made it through that horrendous couple of storms and can sit with your cup of coffee and smile just to think about it. AND, you survived the worst thing any biker can encounter on the road...A TRUCKER! Don't want to offend any of you truckers that ride...you ain't the ones I'm addressing. All the true bikers know of whom I speak. Realistically, your trip is the exception and not the norm. At any rate, dude, welcome to the world of road warriors. How boring would it be if we all rode every day in 85 degree sunshine on flat stretches of ground with no windy bridges to cross? You will tell this story for years to come and guess what...you'll be telling the sequel too! Just keep ridin' brother!


What a great statement, my wife and I have been on trips that were close but not quite as bad as the original poster and yes we sit around with other riders and talk about "that" trip. Are they situations we would intentionally put ourselves in, No. However over the years it has given us the WTF Lets Ride attitude when we have a trip planned and bad weather shows up and more times than not the forecast is wrong.