|
|
| Sheila's North Carolina Trip 2009 Our good friend Sheila shared her riding vacation with us...
 We've known Sheila for more than 20 years. She currently resides in Southern Florida and rides as often as possible. She told me she was going to be riding up to North Carolina for her vacation this year so I made her promise to share the experience with us. Below you'll find her unedited journal entries from the trip and some of the photos she shared as well. I hope you enjoyed her experience as much as I did. I only wish I had been along for the ride (I think)!
5/22/09 - Friday
I left work at 1:30pm! YES! Home, change, finish packing. Load the bike,
back bike out of garage. What the hell is wrong? The damn thing is so hard to
back out. Oh shit….. that’s not a flat tire?
Are you kidding me? I am so glad I have an air compressor! Fill it up, roll it around. Shit, a huge
screw in the rear tire! Called the bike
shop. Of course they are closed!, it is a 3 day weekend. Called my car garage.
Yes, they can plug it. Drive over. Not able to elevate it so my guy gets on the
ground, struggles for 20 minutes because of the angle, but finally is able to
plug her! Now, would you ride 1800 miles on a plug? Or go somewhere and buy a
new tire, even though this one has only 500 miles on it? You know the answer.
Flew home, finished packing the bike, threw on the rain gear as the rain
started and headed off to New Smyrna Beach.
3:35pm I got on I95 in Lake Worth. Drizzling. Drizzled for the next
hour, then the real rain started! Moved over to the left lane. Shit! The rear tire slid when I went over that
damn oil slick! At 65 mph, THAT IS SCARY!  Turned radio up higher, put head down
behind windshield and made it to Melbourne for gas and a Starbucks Iced Coffee.
Stop should have taken 10 minutes, but it took 20. The gentleman behind the
counter was not the brightest bulb on the chandelier! This is the South, ya know. Back on I95. Just over an hour to go!
Still raining and the weather in NSB has been just awful all week. They got 25
inches or something crazy. Great! Get
off on Rte. 44. All ok until I turn into Stef’s community. Holy mackerel! Standing water everywhere. I put the feet up
on the highway bars, slow down and drive the next mile like this. Water was up
to doorsteps and flew over my highway bars!
Jesus! This is worse that
I95! Finally, I pull into the garage. I
look like a wet rat, I am sure! Safe and the trip begins! The good news? Traffic was light! Go figure.STORY CONTINUES BELOW...
Sheila
| |
|
5/23/09
 Well, really only two things to say. 1. RAIN 2.
Light traffic. Go figure. No one in his or her right mind would have been out
today! It rained most of the trip. We made it to Flagler Beach before it
started to rain. Absolute downpour through Jacksonville. We got some light
drizzle a through a few Georgia towns, but ….. mostly……. Rain! But, what a great ride. Rte 1 through GA was
FUN! And, NO traffic! Hysterical when
we drove through Lyons/Vidalia, GA! The
stench of rotting Vidalia onions was overbearing!! Unbelievable what one can smell when riding a bike, eh? Stayed
overnight in Washington, GA. Slept like babies! I wasn’t sure the boots would dry out, but Stef knew the
newspaper trick! We stuffed our boots
with newspaper and lo and behold the newspaper absorbed all the wetness and the
boots were dry in the morning after a good blast with the motel hair
dryer!
5/24/09
Loaded the bikes, put on the rain gear (you know
why) and we were off after a nice breakfast. On the road at 9:45am. It rained
all the way to Franklin, NC! LOL We
were on Rte. 19 and 441 now. Very nice roads and still no traffic! Sweet!
Haven’t had a car in front of us since leaving Jax! We pulled into my
friend’s driveway up in the mountain and the damn sun came out! So, we did what
any tired biker would do….. we unpacked the bikes, wiped the windshields off,
and had a cold beer!! Slept like
babies.
5/25/09
On the road at 10:30am. Drove to Highlands.
Stopped at a few waterfalls along the way. Bridal Falls was beautiful! Then on to Bryson City after some great NC
barbeque! Then headed to Nantahala via Rte 74. I love this road!! Had a snack
along the river and then headed back to Franklin on Rte. 28! GREAT ride! Curvy and did not see a single car!! I have
to do this road again!! Of course in
Bryson City we had to don the rain gear!
But, what the heck……. I’m beginning to feel naked without it! I think I could ride in anything except a
hurricane now! The most frustrating
part of the day? Trying to find my
friend’s house again at dusk! Damn,
these
mountains. All look the same! We have driven 800 miles and we
get lost in Franklin! I think the Dragon is in order for tomorrow!
5/26/09
Well, let’s talk about the dragon! All I can say
is that there is no good motorcyclist from New England who can’t tame the
Dragon! I actually didn’t even know I was on it for the first 4 miles! Yes,
there are some tight turns near the end a couple good hairpins but we did the
first 7 miles in 5th gear at 55 mph! And, the best part? Not a
single car in front of us!! Bought the
obligatory t-shirt, magnet and patch for the vest. And, of course, a picture by
the tree of shame (they must have been real novices!). Now, for the REAL ride!!
Rte. 28 was great……. But, WAYAH RD. is the road everyone needs to do!! My
friend Dave gave me the heads up on this one and he was soooo right!! Unbelievable! I would have liked to have done it again the
next day when we didn’t have to do it in the rain (I know that surprises you!)
but no extra time! This road has it all over the dragon! And, we never saw a car! We moved over for a sport tourer and we did
smell the brakes of a truck going down on the other side…… but, I figure we did
20-25 miles, in the rain, all the way up and all the way down, mostly in 2nd
and 3rd gear. Never a straight piece of road! A couple hairpins
required first gear in the rain! Finished the day with a steak at Cody’s
Roadhouse in Franklin! Tomorrow? White
water rafting on the Nantahala.  5/27/09
How fun was that! Rafting on the Nantahala was great. 6 people per raft and a
guide. Poor guide… he did most of the work! The ride was 2 hrs. Class 2 and 3.
Not a big deal… but loads of fun! Of
course it rained while we were on the river. Wouldn’t expect anything
less! Water temperature? A cool 55 degrees!! A bit much for this old Florida girl! J Took Rte. 28
and 74 to get there but took the easy way home on 74 and 441. Can’t decide about tomorrow. Weather does
not look good in Ashville (our predetermined next stop)…. They are talking
flood warnings. So, we are thinking of heading South to Helen, GA…. Ride some
great roads, go tubing on the Chattahoochee River and be a bit closer to home.5/28/09
Landed in Helen, GA around 1pm. Nice ride down 441 and 17.
The motel let us check in when we got there, which was nice to be able to
unpack the bikes. Took a nap and then walked around town with friends we met
there. And……… then it started to r-a-i-n. :o)
Our friends picked us up in their car and we
toured the town. Picked up a great bottle of single malt scotch for only $23
(gotta love GA), then went for a nice dinner at a local German restaurant,
which actually is built hanging over the Chattahoochee. Watched fly fishermen
casting throughout dinner. Great view! Ended up having a Weiss beer after
dinner so we could wait for the next downpour to finish so we could head home.
The whole town is built like a Bavarian village. All the buildings have a
Bavarian look. Very cute. Great roads leading to and from this North Georgia
town. Hmmmmm, I could live in this area!
| |
 5/29/09
Started the day with a nice breakfast and then
tubing down the Chattahoochee. This was actually more strenuous than the
rafting!!! And, way more fun! Water
temperature? A warm 59 degrees! Well, we were more South! We loaded the
bikes and were on the road at 1pm. Pulled into the Best Western in Swainsboro,
GA at 7pm. Great ride, but the roads are all getting straight and flat now.
And, definitely warmer! We took all “off the beaten track” roads. Still able to
do 45 or 50 but the scenic views were outstanding! No traffic and the locals
have all been so polite and warm! Ate dinner at a great Mexican restaurant and
hit the sack. By the way…. A break through………. NO RAIN!!
5/30/09
On the road at 8:45am after a nice continental breakfast at
the motel. Didn’t want to eat too much as we were meeting my brother and the
Jacksonville crowd at Capt. Stan’s…a great barbeque place in Woodbine, GA
(after driving near stinky Vidalia). Stopped for gas about 20 miles from Capt.
Stan’s. Four bikers started talking to us to see where we were headed/coming
from.. I guess the luggage was the clue?
Found out one of the guys was originally from down by me in So. FL. They gave us a great tip on a better way to
get to Capt. Stan’s. We took their advice and road 2 great roads to
Woodbine! Gotta love the  brothers and
sisters of riding!! Met the Jax crew at Capt. Stan’s for some outstanding
barbeque!! Their shrimp and Boston butt rocks!! The now 10 of us heads back to Jacksonville with really full
bellies!! After visiting with my brother and his wife for a couple hours, Stef
and I head to Kim and Jeanne’s house to unpack, shower and hopefully have some
beers!! Well, little did I know my brother planned a small birthday party for
me! Several friends came over, the beer
flowed and my brother bought, cleaned and steamed 15 lbs. of steamers for this
almost 60 yr. Old New England girl!!
What a great night we all had!! It sure was nice to sink in to bed that
night! 
5/31/09
Left for New Smyrna in the morning with Kim and Jeanne on
the bikes. Had breakfast in Flagler beach and then back to Stef’s house.
Downloaded the pix, laundry and some good Italian food! We could not find
Italian food in any of the small towns in GA or NC…. Pretty weird, eh? So, we
were looking forward to this dinner! Damn it is hot back here!! I am missing
the curvy roads and mountain air already! Brought the leathers all the way to
NC and never wore them once! A good
thing, I guess. Always better safe than sorry!
Great time of year to be there! A
light jacket was all that was needed. The locals, of course, were in
t-shirts!! J
6/1/09
I slept in, had a great breakfast at Pappas, in NSB , then
headed South for the 3 hour ride to Lake Worth. Took Rte. 1 to Melbourne, got
gas and headed on I95 for the rest of the way. Got home at 2:30pm. Very fitting
that I ended the week the same way I started it…. In my rain gear! LOL I hit
Port St. Lucie and had to pull over on I95 and gear up! 10 minutes later I was out of it.
6/2/09
CRAP!
What else is there to say? Back at work! Old saying very true!!…A rainy
day on the bike is better than a good day at work!! Oh well, it pays the bills and allows for these trips! We had such a great trip! And, I am a better rider because of the
roads and the rain!! Now?…….. where
will the next trip be?
| |
|