Another Solo Roadeo in the books. 950 miles in two days. I passed 60k miles on the clock. Here's the scoop. I left Saturday morning around 7:30am, which actually feels late in the summer. You look up and the sun is already quite high in the sky by that time.
I took a slightly different route South this time. Instead of going down on the Pig Trail (hwy23), I took hwy103 down through Ponca and Boxley. I think it was close to three o'clock by the time I made it to Boxley, so I stopped there and laid down in the shady grass of a church cemetery. I did that a couple of times this weekend. When I'm tired and just turning miles, I take a break, lay down, and I'm usually ready to tackle the corners when I hit the road again.
It was late afternoon when I finally hit hwy16 and started heading east toward Mountain View. It was 6pm or later when I hit Marshall and found an awesome spot to take some glamour shots of the bike. This was my first real chance to take some pictures of the bike with my new Galaxy S5 phone / camera. It did not disappoint. What a dead sexy machine I own.
Within 30 or 40 miles of Mountain View, I noticed it had recently rained in the area. The roads were only half wet and there was steam rising off the asphalt. It was near dusk at that point, probably around 7pm, and the light was lovely - the "golden hour" before sunset. JoeB and I always lament that we never ride at that time of night because of the risk of hitting deer. It wasn't by choice this time, but I relished it nonetheless. It was heaven. The setting sun was gorgeous, the fresh rain smell in the air, the steam rising off the road, the coolness still in the air, and twisty hwy14 in front of me. I was clicking over 500 miles for the day and almost 12 hours in the saddle, but it was riding bliss and I felt fresh as could be.
I made it to Jack's Resort for dinner around 7:30pm. 525 miles for the day. I had my traditional hush puppies, beans and veggie burger. After dinner, I checked in at the Dogwood Motel. All day I had been thinking about how great a cold Miller High Life would taste at the end of a long, hot day of riding. I asked the guy who runs the Dogwood if he happened to have a cold beer. Negatory. He offered me wine or whiskey instead, but I very politely declined. Still, something seemed very quaint about being offered a whiskey on the rocks by the "innkeeper". I almost took him up on the offer on principle alone.
After breakfast at McDonalds, I started Sunday's riding at around 8:30am. Of course I knew I wanted to hit hwy9. I recalled the time when we all were in a holding pattern down at the Angler (near the river) waiting for the fog to lift, only to learn later that fog settles in those "bowls" down around the river and takes quite a while to burn off. I knew to expect it this time. Parts of hwy9 were foggy as pea soup and other parts were sunny as can be. I loved it and this foggy photo is one of my favorites of the weekend.
I did Push Mountain Road of course. That's where I came across this colorful personality on an absolutely pristine Honda CB750 Four.
I was on one of my favorite roads in MO, hwy160, when I turned over 60k miles. By the time I made it home at 6:30pm on Sunday, I was at 60,244 miles. 952 total miles for the weekend. I did the math. I rode 22 hours in two days (minus breaks, of course). But it was a great two days. Good riding on all the best roads (highways: 123, 9, 16, 14, 341, 125). When I unpacked my gear and settled into a nice hot bath, I cracked open a fresh homemade ginger beer.
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