21 July 2010

Underway before 8 for what's going to be a brutal day of just riding--there are no National Parks within reasonable distance of I-95; besides, we didn't get quite as far yesterday as we wanted.

When we get up to Jacksonville, though, the GPSs disagree: the old one wants to go straight up I-95, but the new one doesn't. I figure the new one knows newer roads, so I follow it--off to the right, but then left, and I can see that it's making a long U-turn, with a stop in the middle! Turns out that's the only way to get onto the bypass, and it may have saved some time and definitely some traffic, but disconcerting nonetheless.

Up through Georgia, then South Carolina, with stops about every 90 minutes for either gas or a break--it's horribly humid, and hard to remember that you still need to be drinking lots of water.

About 130 miles south of the North Carolina border I saw the first billboard for "South of the Border," a complex of shops and attractions, well, on the south side of the border. The next one was about 30 miles later, and the closer we got, the oftener they appeared, until the barrage was almost constant. We didn't stop.

Finally we got to Fayetteville, and wended our way to Boyd's daughter's house where we were greeted and feted.

We both wanted to change oil in the bikes, and Boyd's son-in-law Joe had procured the necessary supplies. I usually change my own oil, but this was a first for Boyd, and more of a chore--the Harley sits low, which makes for tight quarters to turn a wrench on the drain plug. And he didn't have the proper filter wrench, but we sort of jammed mine against it enough to turn it out, and get the new one in.

Eventually both bikes were happily full of the slippery stuff, and we went in to dinner, after which we sat around playing on computers and shooting the breeze.



States: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina

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