I went to another Linux Foundation event, I had to speak this time...
never the less, there was one thing about this trip that made it
better than any other: I didn't have to fly! It was in Raleigh, NC.
I thought about riding there, but was unsure of what I was getting
into, plus I had a 2016 turbocharged loaner Mini from the Mini
dealer who has my car right now... backroads to Raleigh in
a turbocharged Mini with a sunroof
I'm glad I didn't take the bike... about 1/2 of the trip up there was
good roads, but after I hit Lancaster (
Lang-kister) SC
it was all downhill. Hiway 9 from Lancaster to Cheraw is a drag,
I even got a warning ticket at one point - for doing 43. Then I
took Hiway 1 from Cheraw all the way to Raleigh, a mix of
OK/blah/trafficky. But I passed through Rockingham NC and stopped
at the Honda shop there... they have a Blue 1800 with OEM tall windshield
and OEM passenger backrest for $11,000... nothing much else of
interest.
On the way back I fixed the problem with the bad roads by
doing my east-west travel on NC 27 instead of SC 9, much
more better. I was still glad I was in the car, since it rained
a lot on the way back. 27 brought me to 200 which brought me back
to Lancaster and then I just retraced my steps... along the way
on 200 I passed through one trafficky town: Monroe, NC. The
traffic was mitigated by a stop at this interesting old Honda
shop:
When I went inside, there were lots of "different" motorcycles in the
showroom, maybe this is a common sight in Harley shops?
There was a ton of chrome hanging on the wall in several rooms, I
was hoping to find some Valkyrie stuff, but no such luck... but in
the back the owner kept a sort of museum... I only took a few
bad pictures with my flip phone, but the walls are filled with
motorcycles like this:
I also stopped for the first time at Wise Bar-B-Q House on the way
home, a very real and good BBQ place, probably been there for ages and different
than the BBQs (also good) near my I house that I frequent...
I stopped at this place on the way home, too, alas, no Valkyrie stuff...
http://www.crockercycle.com/-Mike
