Dateline: Brunswick Georgia

Been a heck of a day! Our packing from the day before made it easy to get on the road this morning. Here's what we stuffed into the two bikes:

We left out of Florence around 10:30 this morning, temperature a cool 50 degrees, blue skies with light clouds.

We kept to our goals, mostly. We were in the wrong lane with busy traffic when we got to Santee, where we were going to stop for a stretch. No problem, we'll stop at the next rest stop. Well, we went another 40 miles, with no rest stop, and Linda said she had a quarter-tank of gas. I don't have a gas guage, but I did show 115 miles, so we stopped in Walterboro around 12:30 and had lunch at the Huddle House. The waitress took one look at Linda in her leathers and asked, "Please tell me you don't ride one of those motorcycles!"

Linda laughed and said she did, to which the waitress replied "You'd have to hit me over the head to get me on one of those things!" Good thing we didn't invite her to come along.

The CB radios are good to have when you're traveling below 70 mph. Above that, the wind noise makes it tough to understand any more than a few words. At one point, I heard a muffled transmission come across, and then Linda said, "I didn't understand one thing you said!" Then a guy on a Goldwing that had a CB installed rode past and waved. Apparently, it was him.

The trucks are no more worrisome than when passing them in a car -- as long as you pass them. The tough part is the drafting as you approach them, and the wind as you pass their front end. But it only lasts for a second or two, and since you're expecting it, you're prepared.

What was harder to deal with was the cross winds. The weather reports called for gusts up to 25 mph. I had a few times I had to compensate for a gust of wind from the side, or be pushed into the next lane. And gusts that hit from the front just slow you down.

At one point, we passed a car from Ontario, and I started singing "Oh, Canada" (I don't have a radio, so I have to entertain myself). Unfortunately, that song stuck in my head for the next 30 miles!

We stopped at the Georgia Welcome Center for a breather, then for gas about 20 miles north of Brunswick. Not too long after that, we hit the road construction. Things slowed down to a crawl, and we thought it was due to the road work. No, it was the rubberneckers when they saw a police car on the northbound lanes. I had to put my feet down twice as we slowed to a stop, and when we saw the exit with a Fairfield Inn, we decided to pull in for the night.

As we passed over the Interstate, we got a good view of the traffic back up on the northbound lanes. It looked like it was about 3 miles long and growing.

Apparently, there is a Federal Law Enforcement Training Center around here. The only room available at the Fairfield was a King suite -- Horrors! It's actually costing us less than the room at the Daytona Quality Inn! I think we'll survive. There's a restaurant attached to the Holiday Inn next door that's in walking distance. I think it's gonna be an early night.

Addendum (after dinner): The restaurant turned out to be a Millstone Steakhouse. The filet was awesome!

Packing Day

One day left before we head south. The weather should be great for the ride -- mid 50's to start, and getting warmer as we go!

On the advice of several people, I decided that we should buy a security cable to lock the bikes together, making it that much harder to steal them. One guy tells me he has a first floor room in Daytona, and his bike will spend the night in the room! That should work.

My brother had a problem several years back when he was at the beach, and someone switched the license plate on his Vulcan for an expired one. He never noticed until 6 months later, when he was pulled at a license check. Linda's plate is a littler harder to remove, and I put some locktite on the screws on mine. It won't be easy to get off; it's all about making it tougher for thieves, and hoping they move on to the next victim.

I think we packed everything. Tomorrow, I'll take a picture just before we load up, and you'll get an idea of how much we're taking for 6 days.

Since we're only going about half the distance (maybe a little more), I'm not too worried about getting an early start. We'll wait until 10 am or so, and the temperature should be on the rise by then.

Day -6

While yesterday was a beautiful day to ride, today was even better! Temps in the mid to upper 60's, beautiful blue sky.

We set out this morning headed for Columbia (South Carolina, for any out-of-staters). We wanted to get a good feel for Interstate driving before next week, and an 85 mile trip to Riverbanks Zoo sounded pretty good. It was as good as I'd hoped.

I have to say, traveling for an extended period at 75 miles per hour was a little nerve-wracking on the trip out. It takes getting used to the the speed and vibration. It seemed like my eyes were vibrating! The wind from the trucks tries to push you around, and add a good little cross wind and it's something else.

Overall the Garmin did as I'd hoped; even though I wouldn't have gone the way it directed us, it turned out to be a good choice once we got off off I-20. At one point it lagged at a critical turn, and Linda had to slow down quickly, but for the most part, it got us to the zoo as well as expected.

The CB worked well until we got above say 60 mph. Then, it was difficult to understand each other. Even with a full helmet, there's still a lot of wind noise at that speed. Off the highway, though, it was great for keeping in communication with each other.

There have been a lot of changes at the zoo since our last visit (it's been several years). They've taken some of the "zoo" section away for the gardens. The polar bears were gone, replace with a big grizzly bear. The door that led you down behind the pool where you could watch the polar bear swim was blocked. The seals have been replaced; in the Spring there will be a kangaroo exhibit instead. All in all, we were disappointed.

On the way back, we stopped at Thunder Tower, the Colulmbia Harley-Davidson dealership. Looks really cool from the highway, and pretty big inside. It's about on a par with the Redline Power Sports dealership in Myrtle Beach. A lot of nice bikes, though.

Why is it that the trip home is always faster than the trip out? It seemed that way to us. The "vibrating eyes" thing wasn't as bad, the speed was easier to handle. When we got back to Florence, 45 mph seemed like standing still.

It was a good trip, and a valuable one as well. It showed us that we should be able to handle the 400 miles to Daytona (over a two-day run) with no problem -- as long as there's a hot tub and (several) beers at the end of the day!

Daytona Trip Day-7

Being an "IT Professional," whatever that means, I felt that if we were going to take a journey like this, that we should be outfitted properly, electronics-wise. Linda's Goldwing is already a marvel of extras and gadgets -- grip and seat heaters, AM/FM/MP3 audio, weather radio, cruise control, even a cup holder! But I felt that we needed at least two extras: a way to communicate on the trip, and a navigation unit. Even though Linda regularly tells me where to go (joke, honey!), I figured that we could do better.

We added the CB module to Linda's bike. It fit in a spot below the helmet trunk, and wired into the existing controls. It took several hours on a Saturday, only because of my inexperience in taking the covers (and trunk) off and putting it back together.

I bought a J&M CB complete kit that had all the brackets, antenna, headset and cabling I'd need, and a Garmin zūmo 550 GPS Navigation device made for the motorcycle. It took another Saturday to hook all this up on my bike, but I've managed to tie the Garmin in to the CB unit, so both of them will come through my helmet headset. On top of that, the Garmin now has a 4GB SD RAM card installed that I'm filling with MP3's for the trip. Yes, "Born To Be Wild" is included!

I think we're ready. As a warm-up, we're planning on going to Columbia tomorrow, about 85 miles away. We're going to hit Thunder Tower, a Harley shop, and Riverbanks Zoo. More on that tomorrow night.

Bob Gets His Ride.

In my last post, I mentioned that you no longer need a special license in SC for a trike -- it's not a motorcycle, and doesn't behave like one, and they no longer have a special trike classification. So that meant that I was able to take Linda's Goldwing out for a spin.

It was a little nerve-wracking at first, but I got an opportunity to focus on the throttle, brakes and shifting, without having to worry about dropping the motorcycle -- three wheels are awesome! It doesn't steer like a motorcycle either, but it was more fun than I thought it would be.

We took a trip to Charleston for a long weekend, and I got a chance to ride around down there, and Linda let me drive the entire trip home. It made me realize that having my own motorcycle would be a lot of fun for both of us. That way we both could ride. So we started looking. I went to the DMV and got my permit, so I'd be ready when I found what I wanted.

My brother-in-law Jim was a big help with advice on what to get. I was thinking small -- a 750 should be big enough, shouldn't it? We went to Sumter and looked at the Hondas (I think he wanted to go to window shop at the new Gold Wings), and Linda, Chris, Quint and Jim all convinced me that, if I intended to ride on the Interstate, I would not be happy with a 750. I wasn't too sure about the Honda 1300 class, and we headed back to Florence.

He let me borrow a Yamaha 250 for the weekend, to see how I liked it. It didn't take long after a few miles on it to realize that I wanted one.

Jim had earlier introduced me to Steve at Yamaha/Kawasaki of Florence, and I went down and spoke with them. He showed me the V-Star 1300 Cruisers, and I picked out the one in the picture above. I had them put on a windshield, and that was it.

It didn't take me long to realize that I needed to take the Bike Safety Course myself, so I signed up. It was a tough weekend, but I learned a lot, and got my waiver at the end.

Now, I've got my Class DM license, and I truly believe that what I learned in the class has helped me avoid the situations on the road that could put me in danger. That knowledge has probably saved my life. If you haven't taken the course and your riding now, or are thinking of getting a motorcycle, I urge you to take it. I guarantee you'll learn something about riding that you didn't know before.

The Adventure Begins

Think back to January of 2009. Gas prices were still hovering around $3 a gallon, and Linda’s Nissan Titan gets 13 MPG – it took over $50 to fill the tank! Here’s how I remember the conversation:

Linda: “This is ridiculous! I think I should get a moped to go back and forth to work!”

Bob: “No way! I don’t want you driving something like that on the highway!”

Linda: “Most mopeds will go 45 mph.”

Bob: “Yeah, but the traffic is doing 50 or more! I would rather you got a motorcycle.” (Now, what I didn’t realize was that Linda had wanted a motorcycle since she was 14)

Linda: “Oh, that sounds better! Thank you, honey!”

Think I was tricked? Yeah, well . . .

We talked some more, and on our February weekend at Myrtle Beach we stopped at the Harley-Davidson dealership. We saw their version of the trike – a three-wheeled motorcycle. We spent a lot of time talking with the salesman, and found that Harley-Davidson was not making a lot of them, that they were only expecting to have two to sell until 2010!

A trike seemed like a good idea – easier on the legs and knees, more stable. We didn’t want to wait, and decided to look at other manufacturer’s trikes. There aren’t any. But when we stopped at the Honda dealership in Florence, they told us that Honda of Sumter does trikes. So off we went to Sumter. As it turns out, these guys are THE place to go for trikes – they have a dedicated trike shop where they bring in kits from a company in California called Champion. They pull the rear ends from the motorcycles and put the trike kit in its place. When they’re finished, you can’t tell where the cycle ends and the trike begins. They add lights, chrome, and all the bells and whistles you could want.

Chris was great with Linda, explaining everything. There was only one hitch – she couldn’t test drive without a permit at the least. We told them we’d be back.

Linda went to the DMV, and found that they had added a classification just for trikes, since they’re not quite a car, not quite a motorcycle, and don’t behave like either. She took the written test, and passed easily. Now she was ready!

The weather didn’t cooperate, as it rained the following weekend. But the next one was beautiful, and we went back to Sumter. Chris had Quint, one of their mechanics, take a trike down to an empty parking lot, and he worked with Linda, showing her what she needed to know. Finally, he turned her loose, and she took off across the parking lot. She went around the lot like a NASCAR driver (always turning left) for the first lap. I remarked to Quint that she wouldn’t do that for long. On the next lap, she was doing figure eights, and her speed was better. Watching her handle herself, and seeing how happy she was, I told Quint, “I think we’re getting a trike.” We ordered her 2009 Goldwing Trike that day. They would build it just for her.

We talked about it some more, and agreed that, since it had been a lot of years since she had been on a motorcycle, she should take the Rider Safety Course out at Tech. It’s pretty grueling, in that you do class work on Friday evening, then spend Saturday and Sunday on the course out in the parking lot. You ride their motorcycles, assorted makes, between 150cc and 250cc. She signed up for the class.

She came home Friday night excited, and ready for the road work on Saturday. Unfortunately, she picked a poor weekend, weather-wise. It was cold and rainy all day Saturday. When she came home Saturday night, she was tired and sore, and had put the bike down twice. She ate dinner and fell asleep.

She returned to the class and completed it, scoring 100% on the written, but didn’t earn her “waiver,” which would allow her (at the DMV’s choice) to get her license without testing again. But I’m still proud of her for taking it. It was a good idea, and she learned a lot.

It took about a month to have the trike built, as they had to order the kit in the right color. But it was worth it. It’s a beautiful machine, very stable, and very powerful. It has heated seats, heated grips, AM/FM, Weather radio, cruise control, and passenger arm rests with a cup holder! We trailer’d it home, and she spent the rest of the weekend riding and practicing. Now, she’s got more experience, and she’s a good rider. I feel safe riding on the back with her, and I know she’s enjoying herself.

As a footnote, Linda received a letter from the DMV. Apparently, they were having a difficult time administering the new classification for Trikes, and abandoned the process. Now, you don't need a special license for a trike -- just a standard class D (for Driver's) license will do! That leads me to the next post.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog!

Linda and I are new to motorcycles -- she's had her 2009 Honda Goldwing 1800 Trike since last April, and we bought my 2008 Yamaha V-Star 1300 in September. We've both taken the Motorcycle Safety Course, and consider ourselves safe riders.

Daytona Bike Week will be from February 28th through March 7th, 2010. We'll be riding down there for our first experience, and I thought I'd use this format to share our experience with our friends.

If this bores you, keep it to yourself -- I really don't care; you don't have to read it. If you enjoy the posts, let me know. I'll be posting pictures, and trying to capture as much of the experience as I can.

Do I seem excited by this trip? Actually, I am. I never thought I would enjoy riding as much as I have. I've ridden to work in 23° just to enjoy the ride home in mid-50's temperatures -- and took the long way home.

So, enjoy the site! I'll be posting irregularly until the trip, then I hope to post every day during the event, with lots of pics.

If you're going to be in Daytona, let us know!