Home at Last

We got Dave's bike fixed and continued across Ohio up to the south shore of Lake Erie and then Interstate 90 through Pennsylvania and New York. 
We crossed back into Canada at Buffalo, but had to stop at the duty free to pick up 2 litres of white tequila given that Jimmy Buffet's bar in Key West turned us into frozen marguarita drinkers...yeah. 
We hit the QEW and remembered that during a trip down the Blue Ridge when we met an American biker, he said he simply can't go to Toronto as he finds he is terrified on the QEW highway.  At the time we laughed.  But we found the QEW was absolutely insane compared to US interstates.  In the blinding rain, traffic was moving much more quickly, people were passing on all sides of each other, and cutting from lane to lane weaving through traffic way above the speed limit.  Bev and Dave had been used to this, but after a month on US roads, we were spoiled.  Bev nearly got hit by a lane changer, she was forced to change lanes quickly but having the habit of checking her rear view mirrors frequently, she was OK.
With great relief we reached home after a very long biking day.  In the roughly 3 1/2 weeks of this trip we did about 7700 clicks, almost totally on interstates (which you know we don't normally do).  This trip was more about the destinations (Key West and New Orleans) rather than the journey itself. Given all the close calls on this trip we may not be hitting interstates for awhile.  In the future we do want to return to the Blue Ridge and the mountains of West Virginia.

POST SCRIPT:  Bev took her 2007 bike in for it's 88,000 service and found that, in addition to the usual service stuff, it needed the following (OMG - how the hell did she get home??)
-new rear tire
-new front break disc/rotor
-new front break switch to control break lights
-rear wheel bearings
-and the fixing of a rocker leak (upper and lower)
-and new rear wheel bearings.
Geeeez she was wondering what that sound was during the trip!!!

Zen and the Art of Coping with Rain

Following five days of driving in the heavy rain on interstates, some crowded with large trucks, we have developed a new outlook. Every morning we get up and put on our rain gear. Even if it is not raining when we set out; we know it soon will start to rain. Rather than worrring about the datk clouds ahead delivering rain we accept that they will. We have learned to enjoy drizzel - it is better than a downpour. More importantly we hve learned to really apperciate those times when it is not raining and experience real joy in those occational moments when the sun breaks through.

The Day the Honda ST Died

Honda motorcycles are generally reliable and the ST 1300 had legendary reliability.  Given this reputation you can imagine how surprised Dave was when on the first sunny morning in 5 days the ST refused to start.  It was dead, it would not turn over.  Bev valiantly pushed it up and down the motel parking lot in an effort to bump start it to no avail. Dave checked every fuse and shortened out the solenoid.  It cranked but it would NOT start.  So Bev said "hey, remember my HOG membership....HD loves to keep their bikers on the road, I will be able to get a tow for you!"  Dave said no way, I have a Honda.  But Bev KNEW the truth. The first step was to find a Honda dealership in the area, so in true Honda dealer fashion the local Honda dealer in New Philadelphia offered to look at the bike in a week's time (whaaaatt!!!).  Bev added that HD dealerships always give travellers priority and will solve problems quickly without delays.  We finally found Treadway Honda Suzuki dealership in Zanesville, Ohio, about 100 clicks south of our hotel provided we could get the bike to them.  Bev called her HOG roadside assistance program and they arranged for a tow truck to pick up Dave's Honda and deliver it to the Honda dealer.  HD paid for the first $100 and Dave paid the rest.  Here is the funny thing....as soon as the tow truck arrived, it started raining and so Bev donned her rain gear and followed the tow truck (with Dave dry in the truck) 100 clicks to the Honda place. When the dealer was unloading the Honda, it started................whaaaaat???  The tow truck driver said he had often seen that happen with the vibration of the long haul shaking the vehicle (Dave figured he was just being charitable.)  When the story was relayed to the dealer he figured the problem was probably with the "kill switch" so he took it apart, cleaned it up and put it back together. While this was going on one of the salesman loaned us his truck to drive to a restaurant up the road for lunch. How's that for service, we were duly impressed.  With the bike working again and of course the rain starting again, we took off.  Bev said we have to at least get past where we were last night. So we ended the day with a net gain of about 50 clicks on Interstate 77.  Bev insisted that Dave cover his Kill Switch in duct tape just in case and he was to NEVER touch it.

Dirty Bike

Bev loves a clean bike...she loves her chrome....this bike has been on the roads in the rain for 4 days straight. The chrome looks forsaken but she does have great rain gear...even rain boots.

Good News - Bad News

Bad News - headed north on Interstate 77 in the heavy rain again
Good News - during the day, the rain lightened to drizzy
Bad News - stopped for coffee at West Virginia border and a woman said she was glad to catch up to tell Bev her back tail lights were not working
Good News - Bev had recently re-joined HOG (Harley Owners Group) and had their directory of every Harley dealership in the country (likely a throw back to the days of less reliable Harleys).  We located a dealership in Bluefield, West Virginia, only a short ride.
Bad News - we called them and they were not open on Mondays
Good News - we found another dealership in Charleston which was open (130 clicks down the road)
Bad News - the service department was closed on Mondays
Good News - we talked to the dealership's manager, and he said he could deal with the bulbs for us
Bad News - Bev had to resort to driving with her flashers on for an hour in the rain as neither the tail lights nor brake light worked.
Good News - Interstate 77 through the West Virginia mountains was spectacular with sweeping curves, rushing rivers and very few trucks.  We may return for a non-rain ride one day.
Bad News - the reason the tail light blew is because the plastic lens was cracked and the water got in thus shorting out and bursting the bulb
Good News - the EXCELLENT Harley dealer in South Charleston had both the plastic lens and bulb in stock and was able to fix it; the manager took a break from his lunch and went out and fixed it himself.
More Good News - they had gortex lined waterproof warm gloves and Dave and Bev both bought a pair
Bad News - the HD dealership visit cost $260....but those gloves are great!!!
Bad News - about 5 pm we pulled over but no avail, all the hotels were full of oil workers who do fracking of the oil shales.
Good News - the sun actually appeared and we finally found a motel in Newcomers Town, Ohio.

Northbound in the rain

We left New Orleans and Dave almost got blown off the long bridge across Lake Pontchartrain...his bike is a bit top heavy! We travelled north across Mississippi and Alabama in the heavy rain finally ending the day at   Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  Due to an event at the University of Alabama, we had major difficulty finding a hotel room and finally found one at a no-name flea-bag on the outskirts of town.  The next day we continued on in the rain around Birmingham, stopping at the HD dealership in Trussville to replace Bev's battery fobs, and on toward Chattanooga.......Bev and Dave got separated along the busy 5-lane interstate during a really heavy rain.  Bev can look tough but she was almost crying hoping to get off the road.  Both of them of couldn't see well in the rain and truck spray, Bev could only occasionally see Dave in the distance and tried to stay in the same lane knowing that the highway was intersecting with others.  Just when she got herself together, oh my god it started to hail.  Bev was thinking she'd never get those New Orleans fishy beads to Paige!  Wet and cold and hungry, Bev and Dave finally got off the interstate just north of Chattanooga, never ever seeing the choo choo!  Sure enough the next morning it was pouring and Bev and Dave gave up any hope of re-riding the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The weather channel is showing this entire Eastern part of the US engulfed in rain and thunder for the next 2-3 days.  We continued interstates 75, 40 nad 81 through Knoxville and on into Virginia. Over the last 3 days it has been cold with the temperature between 10-12 C / 40 - 55 F....55 felt balmy at one point.  The day ended in Wytheville with the plan head north on interstate 77; hopefully it will have less traffic.  Those who know us, know that we normally take the scenic curvy routes, but with this rain why bother.  At one of the coffee breaks, a woman came over to us and started praying for our safety on the road....Bev wanted to ask her to pray for the rain to stop, but she was on a roll. Well...although the rain has been bad, I guess we can say "at least it hasn't snowed".

Eating in the Big Easy/New Orleans

We have eaten a lot of different foods in our travels ... eg., bush rat, fried termites and domesticated cat (West Africa), kangaroo (Toronto!), buffalo (western Canada), moose and venison (we have a neighbour who likes to hunt), fried gater (Florida on this trip)....but, we loved eating in New Orleans.  We thoroughly enjoyed jambalaya alfredo pasta, alligator & duck gumbo, an exquisite local fresh fish in a buttery sauce with great seasonings, cheesed up crab cakes, BBQ oyster Po-boy sandwich (like a submarine but on a fresh light french loaf), seafood gumbo and jambalaya with rice.  Of course mixing lemon\lime margarettas was a bonus. We spent our 3rd day in New Orleans wandering the french quarter, riding on local trams, visiting two museums on Jackson Square; one about Katrina and the other on the history of New Orleans, and then checking out the ritzy stores on Canal Street. Photos: The Dalai Lama is coming to New Orleans and the flags are flying; bet Bev's Harley could outrun this cop even if she was carrying an umbrella; Dave in a courtyard; and, Bev on Canal st.

Sight Seeing in the Big Easy (New Orleans)

We started off at Jackson's Square in the centre of the French Quarter a few blocks from the hotel. From there we got pass for a get on/get off double decker tour bus and when out to the Garden District with its antebellum mansions and Lafayette Cemetery.  We also went on a paddle wheeler river boat cruise.

New Orleans arrival

We endured another long biking day, flying through Florida's pan handle, Alabama, Mississippi, and finally into Louisiana (over 425 miles/650 km).  The weather was fine until the last hour.....and all rain-hell-on-the highway broke open again. Dave went into 4-way flasher mode but we did pass a couple of other bikes so we did well.  Bev learned to sit high on the back of her seat in order to see over the windscreen; with Dave's beacon lights to follow she just hoped no truck tire bits were on the road.
The GPS faithfully guided us in the rain through the twists and turns down into our French Quarter hotel.  It was a Best Western with secure courtyard parking for the bikes (see photo below).  We walked over to Bourbon Street, ate dinner, walked up and down drinking too much (you can bar hop with your open drink, as long as it isn't in a glass container) and did some dancing.  We are here for 3 nights, so watch for additional New Orleans posts.  Tonight we are headed to Frenchman St for some local jazz.
PS: to Paige, I picked up some Mardi Gras beads for you.....with your favourite fishees (see photo of gramma with beads and a wine.

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Bye Bye Florida

Well, I am missing that Key Lime Pie....had no idea it originated in Key West.
When we left Orlando, we got back on the Florida turnpike...it has the most complicated toll system.  One can buy a SunPass (like a 407 transponder) but unfortunately such passes are not motorcycle friendly, so in southern Florida you can drive through the collection points and they claim they can read your licence plate and they will send you a bill (with admin. charges).   Hence we carried on believing this; unfortunately, by mid-Florida the rules had changed and you had to pay cash without a SunPass.  Now remember no one told us this and so we were happily sailing through the SunPass slots incurring threatened $100 penalty for each pass.  At one of the next toll exits, Dave decided simply out of curiousity to visit the cash slot and they gave us two tickets and did not ask for money and we were to pay up when getting off.  As we drove along there were a number of exits which could only be used if you HAD a SunPass.  We were wondering how long we would be stranded riding along on the turnpike awaiting a cash exit without incurring a $100 fine for exiting without a SunPass or running out of gas (as if there isn't enough to worry about when on a bike!!)  Eventually the turnpike ended and we were allowed back on Interstate 75 which we took up to Interstate 10 close to the Georgia border.  After a few miles on 10, heavy thunderstorms hit, the skies opened up and Dave reverted to his flashers....which was good for Bev as she was trying to look through her helmet's dark screen and the bike's windscreen, the flashers were a beacon as the road which had not been easy to see.  Actually with bike to bike communication, Bev told Dave he was going too slow...to which Dave responded "I can't see anything!!"  We endured this for awhile and deciding not to deal with Tallahassee rush hour we pulled off for the night.  We then booked ourselves into the New Orleans' French Quarter so the next couple of nights should be fun.

The KEYS to Orlando

We left Key West at about 8:30 am (see last picture of Keys below...but do read the earlier 2 Key Wet posts) and arrived in Orlando at 6:30 pm.  A long biking day of about 400miles/600kms.  After leaving the Keys we jumped on Florida's turnpike or landfill tour strip (must have been a landfill about every 40-50 miles along the side of the turnpike!)  Tomorrow we plan to go make our way to Pensacola for the night....the "pan handle."

"All the way to Florida and down to Key West"

Remember that song....we drove 2500 miles all the way to Florida to have a good time down in Key West...in fact they were singing that song in the bar and we thought, hey that's us...we DID come 2500 miles.  And let me say that we had a great time in Key West.  It is an amazingly fun place. Key West is the most southern point in the States and is only 90 miles from Cuba.  Among other things we toured a museum dedicated to the early economy based on salvaging old wrecks, as well as Hemmingway's estate.  They were also having a festival which included bed races down the main drag (and some were in drag).  Bev had a margaretta in Jimmy Buffet's Margarettaville amidst all the parrot heads. Dave liked the girls dancing on the bar at Coyote Ugly.  Duval has 117 bars in about 12 short blocks....need I add that we really enjoyed ourselves.  There are laws prohibiting the killing of wildlife so the town is full of wild chickens/cocks (released when cock fighting was banned), cats with 6 toes descended from Hemingway's cat and wild iguanas. People rent scooters and they are wheezing about everywhere.  We walked as we needed a break from 2-wheeled vehicles.

On the road to Key West

The road to Key West is beautiful with long bridges over stunning turquoise seas on either side and stretches across coral islands with the roadway lined with mangrove swamps. We stopped for lunch at one of the many small harbours along the way and watched some kite-boarding.

Theatre of the Sea - Florida Keys Islamorada

We left Florida City and headed down to Key Largo and along Hwy 1 through the Keys.  Our first stop was in Islamorada at the Theater of the Sea, a show of sea animals including dolphins, sea lions, giant sea turtles, parrots, iguana amongst others all within a salt water lagoon.  We were really impressed with the care they gave their animals, many of which had been injured by fishing nets and boat props...some turtles were swimming with lift jackets or weights to solve congenital buoyancy problems.  And the parrots.....wow, they solve shape and colour puzzles and can add and subtract all of which our 16 month old grandchild is incapable of doing (yet!!)

Traffic in Miami

Hey blog readers....we left Daytona Beach in glorious weather and headed south toward Miami via Hwy 95 as we were getting worried that we won't be able to do the Keys and New Orleans and get back home in time to meet our babysitting obligations. The traffic got very heavy by the time we reached West Palm Beach (and where is Cathy Morrissey when you need her??) and stayed really heavy for the next 100 km until Interstate 95 ended in Miami.  At that point we got onto Hwy 1 but things got really bad at that point.  It was 92F, Dave had his jacket on and was hot, Bev had her jacket off and was hot, it was stop-and-go for another hour!! Now, let me say that with the heat of the asphalt added to the heat of the bikes (which was burning Bev's right thigh), and the heat of the air we was loosing fluid fast.  We pulled off to re-group and consulted the GPS.  It immediately re-routed us over to the Florida turnpike = a toll road will less traffic. We then learned about the class system on Florida roads, excellent toll roads with not much traffic vs clogged regular highways and interstates.  We ended the day south of Miami in Florida City and will get to Key West tomorrow.  Here is Bev just before our first pool swim.........yeah for hot weather and palm trees.

Travel Day with great weather

Finally we have great t-shirt weather.
Given the southern hospitality, aside from the bike parking episode in Charleston, we decided to give Savannah Georgia a pass though we did pull off for lunch in a Savannah suburb called Richmond Hill. Nice, as we are from Richmond Hill in Ontario Canada. We made it to Daytona Beach Florida and will set off for Miami tomorrow morning.  On a final note, our hotel seems to be right beneath a take off route for the local airport.  I hope we can get some sleep!

Charleston

After figuring out how to deal with the parking issue (see earlier post) we did enjoy the town...albeit in 2-3 hour time slots. From the central market area we took a Carriage Tour through the narrow streets and admired the beautiful mansions and gardens.  The houses tend to be relatively narrow and extremely long in order to catch the breezes in the summer; contrary to popular belief most Plantation owners did not have big country mansions. Rather, they had ordinary small farm houses in the country where they farmed cotton, rice and indigo (with slaves) and the mansions in town.  The swampy rural areas of the low country had mosquitos that carried yellow fever and malaria, so the rich plantation owners and family built gorgeous mansions in town especially for the hot summers. We toured several museums one in the Old Slave Market and the other was the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon.  The Slave Market was used in the mid-1800s through which 40% of all arriving slaves were processed, traded and sold...this made Charleston very very rich in the process.  The 1768 Exchange building is one of the last formal structures built by the British Colonial Government in the American colonies and it is where imported goods were traded and tariffs paid. An interesting point was that Charleston used to be called Charles Town, named after King Charles II.
Tomorrow we are heading south to try to get to Florida fast via the interstate ....the weather is still cool here.

DO NOT TAKE YOUR BIKE TO CHARLESTON SC

We set out for a full day of sightseeing in historic old Charleston. We followed the excellent signage to the Visitors Center and pulled into the parking lot in front of the Center. The sign on the lot said NO MOTORCYCLES and a nasty angry parking attendant came out of her booth and said YOU CAN NOT PARK HERE. I got off the bike and said where should I park. She said go inside and ask them in the Visitors Center but move your bike - By this time several cars had lined up behind us all trying to enter the parking lot. I went over to the booth and asked her where I should park while I went ask where to park. She said I should go around back. We got the line of cars to back up and got the bikes turned around in the narrow brick driveway and set out around the block. After circling two blocks we discovered a driveway behind the Visitors Center that had a sign that said that only motorcycles should park in the motorcycle parking spots - this was encouraging. We entered the lot and found all the motorcycle slots fenced off so we parked in a car spot and purchased a parking ticket using a credit card which we placed on Bev's Bike - we hoped it wouldn't blow away.

We went into the Visitor's Center and lined up to talk to a representative of the good city. We finally got to the counter; Bev politely explained our unhappiness with this discrimination against bikers - Dave was too angry to say anything civil . The woman behind the counter explained that a biker had been struck by a gate on a parking lot and had successfully sued the City (for a whack of money). As a result bikes were not permitted in lots with gates. She directed us to a lot several blocks away that had meters and allowed bikes. When we got to the lot we realized that we did not have enough change to park long enough to see anything and so we returned to the lot behind the Visitors Center where we could use a credit card to purchase 2 hr worth of parking.

We finally left the bikes in this lot and went to explore Charleston. When we got to the Market area we saw cars in metered parking spots with boots bolted on the tires. This town is serious about parking enforcement. Due to fear of having our bikes locked up we returned to the Visitors Center every 2 hours to purchase more parking tickets. In spite of our parking woes we really enjoyed Charleston and highly recommend it to fellow tourists who drive CARS.

Boone Hall Plantation

The morning we left Wilmington it was about 8 C/40 F and we wore every layer we could..including long johns and rain gear....geeezzzz where the heck is the spring???  We drove to Myrtle Beach and discovered miles and miles of tacky family oriented activities all along the road....the road went on forever and then we found out that was only NORTH Myrtle Beach.  So we got back onto Hwy 17 but still it took forever to get through the built up area.  The weather remained cold and a bit windy.....which reminds me...how do you gage the wind?  How about when you are high on a bridge hanging on for life on the bike and you wonder "what the heck is that beside me?"  Upon looking over it is a bird gliding on the wind going at the same speed as you about 12 feet from the bike.
We continued on through a large forested area and arrived on the outskirts of Charleston, South Carolina, where we stopped off to visit the Boone Hall Plantation.  It has a magnificent entrance lined with Live Oak trees and dripping Spanish Moss.  The mansion is the 3rd edition of the original; it was build by a Canadian in the 1930s !  There is an excellent black history presentation provided in a number of brick slave houses.  BTW, the weather warmed up mid-afternoon = yeah.  And Bev finally got to wash her bike.

Gales on the Outer Banks

PREFACE:  You know when you look at bikers going by on the highway, you think "wow, that must be so much fun!  bet they just smile all the time...."  WELLL, let me be a little truthful....it can be damn right scarey at times....and still you have to smile and that is hard.

So we set of from our motel in Nags Head in the Outer Banks amidst bright sunshine and high high winds (30m/50km).  Although windy we were doing reasonable well until we crossed over a high bridge onto Pea Island. There are no houses on the island, only the dunes separate the highway from the Ocean. OMG  the wind was so strong that our faces were being blasted with sand and the dunes were stretching across the road....now let me say, on a fully loaded bike riding on sand is not fun. When really bad we pulled over to a visitors' centre and the staff person informed us that the ferry sometimes doesn't run during such high wind as the water moves enough via the wind to make it too shallow for the crossing.  Well what a relief we had a reasonable excuse to backtrack and take a very long way around to Wilmington (of course we had to pass the dunes again).  Before going back Dave chanced climbing over the dunes to check out the surf....hmmm, he got a free exfoliation curtesy of the gale force driven sand and sand was still falling from his hair at lunch.

First Flight with the Wrights

From Virginia Beach we took a number of back roads to Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks of North Carolina...to be more precise, we stopped at Kill Devil Hills, the site of the Wright brothers first flight on December 17th 1903. The first three attempts were a little over 100 feet but the 4th attempt they managed to keep it in air for over 800 feet thus achieving man's first powered flight...this was control of flow of air over the wings, weight being lifted, steering and controlling ascent and descent which we now of course take for granted.  BTW, Kill Devil Hills is 10 metres BELOW sea level (per GPS) and so Dave and I were hoping for no hurricane water flow.  This of course explains why all the summer homes are built high on stilts. A complete replica is setup.

Virginia Beach

We left Williamsburg and had a really intense ride on a number of expressways, each with multiple lanes including high bridges over shipping channels and tunnels under other shipping channels. Virginia Beach has lots of hotels on a great length of sandy beach. It was cold and windy, so we walked up and down the boardwalk, strolled out onto the fishing pier and bought the requisite T-shirt.

Williamsburg - Virginia

Well, with the impending storm we decided to stay put in a town that had some history, some touristy stuff, some interest.....and we picked the perfect place.  For those of you who followed us in 2008 let me tell you that Williamsburg has it over Gettysburg!!
What's more is we decided to do the Ritz by staying in a suite in one of the colonial Williamsburg hotels right on the site....so that we didn't have to bike....and we walked all around colonial Williamsburg and learned a lot of history about the time of US independence (1776). The Bruton Parish Church, dating from 1715, had pew boxes where both Washington and Jefferson stopped by to worship.....hey Bev and Dave have put their butts in the seats of greatness (expand the name on the pew).

We discovered the American love of guns was really a colonist thing with the British governor decorating the  entrance foyer of his palace with a massive albeit impressive collection of weapons.

What makes  

Williamsburg really impressive is the over 500 actors dressed in period costume who bring the history of the period to life.  This includes fife and drum marching bands, Benedict Arnold taking over Williamsburg, and militia firing muskets and canons.

We expect the storm to arrive at about 10 pm tonight and we will be safe and tucked in.  There is a tornado watch just the other side of Interstate 95, not far from us so we feel lucky.  We will leave for Virginia Beach tomorrow, eastern seaboard here we come....that said, Bev is upset that her bike (chrome!) is so dirty!!!