I'm alive guys, we made it home 2 hours later than intended from Hickory to Asheville, I had to slab it and the wind was beginning to toss my bike around so I go off in Black Mountain outside of Asheville. I got caught in a storm shortly after getting on the Parkway in Asheville, so I pulled over to put on my rain gear, reached down to turn the bike off and the damn key was missing! But I was prepared for crap like that, I always carry a spare key, and I had a new ignition switch in my road bag. I struggled into my suit in the rain, then spent at least 5 minutes trying to buckle my helmet strap, my fingers were so numb, I couldn't make them work! While I was doing all of that, a couple pulled up to me and the guy went down memory lane about the CB he used to have, actually I had 3 or 4 people that wanted to talk about my bike, one guy kept me in the McDonalds' parking lot for at least 20 minutes. you do meet the nicest people on a Honda, don't you?!
I was too far in on the parkway to turn around so I had to ride on until I found an exit and got off on 176 which had me snaking through the Pisgah National Park for about 35 minutes before I finally escaped it. I made my way to Brevard, gassed up and got directions. By the time I made it to Clayton, Ga, I'm sure I was very close to hypothermia and that was scary!
I stopped at Micky D's and dried my gloves with the hand dryer in the restroom and had dinner in front of their fireplace, which really made a difference. Back on my bike, I had to slab it again, and It was almost dark, but least it wasn't raining, my average speed from Clayton to Stone Mountain was at least 80+, don't tell my wife! GZ rode the whole way on the front of my bike. My legs, right hand and shouders began to cramp up, so the last half hour was sheer torture! I eventually had to get off the slab because the traffic here is insane and dangerous!
Pandora performed like a real champ and for a 40 year old bike she can haul ass! I was worried about something happening to her while I was in the middle of the parkway, if you get stranded there help will be a long time coming, especially when the weather is crappy, I didn't see one ranger either time I rode there. It took me about 3 hours to fall asleep last night and my hand is till numb. All of that was worth it, North Carolina is so freaking beautiful!! I'll post a link to my pics later.
Thank you Blueridge runner for your help, it was great meeting you! Okay Jerry, I'll hand him over to you when you get here! Vern
