Day 10 - But Wait...There's More!

So here it was. The sun had dawned on the last day of my trip, and I was heading home! The thought of that was exciting, even if the thought of dragging myself out of bed wasn't so exciting. The hotel alarm clock was evilly set for 5:30 a.m., and I hadn't thought to check it before going to bed. I fumbled through a couple of snooze setting on it before figuring out how to turn it off.

An hour later, I thought I might get up, but that thought proved to be short-lived. Eight o'clock rolled around, and I finally forced myself to get up. Got stuff packed, wiped off and polished the bike and helmet, checked tire pressure and used the last dying gasps in the can of chain lube. Once the bike was packed, I knew I wanted a decent breakfast so I could push on for a full day. Wouldn't you know it, there was a Cracker Barrel just across the interstate! I got over there shortly before 9:30 (hoo boy, this was going to be a long day), and can't say the service was exactly speedy. Did manage to get out of there and on the road by 10:02 a.m.

As I've said before, I like to try to find someone on the road to ride with, and this morning there was a white Toyota Tundra with NC plates that was keeping a rather lively pace, and I decided to keep time with him. After 150 miles, my small gas tank was starting to gasp, and I had to flip over to reserve fuel. The next exit showing a gas station was three miles away, so I dropped out of the pace, and got off the interstate. When I got to the station, every one of the unleaded fuel pumps had bags over them, and signs saying "Out of Fuel". Rawr!

I headed back out on the interstate, figuring I had at least 20 miles worth of reserve left, and was happy when the next exit had the desired Shell station. I put in about 4.3 gallons, which averaged out to only 46 mpg, which was on the low side. I thought it might be due to the lively pace with the truck, but when I was leaving the station, I saw that my choke was opened up about a quarter of a turn beyond where it should be for normal running. Oh great! I closed it back down and headed back onto the road.

By now I was south of Lexington, KY, and started going on some really nice mountain roads. Up ahead, I saw a guy on a white bike, and as I got closer, I saw it was a Kawasaki ER-6n. We teamed up, and the next 90 miles melted. The roads really had some nice curves through there, and my legs are weary tonight from holding on...it was like a ThighMaster on drugs (Suzanne Somers, eat your heart out!) He pulled off about 20 miles before Knoxville, tossing a wave my way, and I filtered onto I-640 with all of the other little ants heading towards Asheville. I stopped at the Gatlinburg turnoff and fueled, took a bathroom break, and ate an ice cream bar.

This was the last push. I was only about 120 miles away from home. It was getting so close I could taste it! Often, you let down your guard when you get close to the end, and I made sure I was just as alert at the end as I'd been for the previous 3,000 miles. I really wish I had a video camera for the bike to ride those first 20 miles from the Tennessee border into NC. There are some super curves through there, and two tunnels to go through. I did succumb and honk my horn while going through the second tunnel. (It's a 139 decibel air horn for those of you who might have missed that detail...loudest thing on the market.) The skies were a beautiful blue with light clouds puffing here and there, and my wrists were getting a top coat baked on. I did put on sunscreen this morning, but they're pretty raw right now.

I didn't get many pictures on this last day, since it was mainly business (ride to get home!) but I did stop at the SC border sign :) From that point, it's about 32 miles to my house. There's a steep grade down the mountain for the first 10 or so miles, and then a country highway heading in to Travelers Rest from the north and down to Greenville. I was making super good time, and even with starting as late as I did, I was on track to make it home by 5:30. Yee haw!

The first stoplight when heading back into civilization was red, and I was the first one in line, next to a convertible Toyota Solara. The light changed and I gave it throttle up the hill, zooming through first, second, third, CRUNCH! and then lost power. Down shifted, but nothing was going to the back wheel. I was able to coast to a turning area in the median, and stopped the bike. I got off to look at the chain, because I had a sneaking suspicion...I looked, leaned, looked some more and saw a rear sprocket with no trace of a chain. A pickup pulled up beside me to inform me the chain was laying back at the other end of the median. I was 12 (t-w-e-l-v-e) miles from my house. Did I mention TWELVE?

Jump back in time with me for a minute. When I was due to get the bike back from the body shop, my friend was going to bring the bike down to Greenville on a trailer from Rock Hill to deliver it. He was going to be getting down on the late side, so I'd talked with TJ about the possibility of meeting us that evening to put the bike in his shop. He agreed and gave me his personal cell phone number to let him know how things progressed that evening. Turns out the bike wasn't delivered until the next morning, but I still had the cell phone number in my phone.

Once I'd walked back and retrieved the chain, and settled down by my crippled ride, I proceeded to call that cell phone number, praying that he'd answer. On about the fourth ring, he did, and I told him my tale of woe. He happened to be working in his garage right then, which is about 15 miles away, and was able to hook up a trailer and come out to pick me up. (Have I mentioned that I love having a good mechanic? Thanks again, TJ :) In the meantime, I had a couple of people check in on me, and another rider stopped to see if I needed help. He was a bike mechanic from Florida, riding a BMW R1200 GS Adventure. He looked at the chain and said the master link had most likely been incorrectly installed, since it was patently missing from the remaining chain. I told him I had someone coming by with a trailer, and he offered his condolences. He also offered me a beer :) I'm a bit of a beer snob, so instead of asking what he had, I thanked him but told him I'd pass. It was pretty funny in retrospect...I can imagine what TJ would think as he drives up to get my bike and I'm waiting, beer in hand! He did show up shortly and we loaded up the bike, strapped it down and hauled it back into town. It was rather an inglorious ending to the grand saga, but rather fitting in its own way.

On Monday I plan to be talking to the guys in Kansas City who installed the chain last Friday (about 2,200 miles ago). The bike made it 488 miles today before throwing in the towel, and I'm glad it waited until I was that close to home before kicking. The final tally for the trip came to 3,176 miles in eight days of travel (two of those days being less than 150 miles).

In retrospect, would I do it again? To quote my friend in Fargo...you betcha! In a heartbeat! In a skinny minute! Would I have done anything differently? I'd probably want to have the seat modified for long distance travel. The stock seat can be brutal after a few hundred miles. I also might opt for a narrower CrampBuster (a throttle assist device - earlier referred to as a throttle rocker - but ThrottleRocker is a trademarked name :) thanksabunch, Dennis!). The one I used was wide enough that I had to hold my hand at an odd angle for in-town riding unless I rotated it out of the way, and my throttle hand thumb is giving me an occasional complaint. The only other occasional item of discomfort was just the low seat height (which translates into limited leg space). I've got a 34" inseam, and every once in a while my knees needed more stretch room than they had.

Also, to those who've read through here, drop me an email at k_skellenger@yahoo.com. I'd love to hear who you are and what you think. There were several hits from countries across the globe, and I'd be curious to know how you found about about this tale. I'll be somewhat at a loss when I don't have a daily adventure to compile (although I shall give the final update on the chain, and any other side effects from the trip).

I do have a sneaking suspicion, however, this won't be the last long distance trip for one particular rambler :)