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Published: March 29th 2010
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March 27, 2010
Against my wife’s advice I left the house at 8:15 a.m. with just my summer mesh Joe Rocket riding jacket and pants on. I did think enough to layer my clothing a little. I wore my Rocky under garments, a long sleeve t-shirt and lastly I put the rain liner in my riding pants. So I headed off into the cool morning air towards Camden, SC to meet up with my friend Jim who was riding in from Myrtle Beach.
Thank god it was only a 30 minute trip up Hwy. 601 to the Pilot Station where I was meeting Jim. I did not realize that I had no gas in the Shadow. Half way to our meeting spot I had to switch on the reserve tank. Once there I filled up both tanks (the front tank and the aux. tank that is mounted on the luggage rack) on the bike and started hunting in my tank bag for my winter gloves. I was having second thoughts about my choice of riding gear when Jims big black LT1200 pulled into the parking lot. He looked so warm in his winter gear which included a heated vest.
Heading in the door
Me and the pig ... could that be two pigs ! I refused to let on that I was secretly wishing for my winter riding jacket that was stored in my nice warm closet back home. However I did mention that we had enough time for a cup of coffee before we headed off down I-20 to Georgia.
Fifteen minutes later we were speeding down I-20 and I was freezing my you know what’s off. And when I say “speeding” that is what we were doing. My little Honda 750 has a sweet spot of about 72 to 74 mph, which is fine for me because most interstates have a speed limit of 70 mph. However, I quickly realized that an LT1200 has a sweet spot of more like 80 to 82 mph.
By the time we hit the Georgia line I was already switching from my front tank to my rear aux. tank. Just over the Georgia line we pulled into the Georgia Welcome Center so I could get a free state map for my upcoming Titanic Tour that starts in April (more on that in later blogs).
At 11:25 we pulled into
Sconyers BBQ in Augusta. There were bikes everywhere! By the time we went into eat
I counted 86 motorcycles from 8 different states. It was good to spend time with friends that I have not seen for what seemed like the coldest wettest winter in years.
Because of my growing waist line I only had a small plate (aka: chicks plate) of BBQ, hash and cole slaw along with some of the best ice tea ever. Matter of fact everything was better than I remembered food tasting like. I was very proud of myself. I even left a little food on my chick plate.
After dinner we had a short meeting and door prizes were given out. I about fell over as they called out number #180. Hey that is me; I can’t remember the last time I won something. Thanks to
www.adaptivtech.com for the $200 gift certificate. Now what new toy do I want to purchase for the Shadow.
About 2 p.m. Jim and I headed towards home. My riding gear selection was starting to make more since as we enjoyed riding in the warm spring air. Just over the South Carolina line we stopped at the Welcome Center to pick up some more free maps. We continued up I-20 until
we got to Lexington, SC where I peeled off on Hwy. 378 while Jim continued on.
After making a few stops I finally hit the end of my fuel supply and had to pull over in Hopkins, SC for some gas. I did some quick calculations and with the increased speeds I traveled on this trip my mileage from 43 mpg down to 36 mpg. I can’t believe that 10 mph could use that much extra fuel. Lesson learned for my next trip.
I was home by 4:30 and got to spend a nice evening with my family. Now it is time to start planning for my next trip.
Total miles ridden = 237.4
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Tot: 0.068s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 12; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0307s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
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Jan
non-member comment
FUN!
Looks like you had a GREAT time, Alec... and hey, YOU WON A PRIZE !!! How COOL is THAT??!!! I love that photo of you with the pig! :) (and NEXT time, I suppose you MIGHT at least CONSIDER listening to Cindy, hmmm?) lol Glad you had such a fun day!