MACH.19 - Saguaro Country Day 2: Escapade

Saguaro Country

Day 2: Escapade
Monday April 29, 2019

One day long ago at an undisclosed location, the first biker to set up an overnight tent awoke and, I'm sure, threw back the tent flap for his first act of the day, and observed the weather. For many, the tent flap has been replaced by cell phones and The Weather Channel,  but the primeval urge to see what's in store for the day makes us all still do the same thing.

I throw back the tent flap... er, check WeatherBug on my phone... a little after 7am.  37F. THIRTY SEVEN DEGREES FARENHEIT!!  I've been scoping out temeratures in faraway places in the deserts and Arizona high country, but didn't anticipate these temperatures less than 200 miles from home! My casual decision not to include our leather cold-weather riding gear doesn't seem quite so casual this morning.

But we gear up in layers with the jacket liners and mesh jackets and decide to have a quick bite at McDonald's a mile up the road.  There we are rewarded with a friendly credit card chip scanner that provides a pleasant chime when it's time to remove the card. Most of these scanners issue a guttural "MEEP-MEEP" as an incentive to remove the card when finished processing.  I love this scanner.

Thus off to the California Sidecar factory five miles south, where my Escapade Excel wheel bearing were repacked by Ada, one of the two trailer assemblers. Trailer bearings on these small wheels should be repacked annually; those 12" wheels have a high rotation at 70 mph.  I usually do this job myself but with the trips to work on Dad's estate and an otherwise busy schedule, I just haven't had the time. While waiting, I chat with Dwight, the sales guy who's been there at least since 1997 when I got my first Escapade trailer, and Scott, the service guy who's been there just as long.  This is a first-rate company staffed by first-rate, caring folks.  This is my third Escapade trailer (the first was demolished in a rear-end collision down on the Sabine River on the Texas-Louisana border, but that's another story).

"I slept for only an hour last night," Kitty announces.  "No more strong black coffee for me after dinner!" We strike out in late morning for the general direction of Huntsville AL, 560 easy miles with two easy days to ride them.  By this time it's 47 degrees with heavy overcast; we're both using the heated seat feature, and in addition I've turned on the heated grips and opened the heater vents in the lower fairing.  I'm warm enough, but Kitty, in back where the still-air envelope collapses around her shoulders, is always more chilly than the rider.

After several hours of riding we eventually stop in Christiansburg VA for an early fuel stop and to warm up.  We have a bite of lunch at the Subway associated with the gas station.  After ew order and I insert the credit card into the chip reader.  When it is done, it says MEEP-MEEP. After hanging out for an hour and a half, we are both warmed up and the skies are crystal blue. With the clouds gone it's about 10F warmer than when we arrived.

Kitty puts on a balaclava in addition to what she's already wearing; we gear up and saddle up. "I'm too warm!" Kitty announces in the headset as roll out.

Fifty or so miles later we've run out of the Appalachian mountains into the flatlands of eastern Tennessee, where the temperature is a pleasant 82F.  Except we're still dresssed for 50-degree temperatures, and now we really are hot even with all the heated stuff turned off.  After a fuel stop and a modified undressing ceremony for both of us, we decide to ride out the last 80 miles or so of our 325-ish mile day to Morristown TN, where we've staged for quite a few overnight stops.

We finish the ride under sunny skies and a pleasant 82F to arrive at out stop.  When traveling in an ad hoc fashion without a known destination, I often call ahead in the afternoon to make a hotel reservation, but on this day we take our chances and have no problem finding a room.

We've seen a 47-degree swing in temperatures today, one of the highest single-day variations of our trips together. Tonight I hope Kitty can make up for the last night's sleeplessness; we have an easy ride of less than 300 miles tomorrow, about half of which is likely to be Interstate.  Tomorrow we sleep in. The tent flap can stay closed for as long as it wants.