Loaded up, ready to head out into the Wet:
I left work Friday at 1pm, into exactly the same heavy rain that the Prince of Darnkess and I drove into back on May 18th. 2 hours of that, plus heavy traffic, all the way to the NY border. Boston doesn't let you off easy. 7 hours later I hit Batavia NY, just shy of my stated goal of Buffalo, and got yet another Days Inn room.
Saturday I got on the bike and rolling by 7:30. I wasn't sure what the total mileage was, and I wanted to make Busty's house-warming party at a decent hour, so I tried to err on the side of hauling ass all day. And on that note, it turns out that the little 500 motor in my bike is borrowed from the Ninja 500, and has a whole 'nother happy side up around 80 that I'd rarely seen before, which meant I was able to cruise at a good clip, although it did mean my mpg went from 60ish to 40ish. Meh.
Chicago got in its expected digs with a buttload of traffic and morons cutting across 4 lanes of traffic, which cost me another hour. Northern IL then went all-out to welcome me home, with 3 separate heavy rainstorms, including one that produced tornados! I rode into it, ignoring the advice of the tollbooth lady, and even got two fists up from two Harley guys who were pulled over under an overpass.. Solidarity, brother! But then two miles later I realized how friggin scary it really was, and pulled over under an overpass m'self:
You have to understand how tempting it was to keep going - this is 19 hours and 15 minutes into a 20 hour drive home!! I was ill-pleased:
...so after about 7 or 8 minutes, I decided that I couldn't see any actual funnel clouds, and to hell with it. I couldn't go faster than about 20, but it felt better than just sitting under there like a common troll.
And then I got home, safe and wet, right to Busty's front door. The house was full of most of my friends, and my lovely wife, and there was food and beer! That's the way you come home, dammit.
So. Good to be home folks. Now I'm on my front porch, drinking coffee, waiting for the rain to stop so I can take the bike to go get fresh oil so I can change it before I wash her down. Yes, my ass hurts. And my legs are pretty sore, but it was FUN. Much better than car driving, in my opinion.
