Home Again!

We got home yesterday after a long week in the saddle. Some quick notes about our trip. From door to door, 2810 miles over 8 days. Longest day was Friday, which was 590 miles which included the Cherohala Skyway and took us 13.5 hours on the road. The shortest day, well there was no short days! Something in the 300's I guess. Although, Thursday, when we did the Tail of the Dragon may have been under 300.



Including Texas, we rode through 9 states, and we rode in 3 we have not ridden before, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Our furthest point east was Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. We swam in the Atlantic Ocean at Isle of Palms beach, just east of Charleston, SC. The water was incredibly warm. I was very pleasantly surprised.



It rained 7 of the first 8 days.... We rode in some torrential rains, and for extended periods of time, I'm guessing 4 hours in a row day 1 and 5 hours in a row day 2. We ended cutting day 2 short. One day we had a brief 4 minute downpour, it was one of the few days we didn't wear rain gear. We even rode the Dragon in wet conditions, which is much less than favorable. On Friday coming home Darlene and I took a more southerly route and had a couple of light sprinkles, which we didn't even acknowledge, the northern group apparently had a lot more rain, and it couldn't be ignored.

Carla and Tee are still on the road as I write this, but they should have sun and heat today, and they have a long day planned.

No significant bike issues but a host of minor ones. Daryl - problem with lock which was rectified with some lubricant. Judy had a bad CB cord. Lois lost the rear shifter. My bike wouldn't start when we stopped for gas. We tried to bump start it, eventually determined it wasn't getting any gas, thanks to Daryl we disconnected the gas line, and in doing so must have dislodged a small piece of dirt, that did the trick as it started right up and worked fine after that. Carla needed a minor clutch cable adjustment. Darlene had the most significant problems, constantly blowing signal lights as we rode several times with flashers on in the rain. Some water seepage I guess. But the most significant issue was when Darlene snapped a post for one of her side bags. Fortunately we were touring Hilton Head and driving relatively slowly so we were able to stop before the bag fell completely off. Some creative sharing of luggage and we were back on the road, and ended up fedexing the bags home with some clothes the next day.



All in all a great trip with great friends.

More postings, trip details and pictures to follow.