My mind played its usual cruel game of "Hey dummy, wake up! It's time to hit the road!" way too early. I woke up at 2am, looked at the clock; nope, too early, back to sleep. Woke up at 3am; looked at the clock, nope, still need to try and get some sleep. Woke up at 4:30, looked at the clock...ok, that's good enough, let's roll.
Packing my stuff up on the bike, I was amazed at all the woodland creatures making noises in the woods around me. And I'm not talking about the little scurrying sounds of tiny critters. Whatever was out there was big, and there was more than one of them. I just hoped I didn't get to find out what it/they were.
I rolled my bike down the driveway and waited until the bottom before firing it up and heading on out. My route home would retrace much of the route we'd taken to get here, which meant I'd be cruising the Dragon one last time. This time, though, it was pitch black out, which of course meant my speed was kept well within the reasonable limit.
Once through, I came upon the US129 Harley dealership...ok, it's not a dealership, it's a boutique. But still, they did have this really cool dragon display which I'd never noticed before because it's always been light out when I've gone by before.
Dammit! I have tried to fix these sideways pics, but no luck I'm afraid. Anyway - this thing was pretty cool!
A gas stop on the way home. Some may recall the story of Sheetz from the ill-fated trip to Canada and Olean in 2001. Fortunately, the only sustenance I got from this place this time, was for my gas tank.
The route home incorporated about 600 miles of Rte 81. I have now learned to hate Rte 81!! So much of it is nothing but two lanes, and it's beyond-packed with semi's! I have always respected semi's and given them the proper space but no more!! These guys were doing nothing but screwing with bikes and cars. The speed limit was 70 so they all had their cruise controls set at 70 on the dot. Ok, I get that. They have CDL's and they don't want to risk any tickets. Perfectly understandable. But the problem is that they refuse to take the cruise control off! If one guy happens to be coming up on another guy (whose load is heavy and his speed drops below 70), then the faster guy just cuts over into the other lane...and goes maybe 1/4 of the length of the slower guy. Now we've got a rolling road block. Two semi's, each going 70, and nobody can get by. Then, finally, when the guy in the right lane gets his speed up, the guy in the left lane pulls back in behind him. Now we have an open left lane and can make up some time, right? Wrong! The semi in front of them both suddenly decides to cut over into the left lane because he was closing in on the guy in front of him! God forbid any of these guys take the cruise control off and coast down to a measly...oh, I don't know...68, and stay in the right lane. Nope, gotta maintain 70 at all costs. This went on for Miles! HUNDREDS of miles!!! I can't even begin to think of the time I lost because of these idiots!!
Gotta breathe...breathe...
Ok, I'm back. Let's see, what other fun things did I enjoy on the ride home. Oh, I was doing about 90 at one point (obviously I was not on Rte 81 at that time) and I tried to adjust my helmet strap a bit. Plink! I felt the snap release and there I am; bombing along while trying to hold my helmet from flying off of my head.
Here's an action shot (at speed) of the broken snap. Awesome! Fortunately, once I got it snapped again, it held for the rest of the ride home.
At another point, I'd been racing a sports car full of idiots who couldn't seem to realize that a motorcycle is much more maneuverable in traffic than their shitty sports coupe. I'd finally managed to finagle my way several cars in front of them when I went to nudge my sunglasses back up onto my nose. As I pressed them up further onto the bridge of my nose, I felt the odd sensation of the plastic parting and my fingertip coming into contact with the skin on my nose. What the...? Sure enough; the sunglasses had split in the middle! And now each side was being yanked off of my face by the wind. Well screw this - I just got position in front of the idiots in the sports car, I'm not about to pull over and pull out some new glasses! Screw safety, there's ego at play!
So I continued along for many a mile, holding my sunglasses in place with my left hand. Thank goodness the idiots (I'm talking about the car, not me) pulled off after about 15 miles or who knows how long I would have gone like that.
Here's the busted sunglasses. I snapped this pic when I got home and then promptly tossed the pieces into the trash.
The second-to-last leg of the return trip meant picking up the Merritt Parkway off of 287 and cruising a nice relaxing ride up through CT. I saw the exit, signaled my intent, and pulled off onto the Parkway...and encountered some traffic lights. Huh...I don't recall seeing these on the way down? Hmmm...ya know, there must be a second exit for the Parkway, further down. I must have gotten off of 287 too soon. Yeah, I bet that's it. I'll just loop around, pick up 287 west for a bit...ok...looping around...I'm back on 287 east...there's the Parkway exit again, but I'm not falling for it this time. I'll just continue on to what I'm sure is the correct exit.
What the...the next exit is for Rte 95...that can't be right? Oh, but it was right. And so, so wrong, because it dumped me into the worst traffic mess I've been in, in years. Three lanes of not-moving cars and trucks. It wound up taking me 2.5 hours to go 20 miles. Egads, that's horrible!! (Yes, I went into the breakdown lane at one point but there were a lot of cops around so I didn't want to push my luck.)
Once that fiasco had straightened out, traffic was finally starting to move again...when...bam! Brake lights again. What is it this time? Oh, there's the answer; all four lanes were blocked by construction vehicles which were moving along at 10 miles an hour. Why? Why on earth would they be doing this?? I eventually had my answer; it was 8pm and the night crews ahead of them were setting up shop. So instead of relying on the police cars, arrow signs, and cones that were already in place up ahead, they'd decided to create a deliberate traffic jam to slow traffic down.
Ok, I understand the need for safety, but to create an intentional, miles-long traffic jam is just idiotic. It makes no sense. If you're worried about traffic speed, then cut the lanes down and force folks to slow down that way. But to block all lanes of travel while you take almost an hour to meander a few miles is just being assholes.
After finally passing out of dreaded CT and into RI, I began to feel a slight burning sensation. No, not when peeing, but in the corner of my right eye. I assumed it was just a bit of the many layers of sunscreen I'd applied over the course of the day, finally finding it's way into my eyeball. So I did my best to wipe it aside. It was having none of that, though. It insisted upon working it's way into the corner of my eye, which in turn caused my eye to water, which in turn wicked more of the sunscreen in. Before long, my right eye was a running, tearing mess. I found a rest area and dug out some water and spent almost 20 minutes pouring water into my eye and wiping it out. Each time I thought I'd gotten it all, the burning would return once again. Thankfully, I had just enough water to finally get things cleared up and me moving again.
Which brings me to the last thing that happened. It pales in comparison to some of the others, but still bears mentioning. I was about 10 miles from home, dark out, bombing along, when I caught motion off to my right. And it was getting closer...quickly. I barely ducked in time as a frikkin' bat whizzed right over the right side of my face. What the hell, buddy? Didn't your radar pick up on the large, rapidly moving motorcycle? I can just see the headlines; man almost survives road trip from hell. Rides over a thousand miles and gets taken out by a bat to the face."
Actually, there are probably some folks out there who would enjoy hearing that I caught a bat to the face, but this isn't that kind of bat.
At any rate, that was the last item to happen on my ride home. When I finally pulled into the driveway, it was a little before 10pm. I'd been on the road for 16 hours and had completed an unofficial Iron Butt; 1,034.5 miles in less than 24 hours. Not too shabby.
I was too wired to sleep so I did some laundry, some cleaning, and made something to eat. I contemplated having a drink, but just wasn't in the mood so I settled for watching some late-night TV.
At about 1:30, I realized I should probably try and get some sleep, and I was happily surprised to find I dropped right off.
And there you have it; the Rolling Thunder and Tail of the Dragon adventure for 2015!!
Next up...Rendezvous!!
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