Almost perfect, then deja vu...

Yesterday was an uneventful day, just blasting along the interstate.  After 700kms, and an ever increasing temperature, I pulled into a campsite slightly before my target.  As it turns out from continuing on this morning, 10 minutes further and I would have found a KOA, with a pool and internet!!  Instead I had no shade, and spent the night 100ft from the interstate.

When I did laundry a few days ago another motorcyclist had obviously used it just before me as he left two new sealed earplug sets in the dryer.  It was a higher end one that I had never tried before.  The earplugs are attached by a yellow cord, as they sit way further inside your ears, so you can pull them out.  Well I am now a convert, 100 ft from the interstate and I didn’t hear a thing!!  I am sure it isn’t necessary to wash and dry them before using...lol...

This morning I was up early and off.  I had camped just past The Petrified Forest, and just south of The Painted Desert.  So I set a route for Page Arizona, and although my GPS said to take hwy 89, I chose 87 which seemed more interesting.  So why do they call it the Painted Desert???:

So I casually rode on as I only had about 400kms to do today.  Not a bad way to spend your day riding down the highway:

Then all of a sudden it came to a screeching halt.  At 1:30 with about 30kms to reach Page, or about 20 minutes, the road was closed, and I had to detour.  282kms!!!!!  3 hours later I reached Page!!!!  I even went through Jacob Lake, where Matthew and I camped before heading to the North Rim of The Grand Canyon.  Oh and by the way if you wanted to go to the North Rim today, you can’t, the road is closed.  If you detour about 400 miles you can get to the South Rim!!!!  Of course it also turned out to be by far the hottest day I have had yet too!!

So I arrived in Page and was slightly disappointed.  I knew it was on the edge of Lake Powell, but it isn’t a lake community down by the water’s edge.  It is up on the top of the canyon, so much for a nice dip before dinner....

I have booked a hotel room for a couple of nights as there are quite a few places I want to see in the area.  So weather permitting it should be a nice break from all the highway miles.

Lucky day...

Well today I got pretty lucky quite a few times.  I woke to a gorgeous almost cloudless sky and cool temperatures.  Perfect riding weather.  Since I had stopped in the middle of no where the previous night I headed enroute in search of breakfast.  My go-to restaurant of choice this trip seems to be Denny's.  Last trip it was A&W, but there seems to be quite a bit fewer of those south of the border.

So while eating breakfast I perused my atlas.  I came to the conclusion that my current destination of Carlsbad New Mexico wasn't that great.  My primary further destination is Page Arizona, up near the Utah border.  So rather than head to Carlsbad I took a more direct route to get to Page.  That meant instead of heading across the bottom of Texas, I would instead finally start heading north, and then cross the top of Texas, then across the top of New Mexico.

So with new GPS coordinates plotted I headed out..... twice during the day I threaded the needle between to storm fronts.  Then at the end of the day I was riding along the northern edge of a big storm.  I only got sprinkled on a couple of times, which considering the black clouds around me was amazing.

In the very last half hour along the biggest storm front, I did for the first time ever get blown out of my lane on the highway!!!  The bike was leaned over at a nearly 45 degree angle, and the wind just started blowing me left, fortunately into a very open lane!!!  The storm front ended about 5 miles from my destination, which is where I am now: Tucucmcari New Mexico.  As I cleared the storm front I looked back and saw a perfect, and really low rainbow:

I was so close to the storm front when I stopped for the night, not much further than where I took the photo, I stood in the KOA parking lot for 10 minutes trying to figure out if the storm was coming or going.  Taking the safer route, and it turns out the $5 more expensive route I am in  Motel 6 down the street.

Funny story of the day: Only in Texas.... riding down the highway I see a pickup truck stopped in the middle of the lanes going the other way, traffic was slowing behind him, so I figured a recent accident... nooooo... a rather large horned steer and a calf were loose running along the highway and he was trying to round them up!!!

More lessons from the road.

I have to admit Sarah was right....

My last trip I rode 15,000kms in 5 weeks, and so far this trip I have ridden about 5,000kms in 8 days, and never once in all that time did I listen to music!  Sarah had always been amazed and a bit confused by my not wanting to listen to music.  I can't go a block in my car without the radio on, but I always considered motorcycling different.  You are much more out in the elements as it were.

So with the thought of nothing but straight interstate riding today I did an experiment and tried the music thing.  I had prepped in advance for this eventuality by transferring a copy of all my music to my tablet that sits in my tank bag. 

So volume set to max, music set to shuffle, ear buds in and I am off.  Yes it is a good, if not great experience with a couple of drawbacks: my tablet doesn’t go loud enough to overcome the sound of the bike and the wind( I always wear earplugs when long distance riding), and my headphone buds are really crappy, and painful when trying to wear them for 8 hours or so.

I have a very eclectic taste in music, from techno to Nina Simone, so shuffle is a nice feature.  Not being able to fast forward the occasional heavy metal song that sneaks in is a bit bothersome.  So in order to be able to listen properly it looks like I am going to have to get an ipod, and better ear buds, or look into a new gps/intercom system that will stream it blue tooth to speaker in my helmet.  I will try it again tomorrow as I have 650kms left of interstate to get to Carlsbad New Mexico.  Which might be my last or second to last state decal to get to fill into my pannier map.

I am now just outside Abilene Texas, the incoming weather caused me to skedaddle off the highway into another hotel instead of my target destination the Abilene KOA(Kampgrounds Of America).  It looks like a storm is coming in tonight!!!

Good day riding, bad timing going through Dallas/Fort Worth at 4pm on a Friday, but at least the traffic was moving pretty quickly, unlike Toronto rush hour!!

Late note: I have spent the last hour trying to figure out how to sync my laptop music to my Blackberry Z10.  Couldn't do it!  I did find a work around, and have copied a couple hundred songs over.  The Z10 seems to be much louder than the tablet, so I will give it a try tomorrow.  It will also make getting on and off the bike easier since I won't be tethered to my tank bag!!  It will also be interesting to see how the Z10 battery life does.....  A word of advice, if you are going to attempt this turn all your wireless signals off unless you are in Canada!  Otherwise HUGE roaming fees will trigger!!!!

Live and learn

A very long, hot, and exhausting day.  10 hours riding, and just under 900 kms!!!

After waking up outside Chattanooga Tennessee, I rode southwest into and across Alabama.  Straight across Mississippi,  into Arkansas, then south into Louisiana.  I chose a route  across to the point where  Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi meet.  It wasn’t the fastest route as it was a secondary highway not an interstate.

The lesson learned today was that if you have a choice to take an interstate do so!  Most 3 number “highways” such as the 164 that I chose run through small towns of 350 to 750 people.  That means no campgrounds, no motels, and usually no gas stations!  In fact the entire way across Mississippi I didn’t see a single campground!!  Driving through small towns I was amazed at the devastation the US economy has wreaked.  Houses and businesses vacant everywhere.  Stripped down to the brick shell, everything from the windows, plumbing, wiring removed.

When I got low on gas I checked my GPS like usual to find the nearest one: 50kms away!!!  After driving through 3 small towns with the gas stations derelict I was getting worried.  I started looking for a place to stay the night at 5pm, and was 100 miles away from anything remotely looking like a hotel room!  By 8pm I finally reached a good sized city just as the rain started!!  After having dinner and checking on the internet situation I discovered I had gained an hour by crossing the Mississippi!!  Whoo Hooo!  Does that mean I only rode for 9 hours?????  Wow my average speed is pretty good then!!!

So my GPS now has Carlsbad New Mexico plugged in, some 1300kms away.  So hopefully in two days I should be at the next interesting stage of my trip.

Tail of the Dragon!

Tail of The Dragon is a part of Highway 129 in North Carolina and Tennessee:  318 curves in 11 miles!!  Whether you are a car or a motorcycle enthusiast, new, old or vintage, on your own or part of a club, at some point you will heed the call of The Dragon.

Once again so much for my map estimate.  My 10 minute ride turned out to be an hour!  So starting at the mid point of Hwy 129 you head north, after about 15 miles the Dragon starts, right at Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort:  The gathering place for everyone to share their stories, take a photo, have lunch, and get a t-shirt and decal.

I have heard it is bad luck to get your decal before heading up the route, so I blow by Deals Gap and head onto the route.  You are immediately baptized on one of the first corners when you realize a blind corner is going to be REALLY tight!!!  In 11 miles at let me say a "brisk" pace you spend the majority of it in first and second gear.  The road was damp so it paid to be a bit cautious.  Heaven forbid riding it for the first time in the dry on a racing bike!!

I have to admit to riding a "bit" over the speed limit....lol.... on a fully loaded off-road oriented touring bike I was amazed at how well it handled and how well I was riding.  Taking the off-road tires off before the trip and putting street tires on was a great decision.  "Chicken strips" are the edges of your tires that you never ride on since you are too chicken to lean your bike over that far in a corner.  Mine are now measured in millimeters!!! 

So after racing to the end of the Dragon, I turned round and did it again back down, making the customary stop in Deals Gap.

Most years someone is killed on the Dragon.  Sometimes it is just driver error, but there are also head on collisions as people cut corners etc.  Huge semi trucks also occasionally take the route and get stuck trying to make some of the corners.  At Deals Gap there is the Tree of Shame: where broken and smashed bike parts are hung up.

Along the route there are 4 photographers set up that upload all the daily pics to the internet so you can pay to download a high resolution copy.  Once they are updated I will upload one to my blog.

So having done Tennessee, North Carolina, and a brief stint in Georgia I am back in Tennessee close to the Alabama state line.  I am back in a hotel as after a week I needed to do laundry.  So from here I blast west to Carlsbad New Mexico, covering the US equivalent of the Prairies.  the weather looks good so the next few days will be highway miles and camping.  So unless something unexpected happens it might be a few days for an update.

All the way to the end...

An almost perfect day of riding today.

A lateish start after another french toast breakfast, as I assumed I wouldn't be eating again for a while.  It turns out I was right, by 12pm I still had a 150 miles to go on The Blue Ridge Parkway. 

The weather was a bit of every thing: mostly sunny, but cool all day, but with a brief two minutes of visibility due to fog down to 20ft!!  Also ran across a couple of minutes of hail the size of green peas!!  BTW hail hurts!!  I don't know how guys rider cruisers long distances with an open face helmet, certainly in this weather at this time of year, and I passed a few.... I was huddled in my full face helmet with most of the vents closed trying to keep warm the last few days...

I had hoped to run the whole second half of the BRP on one tank of gas, with what I thought was 10 miles left to go I dropped down to zero bars out of 10 on my gas gauge.  So sadly departing the BRP I headed into a small town to fill up, still not down to reserve.

I have now run a few tanks of gas at highway miles, and have averaged 425 kms before needing to fill up!!  I have been putting on average 6.25 gallons or just under 24 litres into my 30 litre tank.  So theoretically I should have quite a bit to spare.  It works out to about 5.65 l/100km or about 42mpg!!!

It turns out the BRP is not 450 miles but nearly 470, so good thing I jumped off when I did.  It was a very anticlimactic end to the ride as it just ended at a junction.  No sign no nothing... Very disappointing after spending two days riding through it.  I was pretty happy with the accomplishment considering how close I was to throwing in the towel yesterday.

The view from 6000ft near the end:

I also didn't realize how close to Tail of the Dragon it ends.  I am in a hotel about 10 minutes from motorcycle mecca.  Tomorrow I will check it off my bucket list.

The Blue Ridge Parkway Diet!

(multiple updates, they are in order so start where you left off and move up.)

Not a good start to the day when you wake up in the middle of the night to rain!! Apparently a weather system is coming up from the south and they are expecting 3-4 days of rain!!

So today I have to complete 50 miles of the Skyline drive, at 35 mph, then get onto the Blue Ridge Parkway for 450 miles.  Well it turns out the BRP speed limit is 45 mph!!  So about 10 hours to go top to bottom.  Not really doable given the circumstances: windy, cold (less than 10C), rainy, and foggy, with about 50m visibility!!!  Which is a shame because it really is a fabulous road to drive on. The plus side is there was no traffic today, and it was HIGHLY unlikely I was going to run into a radar trap!! 

I was on the road early as I wasn’t about to make breakfast in the rain, so by about 8:30 I was out.  The Skyline Drive turns into the BRP and the road just continues on.  Stopping in the Visitors centre just after getting on the Parkway, I discover there is no food, no gas, no hotels etc ANYWHERE along the 450 miles of the BRP!!! In order to get any of that you have to get off and go into a small town nearby.

By noon I was hungry, hadn’t had a coffee or food all day, I was cold, and tiring.  It was the worst weather I had ridden in, ever!!  So a quick trip in town to a Denny’s!!  Coffee, French toast, bacon, sausages and eggs never tasted so good!!!  Even the half hour stop reinvigorated me, so I ventured out again.  

By 3pm the weather was so bad all I kept thinking about was getting off the BRP onto an Interstate and racing south to better weather.  Instead of constantly picturing a gruesome fiery death as I plummet over the edge into the gorge below!!  Which I can’t see since my visor is so fogged up, and I spend more time wiping rain off my visor than holding onto the handlebars!! 

A word of advice: if you adjust your windshield to reduce the wind blowing in your face and buffeting your head, there is no wind to blow the rain off your visor!!!

I eventually stop into a small town to clean off the inside of my visor and ask about a motel room.  It doesn’t sound promising.... So back onto the BRP...  5 minutes later I am in sunshine!!!!  Steam is coming off the road and everything.  So re-energized I barrel on for another hour, then seeing clouds again I punch the nearest major city into the GPS and head off on to an Interstate in search of a hotel.

It turns out to be a Best Western just inside of North Carolina, another state knocked off my list!!  So now with internet access I am doing all my updates.  All my clothes and gear is hanging on every table, chair, and shower rod trying to dry out.  My rain gear held up well.  My BMW fluorescent onesie did its job.  My Gore-Tex boots, and gloves, not so much.  Hopefully by tomorrow it will be dry, and the weather will hold.  I am hoping I have ridden far enough south to have gotten to the bottom of the storm....

Well I just got back from dinner and it is lightning and pouring out!  Good thing I am in a warm dry hotel room!