Day 1
May 15th 2004
Well, the trip is officially started ! Before even leaving this morning I had a feeling that today would be anti-climactic. You see, I wanted to get out of New England as quickly as possible, not because I don't like New England, but because I've ridden there several times before, and this trip is all about exploring new roads. Asides from that, there is just too much traffic congestion to be much fun. The plan of action was to 'Slab-it' to the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway, so Day 1 and a good part of Day 2 will be pretty boring.
Left home at 06:00, after promising I'd be extra-careful on the road. The original forecast called for showers in Fredericton in the morning, but they changed their minds and it was actually quite nice, temperature was between 8 and 10 degrees and the sky was overcast. At 06:00 it was already light enough outside to be able to wear my dark visor.
Made it to McAdam and through the US border at Vanceboro. Got there at 06:00 AM Eastern time and it was VERY slow there. The 2 customs officers had nothing better to do than to ask all sorts of questions. Sure the usual ones, - Where are you from, Where are you going, but then they decided to check the bike out, making me open up all my baggage. What's in that tank ? -erm, it's another gas tank. What's in that other cylinder underneath the tank ? Erm, that's the fuel pump to transfer the gas to the main tank [suspicious look]. Then they took my ID and spent the next 15 minutes inside before bringing it back out and wishing me a nice trip.
Being on the interstate made my frame of mind go back to the good old "IronButt" mentality, where I'm keeping an eye on my average speed and trying not to stop for too long at a time. Geez, I've really got to chang this, as this isn't the purpose of this trip. I guess when I'll be on some nicer roads I'll be more tempted to stop and smell the roses...
The rest of the day was really boring, spending it trying to dodge other drivers who are too busy multitasking with their cell phones, kids and looking in the dash rather than looking where they're going. I was amazed at the number of cars broken down on the side of the road with flat tires. It seemed more than there should have been. Instead of going into long boring details (like I've been known to do) I'll cut today's report short to avoid boring the reader.
Oh, I guess one little funny anecdote is in order. Usually when I pack my soft bags, I put my stuff in a bunch of little plastic bags in order to keep everything waterproof. For this trip I thought I was very clever indeed. I got some nice raincovers for the soft bags and when it started raining I smugly put them on
I put the second one on and drove off. Maybe 10 seconds later once I was up to highway speeds, I heard the telltale flapping that usually precedes plasticky fabric ripping. Sure enough, I stopped at the next rest area and
Oh well, I guess I'll just go back to the small plastic bags inside the soft luggage... Other than that, the bike ran flawlessly. I had adjusted the valves and synched the Throttle Bodies just prior to leaving for the trip and the engine runs nice and smooth. A few times I'd be in 5th gear thinking I was in 6th, really cut back on the vibrations.
Day Stats;
Total distance 1325 km (Fredericton NB to Harrisburg Pa)
Overall average 98 km / h
Total time 13 h 09 min
Moving time 11 h 33 min