July 2nd took us from Edgewater Florida to Charlotte North Carolina. As CZookie said earlier we stayed with her friends whose hospitality was wonderful. Lots of stories and laughter. Effective mileage that day was 512 miles with no rain. As we rode up I-95 toward Jacksonville I could not help but feel like we had been in Florida for a long time. We had been in Florida almost all day on Sunday, after Monday night in Key West, a whole day Tuesday (slowed by so much rain) and now it was now the fourth day, still in Florida. Despite hitting Jacksonville at the morning rush hour we moved quickly and easily around the city on I-295. The Georgia coast is short; there was a lot of road construction and that marshland smell. Still we made good time. CZookie lead all the way in to Charlotte and I struggled to keep up since I enjoy high speeds only when the roads are good, the weather is good and the traffic is light. Only the weather cooperated consistently on Wednesday. By lunch time it was clear we would make it to her friend's home in good time so it was easy to enjoy the ride even if it was on the highways: I-95 to I-26 to I-77. Ewen McGregor says that his travel photos are all pictures of his bike at various locals. So here is my current favorite picture of my bike at the Best Western in Edgewater Florida. We were very lucky CZookie found this place when she did, just after a terrible storm and just before the next one hit.
July 3rd from Charlotte to Hagerstown was 430 miles effectively. It was a great riding day. A little slower since I led all day. On the buffet theory of traveling, this trip the first pass through the line. We will come back one day to enjoy a larger helping of the best places. One certainly worth a long return visit is the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was beautiful and great to ride. Very little traffic, slow speeds and lots of twisties. We road it from Buena Vista to Vesuvius. The access roads were full of the narrowest switchbacks steeply sloping up hill and down. This is no interstate! Hagerstown presented itself in plenty of time to stop check in and hunt for dinner until we got separated on the drive into town. Communication by cell phone soon revealed that CZookie was the roadside and BB was refusing to restart. Her entry tells the rest. We are now focused on getting BB repaired. Until then, we are here in Hagerstown. Hope everyone is having a safe and fun Fourth of July.
(By the way, the picture on June 29th blog entry was the automatic truck windshield washer at the Fort Drum Service Plaza on the Florida Turnpike. You just pull up and a sensor turns on the spray. We did not try it, but if the bikes would trigger the sensor I am sure we could have washed them easily!)
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