This morning, there was sunshine in the sky, which was pretty exciting. First time I've seen any since last Thursday. I got to have breakfast with the family before they had a devotional and then headed out to the doctor. Only two girls had appointments, but the whole troop ended up going. Naomi made me a pot holder during my short stay there, and I'm thinking I'll have to knit something for the girlies later on.
I'd planned to get out by 10 or 10:30, but with packing, loading, planning and routing, it was full on 11 a.m. before I headed out of there. Carolina had mentioned the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel as something interesting to go see, and it
intrigued me enough, I set out for it before heading south to Manteo. I got some cash at an ATM, passed by a motorcycle dealership, and headed on over to the bridge.It's worth noting the dealership, because I've developed some sort of a noise on the front wheel from what seems to be a brake disc. I thought about stopping in there on my way to the bridge, but then just kept riding. The bridge was pretty dang cool. It alternated between being above the bay, to diving down below it in tunnels, kind of like a big thread stitching over and under the water. I never got off on the far side, but turned around within sight of the toll booths at an overlook and then did a return trip.
The whole time, I'm conscious of the sound up front. Not liking it. Wondering a little bit. Instead of going straight onto 64 to begin the trip to Manteo, I retrace my route to Sunrise Cycles. Walked back to the service desk, explained my predicament, and asked if someone could take a look at it. One of the guys came out and gave it the once over, and aside from the front wheel being down to the wear bars, and the chain needing to be replaced, and the front brakes being paper thin, everything was great! Nothing was to the point of needing to absolutely be replaced before I get home, and having two different mechanics there evaluate it gave some nice peace of mind. I still don't like the sound up front, but hopefully can get that remedied shortly after getting home.
So, twenty minutes after stopping, I'm back on the road, angling south. I'd meant to fill up with gas before getting out of Norfolk, but forgot, so I stopped in Great Bridge, VA to get both fuel and food, since it was now hitting 1 p.m. My first thought was to go to a McDonald's, because I do like their salads, and they have wi-fi. I'm not sure what McDonald's the interstate signs were referring to, because I never saw one. I settled for a Moe's at the last minute, since they had wi-fi there, and that broke the tie between them and Subway.
I'm not doing real well on my choices of lunch stops so far on this trip. Aside from the food just not tasting that good, I sat in a booth that adjoined a couple of ladies on their lunch break. The one facing me did not use her inside voice. I heard about her advising a friend to get a colonoscopy, I heard about this young girl who had terrible skin, yet her mother would do nothing, and I heard about the quote she got to pave her driveway for $30,000. And much outrage over said quote. Aiyaiyai! I was glad when she and her listening post left. Other lady didn't get much word in edgewise, as far as I could tell.
Back on the road, I was only about 80ish miles away from Manteo. The skies were getting more and more
blue, and the traffic was light, so I was just toodling along. Crossed over some nice bridges and canals, entered into Kitty Hawk. South of there was Kill Devil Hills, and I made a cultural detour to go see the Wright Brothers' Memorial. It's way on top of a hill, and has a great view (as long as the tourists stay out of the frame). There was a replica of the brothers' first plane down on the traffic loop that I got some shots of, and by then it was around 4:00, so I got back out to get on my way to Manteo. I topped off with gas again, and sta
rted looking at my directions for those last few turns.I made my last turn, and started looking for the street name on the left that I would need. Kept going, kept looking. Kept going. And going. And got to another big bridge that was definitely farther than I needed to go. Turned around. Started looking at the street signs again, making sure I hadn't missed any. I hadn't, but the road I was looking for was not showing. I stopped off at the Ace Hardware in town that was on the main drag that I was going back and forth on, and asked if the cashier knew where the street was. She did not, but went over and grabbed a handy dandy phone book that had a map of the town, and we looked it over.
There had been one street I noticed that didn't appear to have a sign. Sure enough, that was the one I needed. It's tucked away between some buildings and almost looks like it could be a long driveway or alley, but indeed it is a street. Once I started rolling along to see the houses, I realized I couldn't see house numbers on a lot of them, so I had to rely on my memory of a shot I'd seen of the house from a travel thread on BBO. Happily, past the next stand of trees was a Toyota Tundra that I recognized, as well as a gaggle of motorcycles in the driveway. I saw my bike's twin, which confirmed this was the right house to be at. Mike was sitting on the front steps and came over after I hit the kill switch to welcome me in from my trip. I was almost 30 minutes later than I intended to be, but glad to have finally reached my destination!
Since then, tonight has been very relaxing and interesting. Relaxing with a good turkey supper put together by Miss Gigi (and I just finished up some ice cream and brownies...yum!) and interesting from talking with Mike about bikes, and going over to see his office (a helicopter) and a couple of his toys (one of them is yellow and rhymes with 'Piper Cub'). Weather permitting, there might be some aviation going on tomorrow, and I'm solidly in favor of it :) Other plans involve the famous Ducati, as well as some dual sports. Perhaps an SV. The BSA has gummed carbs, sad to say, or else I'd have to see about that one...it looks so cool! The array of choices is almost bewildering. I'll try to be strong and muddle through somehow, though.
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