Peter's Voyages

Today we rode the remainder of the Parkway bar just a few miles. There was no breakfast included with yesterday’s hotel so we were on the road early. Lovely road, no traffic and cool air. By 10 we found a proper roadside diner/cafe and had breakfast and topped up with ‘gas’ (just over two dollars a gallon!). The diner was full of motorcyclists out for a Sunday run – see picture. We then rode on with periodic stops to look at the scenery, take on water, for nearly a couple of hundred miles till I had only 40 miles of petrol left. The Blue Ridge Highway hasn’t any petrol stations, shops etc on it – but my sat nav was showing numerous gas stations within a few miles of it. However when I loaded them as destinations I realised that it was showing where they were as the crow flies – to get to them was nearer fifty miles. Our spirited riding then turned into economy mode. Fortunately, as I was just starting to think we would soon be finding out how helpful Americans really are to stranded bikers, we saw a turn off to Asheville. And Asheville was littered with petrol stations and a very pleasant and competitively priced Days Inn. Plus there was a nice Italian restaurant in walking distance. Happy times.

Last night we went to a takeaway BBQ business – we ate in actually. It was superb. Today we rode to the Blue Ridge Highway and along some of it. The ride of about 70 miles to it was on a fairly empty single carriageway road through mainly hardwood forest. We stopped at our first family run diner (plenty more to come I hope) for a coffee and then went on to the highway which is a 500 odd mile single lane mainly mountainous road. The bit we’ve ridden on so far was through thick forest, fairly empty of other vehicles and one sweeping bend after another. Gorgeous. Harleys aren’t made for going round corners though – but ours have done quite well and we’ve only touched the footplates down (ie hit them on the road) a few times. We went off piste to find petrol and filled up and ate at a real Hill Billy petrol station. Nice food though. Interestingly we spotted a young girl and her dad crawling under my bike when we were eating. They then came and found us and, with great concern, told us petrol was pouring out of it. Actually I’d just filled up and a little was coming out the vent. By 4.30 we left the highway and went into Roanoke to find a hotel. First we looked at a cheap motel – but decided we wouldn’t be safe there! We then fired my mobile up and found a very nice hotel called the Cambria, however it wasn’t clear if the room was a double or a twin bedded one. We rode over to it and the hotel is very good with all mod cons. But the only room they had has a very large king size bed and a very uncomfortable pull out futon. We’ll I’ll let you guess how we intend to organise sleeping arrangements tonight? The good news though is that we negotiated the price down by $15 from the ‘unbeatable’ price on booking.com. 

PS Had a Mexican meal in the evening – cheap and cheerful and the only place in walking distance of the hotel. The below is Andy, or ‘Porkie’ as I call him, in action.

This morning we spent two and a half hours walking round Washington viewing all its iconic buildings. The least imposing was the White House surprisingly. We agreed that you could either just look at the buildings and then move on, or spend a few days visiting the many museums etc in depth. We moved on – riding past the Pentagon (and no,  Andy didn’t try and crash his bike into it) and onto Richmond where the deep south accents are very prevalent. We did some back roads along the way (at last) and we’re able to view drop dead gorgeous properties in verdant countryside as well as run down hovels. But even the hovels had lots of land. Haven’t discussed whether we’ll spend anytime in Richmond yet – but I guess we’ll do that over dinner.

After a pleasant tour of the civil war museum we took a leisurely ride to Gettysburg. The battlefield is immaculately preserved, however the town is now quite large and far more touristy than I anticipated. We also went to their HD dealer who was entirely unsympathetic (even after being phoned by the dealer in Chicago). As a result we decided not to stay over and peddled onto Washington. 

For the first time I can remember Andy and I disagreed on where to stay – he wanted the suburbs and me the city centre. I won as I had the satnav and phone with Internet connectivity which didn’t please Andy at all! This rather set the tone as we had a nightmare time trying to find the hotel I booked on Capitol Hill and the traffic was intense. Ultimately we found the hotel at about 8pm – OK but quiet expensive and without the parking I expected. To cap it all we then watched in amazement the early election results. 

After a stroll and a pizza in the barmy evening heat good humour was restored and, given we don’t have to vacate the hotel till lunchtime, we plan to do a morning walkabout on Capitol Hill before moving south into confederate country.

PS Ultimately the HD dealer in Chicago got back to us and said ‘don’t worry about the service’.

Yesterday we rode over 400 miles to Harrisburg where, effectively our trip begins. We thought it was going to rain hard – but it didn’t though it was quite cool. The bikes performed OK though they produce tremendous turbulence on your helmet (buffering) over 50 mph. Ultimately, as we travelled on an interstate, we just got on with it and after a couple of stops arrived in Harrisburg at about 6ish. We then went online and found all the hotels offered sizable discounts at that time in the evening. Sorted. Dinner was at a sports themed pub (the only place within walking distance of the hotel). As usual the meal was gigantic and the produce great quality – plus the waitress couldn’t have been more helpful. Makes you long for England – Not!

Today we are touring the national civil war museum and later we ride to Gettysburg – which is only about 80 miles away.  While there we are trying to arrange for my bike to have its first service. Which we both think is a bit cheeky – that is hiring out a bike that’s not OK just be ridden for a few thousand miles. But heh ho…… 

PS met Abe in the museum.

Yesterday we got to the HD dealer at 8.30 thinking we could get the paperwork etc done and be away when the hire started at 10. We then discovered the dealer didn’t open till 10 and didn’t have the paperwork sorted and hadn’t fitted the requested power socket to one of the bikes etc etc. Immaculate well stocked dealership and very friendly – but not that organised. We also had the fun of our credit cards bouncing and having to get that sorted. Eventually at about 12.30 we got on our way on two brand new bikes – one of which I’m expected to get serviced on our trip!

270 miles later, and a lot of it through quite English like countryside on dead straight roads, we got to our first and only booked hotel in Fremont, Ohio. It was 8pm (I’d forgotten we went through a one hour timezone) and we were knackered. However we found a nice restaurant to eat in and have had a good nights sleep. Sadly though it looks like we’ll be riding in some rain and the HD dealer forgot to give us the promised waterproof gear!

As to the bikes – I’ll let you know what we think of them after a few more days in the saddle.