Gulf Coast Getaway, Day 1

Showers II
Sunday May 23, 2010
Copyright(c) 2010, Jim Beachy

At 2:40 AM I am awakened by torrential rain splattering forcefully on the metal bathroom vent atop the roof. At 5:00 AM I am awakened by a peal of thunder. I’d looked at the weather forecast, though, and the showers were predicted to diminish by late morning.

So we hang out until after 10:30, when the cloud cover is broken by patches of blue sky and the road is almost dry. Our destination today is our friend Ray and Deb’s house in North Carolina, only a 280-mile ride, so we’re in no hurry. The last of the luggage is loaded into the trailer and I hook it up to the bike and back it down the driveway. By now a fine mist is once again in the air and covering the windshield in a thin film. I’ve decided to forego the Dance of the Rainsuit, though, as the weather radar earlier showed the front to have been east of us.

Kitty is moving vehicles around, putting the car into the now-vacant garage, and moving the truck into the driveway. “The weather forecast on the radio says thunderstorms are moving in,” she warns. “Why don’t you want to put on rain gear?”

“Because I think the front has moved through and we won’t really have much rain,” I respond confidently.

I chose poorly. Within eight miles we are sitting at a red light while the rain is pounding down on our leather gear and we are looking for shelter. I hadn’t fueled prior to starting out, so we need fuel as well. We find a gas station and park strategically downwind but the wind is so strong it is blowing the rain all the way through the gas pump shelter, soaking the cloth seat and us.

We do the Exaggerated Dance of the One-Piece Rainsuit under the shelter, exaggerated because when you’re already wet, it’s hard to slide the suits over the wet boots and clothing. “It’s sure nice having waterproof Cruiserworks boots,” I say to Kitty.
The sky is angry and dark, and the rain continues pounding down while we cover the cloth seat, switch a clear helmet shield for me, and fuel the bike. There is no reason we have to be riding in this downpour, so we opt to hang out for almost a half hour under the gas pump shelter, until the dark heart of the storm passes.

It’s still raining hard as we pull out onto US 29 south, and we ease gently into the flow of traffic and head southward toward US 17 and I-95. Sunday traffic is fairly light and the rain diminishes. By the time we reach Richmond the sky has cleared and it’s 85 degrees, so we stop for a little lunch break and take off the rain gear. I send Ray a text message that we are running late because of the rain.

I choose poorly. Thirty miles later we are beside the Interstate doing the Second Dance of the Rainsuit. It’s not raining much where we are, but just a quarter mile away we can see a seething mist on the road surface from the pelting rain.

For the next 150 miles we ride intermittently out of downpours and blue skies, through this very unsettled weather pattern. One storm covers about 60 miles as we ride through it, including 40 miles of 45-mph, four-way-flashers engaged, standing-water, minimum-visibility travel. I stay relaxed but alert, and when we finally take the exit off I-95 for the last 30 miles to Ray’s house, the road is drying and the sky has lightened once again.

I have never come to Ray’s house from this direction. Always from Jacksonville, or San Diego, or Atlanta, or Asheville, but not from the north. So I just follow the GPS-generated track over what to me are confusing North Carolina secondary roads. About five miles from his house, the road is blocked by an accident.

“Can we go straight through?” I ask the flagman.

“No, you have to turn right or left,” he responds.

Having no idea which is better, we turn left and the GPS generates a new route on yet more confusing North Carolina secondary roads. We arrive a little before 6:00 PM and Ray waves us into his carport. It is great to see our friends again. Ray and I have ridden together for more miles than anyone in our collective acquaintance, but he’s had to stop riding because of health issues. We’d done an emotional last ride together almost a year ago now, and hadn’t seen each other since.

At dinner, to which we travel in their new Honda Odyssey, another heavy storm moves through the area. “I almost always want to be on a bike,” I say, “but sometimes there are advantages to being in a car!” We enjoy a great evening of catching up, and he convinces me his Blu-Ray DVD player kicks up HDTV to yet another notch. Kitty and I don’t watch many movies but this is definitely awesome!
Tomorrow’s weather looks a little better than today, so I’ve done a minimal wipe-down of the bike and trailer, hedging my bets in case it’s sunny. It just won’t do to ride on a sunny day with water spots on the vehicle.

Tomorrow we plan to start wandering across North Carolina and Georgia, mostly on back roads.

Rainy or not, here we come!

GPS Track, Day 1