Excuses, and new trips.

Sorry, guess I was too anxious in my previous post.  We reserve the right to change our minds, and exercise that right frequently.  Sis is really opposed to large gatherings of people, much more opposed than I realized.  She was going to Nashville because I said I wanted to.  When I cancelled, she was a very happy camper.  So, no more rally's.

We were also going to ride to Maine, but I changed our mode of transportation the night before we left, and we took the truck.  Reason, it was too damn hot in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolina's.  Above 100 most of every afternoon, and I didn't feel that at our age we were up to riding in that kind of heat.  However, when we were driving along the Skyline drive I was sure sorry we weren't on the bike.  Oh well.

A week from tomorrow we leave for Cumming to visit our daughter, and my brother and his family.  Have some things to take up for our niece, Megan.  A couple of days there, then we're off.  We think to Cherokee, NC or maybe Bryson City just down the road.  Ride the mountains and see the sites in western NC then head to the coast and follow small country roads back to Florida.  We are both really looking forward to this trip.  The weather has cooled and we're excited.

Drop by and see how we make out.  I hope to post some pictures of the leaves changing in NC.

Cheers,

Mike & Sis

And if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

We are leaving the first week of September to ride our new Honda Goldwing trike to Nashville, TN to attend the "Nashville Road-Kill ride in"  This is an annual event of mostly "trikers" who gather for a few days of jawin', eat'n, and some ride'n.  I have been chatting on Trike Talk (an on-line forum devoted to folks who love and ride trikes) with several couples who are attending so this should be fun.  One guy, from Maryland, rides a Goldwing trike, and he has no legs.  How he does this remains to be seen, but he has a great outlook on life.  If you disagree with him he'll offer to leg-wrestle you to see who's right.

For those of you who aren't familiar with trikes, they are normal motorcycles, with the rear wheel removed and replaced by two wheels.  Like this:

And with us on-board:

I used to laugh at trikes thinking "they aren't real motorcycles", but boy was I wrong.  This thing is fantastic, and is probably the last bike we will ever own.  This cures all the things that were wrong with the Can-Am Spyder and should make our trips much more pleasurable.

We've had the trike for about 3 months, and I just had the oil changed and the 4K service done, so we're ready to go.

The real final update

We arrived home Sat afternoon about 4 pm.  Everything is fine.  A couple of my neighbors helped me unload the trailer from the back of the truck then we went to our favorite Chinese Restaurant and enjoyed a great dinner.  While we were doing all this, the hot tub was heating up, so we'll enjoy a nice relaxing dip in the tub, and probably be in bed very early.

It's great to be home, and time to de-stress.  Thank you all for your support and cheerful comments.  Believe me they helped.  This could have been such a disaster, but we were blessed everywhere we turned.

Thanks again...

Mike

Probably the final update

Found out today that the bike will need major repairs to the transmission, and this dealer can't get to it for months. So, we traded in our Toyota Corolla, for a full size Dodge pick-up.  Loaded our bike trailer on the back of the truck.  Arranged to have the bike shipped to Tampa, and we're finally ready to start the 800 mile drive home.

As frustrating and stressful as this has been, we have been blessed with kind, generous people everywhere we turn.  AAA said they would probably charge me $3 per mile to haul the trailer to Memphis, in addition to the additional money I had to pay for going over the free 100 miles.  This would have meant the towing alone would have about $500.  However, the two truck driver told me he'd haul the trailer for $50.

The motorcycle shop got our bike in immediately, and spent many hours trying to figure out what was wrong.  I expected a $1000 bill.  They charged me a little over $200.  Said they knew we were stranded and didn't want to take advantage of us.

Enterprise Car Rental, gave us the truck for the same rate as the Toyota, and didn't charge us mileage.  They too bent over backwards to help us.

My final problem was getting the bike shipped back to Tampa.  An internet search led me to Bike Haulers, a trucking company that only hauls motorcycles.  Charge, $845.  I called my dealer in Tampa, the GM told me to hang on while he called a trucker they use to ship bikes.  The guy will be going through Memphis next week, and agreed to haul the bike for under $500.

We have been blessed at every turn.  While this has been stressful, I am so grateful to all the wonderful people we've met who have done their best to help us.

We hope to be home by late Sat.

Cheers,

m&s

Update

AAA towed the bike and trailer 129 miles to a Can-Am dealer in Memphis.  They have to order a part so we don't know how long we will be here.  But, we are fine.  Got a rental car, and a motel room for a couple of days, and so far everything is going fine.

Once the bike is fixed we plan to return home.  Yesterday we realized that we probably were very optimistic about riding to the Grand Canyon and points beyond.  And the weather hasn't been very nice, too boot.  So, we'll swallow our pride and come home to lick our wounds.

I will continue to post updates as we learn more.

Trip Aborted!

This has been a terrible day, and it's not over yet.  I need a course in Map Reading 101.  Rather than just set the GPS for Memphis and following it, I thought I knew where I was going, so off we went.  Being exceptionally stupid it took me all day before I realized I was headed SW rather than NW.  After about 8 hours we were still 2 hours from Memphis.  Ok, I got us back on track and things were going well.

Stopped for the night in Winona, MS (get out your maps, it's a very small town).  Went out to eat, and just as I pulled into the motel the bike died.  Well, the engine runs fine, but the throttle doesn't work. I limped into the parking lot, called AAA and got one hell of a run-around.  Seems the coverage you buy in Florida, isn't the same in Mississippi.  Many phone calls later, the MS AAA has agreed to tow the bike 100 miles for free.  The closest dealer is 117 miles away, in Memphis.  BUT, our trailer isn't covered, and we will have to pay for that.  You don't want to be in the Tampa AAA office when I get back!

So, the trip is done, and now we just need to get the bike fixed and head home.  I have to admit that heading home sounds pretty good right now.  We discovered that what was fun when we were 50 or 60, isn't quite as much fun now that we're 70.  Hours of grinding down an interstate, even if traffic is light, just isn't fun anymore.  But, we have met some interesting people, seen some interesting things, and all in all enjoyed the trip to this point.

We'll have some stories to tell when we get home.  Oh, anyone want to buy a 2010 Can-Am Spyder?

Day 3 (continued)

My niece had her picture taken about 10 years ago on the back of my Goldwing.  Her Mother wanted a current version of Meg and I on a bike, but now that she's grown we put her in the driver's seat.  Right after this was taken, Meg got to drive the Spyder and she did great.  I think we have another Biker Chick in the making.