CHAPTER THREE: DAY 1.....EVERY JOURNEY REQUIRES A FIRST STEP

I can see clearly now the rain is gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind

It's gonna be a bright (bright)
Bright (bright) sunshiny day
It's gonna be a bright (bright)
Bright (bright) sunshiny day 

Don’s miles:  today 485.0   total trip 485.0

Brett’s miles:  today 353.5   total trip 353.5 

One thing is for certain, 4:00 AM comes awfully, stinkin’ early.  That is the time that I got out of bed.  By 4:30 I was on the bike and pulling out of the garage and heading for DC.  My goal for the day was to reach Fayetteville, NC.  Before I get into the ride and things that took place let me start with……..the ONLY rain I had was the ONE MILE from my neighborhood gate to the entrance ramp to I-95.  The rest of the day, for both me and Brett, was bright and sunny.  I will say this, however, I had VERY windy conditions from the Florida/Georgia line to Fayetteville.  There were times that I thought that the next thing I would see would be me landing in the middle of a bunch of little people with my bike sitting on top of an ugly, old witch.  Spoiler alert:  I made it to Fayetteville, NC and Brett made it to Butler, PA and we were never once warned to not pay attention to the guy behind the curtain.

As I mentioned above, my start time was 4:30 and it was dark.  You have to remember that I am OLD and I very, rarely am out and about after the street lights come on…..on a bike or in a cage….I mean, car.  Especially in the summer when the street lights are coming on until the middle of the night (read: 9:00 PM).  That being said, I’m out of practice riding in the dark…..for that matter, I’m out of practice doing anything in the dark (except finding my way to the bathroom).  Nevertheless, I muddled through the next hour and a half without any issues.  By that time, I had Jacksonville in my mirrors and I was bounding across the state line into Georgia.

The other thing that I noticed was that last night the weather guy said there would be a stalled “cold front” just to the north of Daytona Beach.  However, he added, it would be a “late season” front and there would be little difference in temperature.  HA!  About the time I passed by St. Augustine the temperature dropped at least 150 degrees…..give or take.  I was wearing my armored, MESH jacket which, by the way, does not stop the cold air ONE BIT.  At my first gas stop in Brunswick, GA, I put on my rain jacket (which I believe is made of five ply tire rubber) under my MESH jacket.  It stayed chilly

for the rest of the ride.  Please remember that I have more than 3 decades of Florida living so it doesn’t take a whole lot of chill to have me whining.  Brett, on the other hand, started out in 40 degrees and thought nothing of it.

As I said, I stopped in Brunswick, GA for my first gas stop.  Almost each time I have traveled north on a trip for the last 30+ years, I have stopped at the Love’s Travel Center in Brunswick.  There are a couple of things worth mentioning.  I have mentioned this before;  I am amazed at the people I see.  The place is buzzing with people on their way to work.  They do this every, single day.  I did it every, single day for 55 years.  Do they “want to” be up early and head off to somewhere to do something so they get paid….NO, they do not.  But they do it.  I really, really hope that America doesn’t lose that work ethic.

The other thing that I have mentioned before is that I ride my motorcycle a lot.  Most of my hundreds of thousands of miles don’t come from taking trips but they come from riding around town.  So, I am getting gas all the time and NO ONE ever says a word to me.  But when I am on a trip…..same me, same bike and yet, people come up and talk to me at almost every stop.  I was not disappointed this morning.  I had my little traveling, telescopic chair out and I was jotting down some notes and the guy on the next pump says, “I like your chair”.  That was just his opening line.  He went on to tell me he used to ride and he couldn’t believe I was going all the way to D.C. (he had asked and I told him) and for me to be safe and to have fun.  I think that it is really fantastic.  Most people want to be nice and enjoy talking to others but the rapid pace of life seems to take it away.  I have so much fun with people coming out of the blue to just chit-chat for a few seconds.

Lastly, I will preface by saying that Love’s is very, very good at keeping the store and, especially, the restroom nice and clean.  BUT that one this morning in Brunswick was one of the COLDEST restrooms I have ever been in.  As Mr. Gump would say, “that’s all I have to say about that”.

My next stop was at Yemassee, SC and again at a Love’s.  The ride was still chilly but because I had my quarter inch thick, five ply, rated to stop 50 cal machine gun fire……rain jacket on underneath my mesh jacket, I was nice and warm and was whine-free.  I almost thought that I was going to get away without anyone talking to me when a gal from a couple pumps from me, walked over with her dalmatian on a leash and did the normal “nice bike”, “where are you heading”, “my son has a bike”, etc.  It was very nice.  Then I saw something really weird.  Being from Florida I am used to a couple periods a year when the Love Bugs swarm.  It is something to behold.  I have never, ever seen just ONE SET of Love Bugs.  Now I can never say that again because, today, in Yemassee, NC I saw ONE “set” of Love Bugs.  There were no others.  I looked all around me and, nope, they were the only ones anywhere………..weird, eh?

As I continued through South Carolina, I did a quick stop at the exit for Manning.  The last couple times I made this trip I stopped there and met up with an old friend and shot the bull at the Waffle House.  We hadn’t done any communication as we had in the past so I didn’t think he would be there but, then again, MAYBE he knew I was on the road and MAYBE he took a chance that I would stop.  I did go ahead and top off my tank but he was nowhere to be seen so it was a very fast “gas & go”.  Maybe we can hook up on my way back home.

About this time traffic was picking up big time in I-95.  There are always lots of trucks and that is to be expected.  In addition to all the trucks were lots and lots and lots of RV’s.  From motor coaches to small campers……there were LOTS.  Those big RV’s kind of scare me.  Just about anyone that wants to is allowed to drive them.  Some of the same people that can’t drive a Kia Soul will be sitting behind the wheel of a ……for lack of another word, a bus.  Bus drivers have to be trained and get a special license.  Not so, for an RV driver.  Don’t get me wrong, most are pretty darn good at driving those big, old things.  But there are some that………well, you know.

The wind maintained its quest to blow me and the RV’s off the road.  You will be happy to know that we all fared pretty well.  Overall, the ride was a good one.  There was, for me, only one slow & go situation.  That was in South Carolina for about 5 miles.  I got to where it got back up to speed and I have no clue what the issue was.  When I crossed into North Carolina there was construction that went all the way from the SC/NC border to my exit to get to my hotel.  I don’t know how much further up the road it continues……..I’ll find out tomorrow.

While I was going through my day, Brett was also having a good ride.  He is much smarter than me and didn’t leave his house in Michigan until 7:30.  I might try that tomorrow.  He reported to have really, really good weather and, except for rush hour traffic around Detroit, he had few issues with other drivers.  It was only about 40 degrees when he left this morning but he was dressed for it and all was good.

He made a stop at Mad River Harley and got a shirt for his collection and then set his sights on Butler, PA where he had a room reserved.  The funny thing was that BOTH of us checked into our rooms shortly after 2:00 this afternoon.  We probably were both in our rooms within 5 minutes of each other.  Not bad for starting out 1,300 miles apart.

I got a message from my granddaughter that they were on their way.  I grabbed what I needed (actually nothing) and headed to the lobby.  We were originally going to Pizza Hut but the restaurant had changed and became “counter service” instead of waiting tables and only sold soda in 20 oz bottles.  Soooooo, after about 5 seconds of deliberating we decided to do Cracker Barrel.  It is located right next door to the hotel so it was an easy trip…….probably took longer to drive it than it would have taken to walk.  Needless to say, it was FANTASTIC.  I enjoyed being with my two granddaughters, their mom, and brother.  We had a good meal and great talk and it didn’t last long enough.  I said my goodbyes to them which is something I hate to do and off they went.

Back in the room I gave my wife, Lisa, a call.  We exchanged stories of the day……me traveling and her with the dog and the neighbor’s dog.  Then with a good night and an air kiss we hung up.  I did some last minute stuff and was snoozing by 9:00.  Talk to you at the end of Day Two.