Re: [St] FW: Trip report, NH to TX. Part 2 of 2

["Jeremy Witt" <jeremywitt@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm sorry to say there wasn't much to report on the last leg of this crazy
trip.  Little Rock Ar-Kansas to The Colony Texas was pretty uneventful,
other than checking the rear tire at every stop for imminent signs of
failure.  The roads were straight and flat (yawn), although I did finally
find the right buttons to display the altitude, Todd.  :0)

I did stop at the AR/TX line, in Texarkana, for some BBQ for lunch.  Yum!

I started the new job in Richardson and after two days of commuting to work,
steel belts can be see peeking through parts of the center of the tread.
Yikes!  

Took it easy the next two days, because other modes of transport weren't
readily available to me, and had a new Pilot Road 2 spooned on while I
waited this morning, for not too much more than mail order. $172.99 for the
tire, a bit more for the mount and balance.  

I will admit that after the sales guy suggested the road hazard plan, due to
all the construction and resulting debris around Dallas, I thought about it.
Then when he wanted to show me his Pilot Road 2 rear on his GSXR 600, guess
what we found?  Quite a bit of tread depth remaining after 5000 miles...and
a nail.  So, I went with the road hazard.  :0)  

Jack Hays and his wife Billie have been as, or in some cases more,
hospitable than family, taking me in here in The Colony.  Hoping to have
some Ozark Mountain ride reports in the near future for y'all!

Cheers,
"Texas" J 

From: Jeremy Witt [mailto:jeremywitt@xxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2008 11:42 PM
Subject: Trip report, NH to TX. Part 1 of (probably) 2

 

For those of you I did not have the opportunity to inform, I had been
looking for a new job in the Dallas Texas area.  Well, it came about rather
suddenly, as did my departure from the last employer, who took the
opportunity to boot me out the door upon receipt of my two weeks' notice.
So, here I am on a cross country motorcycle ride.  If you don't wish to
receive future ride reports, I apologize and please let me know, so I can
remove you from the "update list".

 

The story, already in progress.

 

The original plan was to leave Merrimack, NH, Tuesday, October 28th, but
Mother Nature had other plans, throwing an early Nor'Easter right across the
first two days of my planned trip.  Since we have been getting the house
ready to rent,  I spent most of those two days coordinating contractors.
The Triumph had just returned from Adam's garage after receiving it's 3rd
12k service.  

 

With the new Garmin Zumo 450 rigged and ready to go, I finally rolled out of
the driveway about 12:30 Thursday afternoon.  Since the destination was the
Dallas Texas area, I figured I could leave the heavy leather jacket behind
and make do with the Vanson vented summer jacket with the rain jacket over
as a wind breaker.  Some of you know it as the Bumblebee Suit.  :0)  I would
later regret this decision.more than once.  In fact, even in Arkansas,
heading to Little Rock, after sunset, the heated grips were in use.

 

Thursday:  The first day, having got off to a late start, was understandably
a short one.  Once through MA, CT and NY, I encountered the evidence of the
Nor'Easter plowed up against the side of I84 in the hills between the NY/PA
border and the outskirts of Scranton.  Seeing the salt/"syrup" leftover on
the roadway made me a bit nervous, but no traction problems were evident.  

 

A point of frustration: the new Sargent seat was not nearly as comfortable
as I'd hoped.  However, the GPS positively ROCKS!

 

With the sun setting and me shivering frequently, I only managed to get
slightly past Scranton to a hotel in Wilkes-Barre.  I crashed quickly and
was able to get 8 hours of badly needed rest.  

 

Day 1: 335 miles.

 

Friday: Emailing with the Sprint ST List got me chatting with Todd, a
transplanted Mainer, and he convinced me to take a slight detour toward
Richmond, VA and stay at his home for the night.  After rolling the Sprint
into the morning sun to melt the ice off the seat, I loaded up and headed
south on I81 once again.  The 170 or so miles to the PA/MD border seemed to
take forever.  Then about 10 miles in MD and close to 30 in WVA, I was in
Virginia.  I headed directly for Front Royal, for lunch, gas, and the
entrance to Skyline Drive.  

 

Sadly, heading south really wasn't resulting in the gradual warming I was
counting on, at least, not nearly as quickly as I would have liked.  Heated
grips still on non-stop, toggling between "quite warm" and "melt your hands
to the bars".      At least I was able to switch to the far-more-comfortable
summer gloves.  Still wishing for a warmer jacket.

 

After food and gas, I made my way to Skyline drive and paid the ranger my
$10 entrance fee.  The road was clear and dry, but the sun was still setting
too early, so I shifted the GPS to find Todd's house after about 60 of the
109 miles of the Drive.  I made it to Todd's house just around sunset,
landing among the Trick-or-Treaters.  Todd ran me down in the street while I
was stopped, trying to locate the exact address, then left me parked in the
driveway with his wife Karin while he continued to escort young Jacob from
door to door for goodies.  I was introduced to Sophia the black cat, then
Jacob, after he'd cleaned out the neighborhood of treats.

 

I was fed a tasty dinner and beer, then Todd returned and we went to the
corner store for more beer.  :0)  The corner store there is very much like
the Sam's Quick Stop in my Merrimack neighborhood: owned by an Indian crew
and stocked with a very diverse collection of beers.  Happy day.  Old
Leghumper Porter http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/12516/27857 caught my
eye, and after checking out the other options, we stuck with that choice,
since neither of us had tried it before.  Good stuff!

 

Day 2: Roughly 387 miles.  

 

Saturday morning, a little slow from the beer and not quite 8 hours of
sleep, but back into the saddle!  The GPS pointed me at Roanoke, VA and I
had a scenic ride all the way there.  Much of this area is Peak or just Past
Peak for foliage.  I really love the Appalachian Mountains!  Lunch in
Roanoke, then about 15 minutes on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and back to I81 to
make some badly needed miles.  

 

Back on the boring highway, I did manage to take a 40 mile detour in Marion,
VA, up the enjoyable Rte 16 North.  Sadly, it appeared some homicidal jerk
saw fit to "gravel up" the first mountain pass, making the decent rather
slow and tense.  There was no gravel on the shoulders, no obvious source,
yet every turn, there it was.  Sickening that someone would knowingly do
such a dangerous and malicious thing, and at the same time, sad and
frustrating that some motorcyclists ride aggressively enough to prompt this
behavior instead of getting their kicks on a track where they clearly
belong.  At least the second mountain pass was clear, Woo Hoo!  

 

Then back to the slab, I81 to I40, hoping to make it to Charlie's house in
Mt Juliet, TN for the night, only to fall short by 2.5 hours and bunk for
the night with Holiday Inn in Knoxville, TN.  This was the first day I
actually felt warm part of the time.  :0)  Winter, I laugh at you.  Hah!


 

Day 3: Roughly 450 miles.  Getting better.

 

Sunday morning, after a long rest, and setting the clock back an hour, I
felt pretty good.  No ice on the saddle this morning!  In an effort to meet
Charlie for a mid-morning brunch, I grabbed a snack and got on the road
early.  Fortunately, partway through the loooooong state of Tennessee, I
rolled into the Central Time Zone, gaining a second hour for the day!  :0D  

 

Finally, the Sargent saddle seems to be breaking in,  but I'm still old and
out of shape, so there's only so much the fancy "butt support" can do.  :p

 

Met Charlie at home, narrowly avoided being eaten by his ginormous dog, and
got a quick tour of the house.  Then he jumped on his Multistrada and we
were off to IHOP.  One tasty meal later, I was off and riding again, this
time hoping to get past Memphis before stopping for the night.  Here I am in
Little Rock, AR, so I guess I did.  Had to run for about 1.5 hours at night,
not my favorite situation, but here I am.  The rear tire looks bad, Adam.
Maybe we should have changed it out.  :0)

 

Had a nice dinner at Chili's next to the hotel.  Couldn't get through
dessert.  

 

Day 4: 530 miles.   That's more like it!  

 

Monday should be short, I'm about 325 miles from my new temporary home,
provided by another very generous motorcyclist in The Colony, Texas.  

 

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