Westward

I'm falling behind on my blogging! And I need to hit the road. I'll catch up tonight. For now, let me note that I'm in Knoxville, TN with a "stretch" goal of Little Rock, AR, today. I'll list a few bullet points that I'll fill in tonight.

OK, that's today. Here's the details of yesterday

Church

Jim and Jackie took me to their church, half a mile away in the back of a multi-unit commercial/industrial building. The service was an upbeat performance with guitar, drums, and vocalist. At the end there was a breakout session where members would pray with you, and Jackie and her daughter prayed a lot. I did, too, although I did it on my own. A whole lot of praying.

Atlantic Ocean

Yeah, it's corny. But I'll be damned if I'm gonna ride this far and then not take a picture. Next to me are Jim, Jackie, and Jackie's daughter Shelley. Making it to the Atlantic means this trip is a double continental crossing.

North Carolina road culture

So... automobiles tend to reveal the emotional makeup of the driver, stripped of public niceties. That being the case, North Carolina is screwed up. I spent a lot of non-quality time on Highway 74. One after another, a series of passive-aggressive creeps would occupy the left lane, pacing the car in the right lane without passing it. When they eventually passed, five or ten minutes later, and pulled to the right lane, they also sped up to prevent the folks behind them from passing them.

Some people addressed this problem by simply tailgating the bejeezus out of the person in front of them, until that person pulled over. Then they would advance another 80 feet and tailgate all over again. All in all, a princely collection of citizens.

Helmet Shield

So, I lost my helmet shield late on Saturday, nearly to my destination in Longs, SC. On Sunday I rode a couple of hundred miles to the motorcycle accessory store to get another shield. Over and over I got pinged by sand, gravel, and bugs. I was extremely grateful to find another helmet shield, even though it was a mirror finish, something I would normally never touch.

So Many Hayabusas

At that motorcycle accessory store, there were a huge number of Suzuki Hayabusas – until recently, the fastest production motorcycle in the world. There were many other kinds of bikes there too, all sharing a sort of show-bike quality. The owners were all black. I didn't know that motorcycle clubs are still segregated, but apparently in North Carolina, they are. They were pitching a charity fish fry in the parking lot, and there were at least a hundred hot bikes there.

The Smoky Mountains

After all the meal breaks and bad traffic (horrendous, really) near Charlotte, and the stop at the motorcycle accessory store, I got to Asheville kind of late in the day. The run from Asheville down to the low hills of Tennessee was epic. The Smokies are gorgeous. The highway has tighter curves than your typical insterstate, so I had to pay some attention to the road. But the lush green mountainsides were mesmerizing. The fast, clean rivers really made an impression.