So the first thing I want to do is confess that I ride fast on my Burgman, very fast. The Burgman 650 is so nimble and quick that I just can’t see to help myself. It’s not an excuse but it is just damn fun to get out on the highway and open the throttle.
It feels so free and it is one part of my life that I just get utter joy out of so I speed, and at times I don’t, but for most of today, heading towards Mentone I was passing just about everyone, except the white car, which I’ll come back to.
I awoke this morning, overslept in fact, in Statesville, NC. I was hoping that it would not be raining like it was last night. I walked out to uncover the Burgman which was parked under the awning of the Sleep Inn, they were kind enough to offer to let me park it there. Yep, it was raining. Damn. It was cold also.
So I put the big yellow suit back on, doing the stupid getting into the riding suit dance and took off on the motorcycle. It was plenty dark out at 6:15 am and the heavy clouds didn’t help. It’s at times like this that I wish I packed the clear shield.
The GPS said that from Statesville, NC to the lodge at Desoto State Park it will take me all the allotted time so I blasted into the cold, wet and dark morning.
As the sun came up the temperature started to rise a bit as well; 69, 70, 71, come on baby. Even with the heavy riding suit on it was starting to get a bit chilly, a little sun would be a blessing.
When riding out on the road one of the joys is the sensory experiences. I was following a car with a guy smoking a pipe, I could tell. The mountain air was fresh and clean as I passed the Biltmore area in North Carolina.
I crossed through the mountains on 29 miles of curvy roads and had a ton of fun weaving my way around the corners and even passing other groups of Harleys. One guy was wearing a Hells Angles jacket?
Further down the road I paired up with the white car, we were kind of doing the same speed, fast. We ran with each other, zipping around slower traffic for quite a while till we needed gas. We both stopped at the station, they further up they I did. I was just taking care of small stuff and had not yet begun to fill the Burgman when I noticed the white car was getting ready to pull off and the gas cap was off. I hit the gas and honked the horn and pulled up next to them on the passenger side to tell them. As I hit the front brake to do a quick stop at the window the Burgman would not stop, it just started sliding. Apparently I had managed to hit the brakes right at the moment there was a stone under my front tire. I damn near hit the car, in fact slid to within an inch of the front fender.
It turns out that my friends in the white car were cops. Nice cops, but cops.
“What the hell are you doing trying to hit us?”, they said.
“Believe me, I was doing everything to not try to hit you. I just wanted to tell you your gas cap is open.”
With the stone right under the front tire I couldn’t steer either. I came an inch from a real mess. After I filled the Burgman I let them just go on ahead, way ahead. I was certain I had worn out my welcome.
So I hustled my way towards Mentone and the GPS said I was going to be just on time. And then as I crossed the Alabama state line the sign said I was welcomed to the central time zone. All of that and I was now an hour early. LOL
I’ll upload some pictures from today in another post.
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