Day 5 – Monsoons ‘n Crotch Rockets

Well, either I slacked off on the drinkin last night…or I’m buildin tolerance, as I’m once again up at the crack…and no fuzzy brain this mornin...which is good, 'cause the missus and I had planed two liesurely days of backroad ridin to cover the 500+ miles home. Ahhhh, two days of ridin the backroads in the 80 degree sunny days we had experienced on most of this ride. What a way to finish off a ride, aye. Well, once again Mother Nature and North Carolina teamed up to put a real damper on those plans. As can be deduced from the pic of the li'l missus to the left, the weather took a turn for the worse. I don't know exactly what the temps had dropped to overnight, but her sweater and the look on her face should tell ya all ya need to know. The wind was howlin and it was COLD...well, cold compared to the last few days...so we bundled up as best we could with the few cold weather items we had and hit the road.

As we hit the bridge to the mainland, we knew that our nice lazy ride halfway 'cross North Carolina today could turn into anything but, as I had to wrestle with ole Rattler just to keep the wind gusts from dumpin us in the Albemarle Sound. The wind did let up a bit as we hit the mainland, but the skies were lookin a bit gloomy as we exited the highway and started our detour 'round the congestion called Ralieh/Durham. 'Bout lunch time we stumbled upon a true old time country store with a kitchen that served up some tasty country cookin. After gettin fat 'n happy, we exited the store only to find a light sprinkle of rain. A fella comin from the direction we were 'bout to head informed us it was gettin a bit heavier down the road...soooo, we took a seat on the storefront bench and reluctantly pulled on the dreaded rain gear. Sure 'nuff...'bout two miles down the road there it was...rain. Oh well, it was steady but pretty light...certainly not as bad as I had hit before. This bein the missus' first "big" ride, she was a little worried, but I assured her this was nothin compared to what I had ridden thru in the past. Well, apparently Mother Nature felt the need to show her just how bad it could get on a ride...and poured it on. We finally had to abandon our backroad plans, and hit the first fourlane to Raliegh to find a room for the night. Once we were checked into our room, the scene was that of leathers 'n boots draped over the heater...damned sure didn't wanna start out in the morn in wet gear...'specially since the local news was forecastin even colder temps in the morn. Luckily there was a deli just across the parkin lot, so we grabbed a li'l grub and settled in for a warm eve in front of the tube.

It was durin our unexpected stay in Raliegh that I discovered a run of pics on my camera. This might take some settin up…soooo…remember the night ‘round the fire at Black Beard’s? Well, I proceeded to tell my “buds” ‘bout a time I left my camera unattended at a party, only to find that my buds at that time had all taken pics of their crotches…interior to their britches that is. This was back in the film days, and provided a bit of entertainment for the folks in the K-Mart photo development department. And, ya do remember me misplacin my camera that night at Black Beards…right? Well, it turns out my “buds” took it upon themselves to recreate that particular incident from my past. But, I gotta give ‘em credit for keepin it clean, and just givin me shots exterior to their jeans…no crotch rockets visible in these shots…whew!

Well, we're gonna burrow under the warm blanket and try not to think of our impendin cold start in the morn. See ya tomorrow for the cold 400-mile ride on to the house.