CHAPTER FOUR: DAY 2 THE TWO WANDERERS JOIN UP

 

DON’S MILES:  TODAY 345.1   TOTAL TRIP 830.1

BRETT’S MILES:  TODAY 264.2   TOTAL TRIP 617.7 

I’m going start right off by saying…..what a day.  I hope that I can fit it all into one blog post.

For starters I got up and ran a couple of things out to my bike…..YIKES!!!  It was COLD.  The good, old weather person maintained their reputation of missing the mark.  Long story short…..it was not supposed to be real hot nor was it to be real cold.  Just a nice temp morning, noon, and night.  There was a whole group there from Florida on their way to DC.  Their jackets had the name Buffalo Soldiers.  They were a lot of husband/wife couples.  Unlike me, they were dressed for the cold.  Of course, they were ALL dragging little trailers behind their bikes so they had room for all kinds of extra stuff.  Me?  Well, if I didn’t think I would need it I didn’t pack it.  So, I was cold.

Got a message from Brett early telling me that he was hitting the road at 6:30.   Good for him.  I was not quite as ambitious and didn’t leave until 7:30.   I meandered around the other bikes and riders talking with them a bit.  Then I headed back inside to THAW OUT and to have breakfast.  After my “free” breakfast I finished up packing, made sure that the Day 1 blog was posted, and out I went.  I’m not sure but I think that out of my window I saw a mama polar bear and two cubs drinking Cokes.  I could have been mistaken but…………

I did a quick stop at the Mobil station at the corner to top off the tank.  I jumped onto I-95 and headed north.  The sky was a bright blue with only slight whispers of clouds to add to the visual beauty.  However, the beauty stopped with the visual because it was FREAKIN’ COLD.  Nevertheless, like a real trooper I motored on.  Traffic was light, which was good.  The wind that I experience on Day 1 was continuing to howl.  The wind stayed strong for most of the ride and finally let up as I rode north of Richmond.

I got to the North Carolina/Virginia state line and pulled into a One 9 truck stop.  You will be happy to note that I did a normal “on the road” meal.  I got a bag of mini glazed donuts, a small bottle of orange juice, and a HOT coffee.  I sat next to the bike and gave Lisa a call.  We chatted a bit until it was time for me to drag my leg over the seat and get going again.  I sent a message to a great friend who lives in Virginia.  We hoped that we could hook up.  He told me that he wasn’t too far from Virginia Exit 104 which is about 20 miles or so north of Richmond.  There is a McDonald’s at the exit and a Love’s Truck Stop and I told him that I would pull in, fill my tank, and head for Mickey D’s parking lot and that I should be there by noon.

Like clockwork, I pulled into the Love’s gas pump area just minutes before noon, did a gas ‘n go fill-up, and headed over to McDonald’s.  Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy……I had a bunch of coffee and orange juice to get rid of so I rushed into the restaurant to…….ARGH……..find and handwritten note on the door of the Men’s Room saying “restroom not working”.  Apparently, they thought it a good idea to have a new urinal installed during lunch.  So, there was a line of guys (3 of us) waiting to use the women’s room.  Of course, for some reason, they thought it necessary to insure that it was not in use.  I told them that, temporarily, we were identifying as women…….it wasn’t funny then and, as I read it, it isn’t too funny now either.  Naturally, they were done with the installation 15 minutes later.

I sat and waited, writing in my journal, and munching on a cheeseburger (that’s about all I can afford at McDonald’s anymore).  I figured that I would give my bud until 1:45.   I hadn’t heard from him so I really wasn’t sure.  When the time came, I hopped on the bike to leave.  I was sorry because I hadn’t seen him since he moved to Virginia several months ago.

While this was going on, Brett was tooling on U.S. highways through the mountains.  He had a chilly start but a really great ride.  He had his two action cameras going.  One is his helmet which basically is looking wherever he is looking (I hope that he isn’t wearing it if we go to Hooters).  The other is a “360 camera” that videos a front view and a rear view at the same time.  That way he will know where he’s heading and, at the same time, he will know where he’s been.

I started my last leg into D.C. by leaving McDonald’s and getting on I-95 again with only 75 or 80 miles to go.  The last 40 miles leading into Arlington was SLOW & GO!!  For probably 30 of those 40 miles I was not able to leave 2^nd gear.  It dragged on and on.  All of a sudden…..YIKES……I needed to exit and I had to cross 4 lanes to do it.  AND those 4 lanes were PACKED with bumper to bumper cars that were filled with people who were as tired of the SLOW & GO as I was.  The last they cared about was that OLD guy on the motorcycle trying to change lanes.  So, before I knew it I was being “welcomed” into Maryland.  I found an exit that I could do a turn around in.  Tried to determine where I was and………dag nab it…….I wound up in Downtown D.C.  I spotted the Washington Monument and thought “ah ha, now I got my bearings and I can get to the hotel”.  Not so fast, Grasshopper.  I was facing the back of the monument but I thought that I was on the side of it.  I followed that street and……bam…..I had to do it all over again.  With actually very little swearing, I got myself to the right spot, whipped onto I-66, and in 10 minutes I was pulling into the Arlington Econo Lodge.  The 75 or 80 miles had turned into 100 miles….le sigh!

I got off the bike and I had 10 text messages.  Several from Brett who was laying comfortably in his room.

We had some good conversation about our respective travels as I was checking in.  I proceeded to throw (literally) my stuff into my room and we walk a half block to a small Mediterranean café.  I couldn’t pronounce most of the stuff on the menu let alone know what it was.  I threw caution to the wind and got penne pasta shrimp thing with some salad type stuff in it.  I said that it looked a little too healthy and my body might reject it.  Nevertheless, I cleaned the dish and it was actually pretty tasty.  I would love to tell you what it was but, frankly, I haven’t a clue what it was.

As we walked back up the hotel parking lot we ran into a couple old guys from Ohio.  They weren’t as old as me (few are) but they still fit into the “old guy” category.  We stood out in the parking lot and chatted with them for over an hour.  It was fun and there was lots of laughter.  There were stories being told by them and stories being told by us.  Statistically, I would say that 40% was untrue, another 50% was embellished, 8% didn’t make any sense, and 2% MIGHT have been a socially acceptable truth.

Finally, we had to say that it was time to get to our rooms.  Brett’s room is next door to mine and when we got to our doors we squeaked something that sounded like a “good night, see you in the morning” and we were gone.

We both did quick phone calls home.  Lisa and I talked for a few minutes and I said that I was really tired and I had a lot of typing to do.  So we hung up.  I typed about a paragraph……..oops, sorry, the first paragraph of this page was all that was typed.  I finished it on Day 3.  But, I slept REALLY good, Brett said that he slept REALLY good.  I would say that getting this post out a few hours late was worth it.

That takes care of Day Two.  Now, stay tuned for Day Three.