We worked out 2 days in the "Wood" & made plans to ride the bikes to Charlotte NC. Yes Mary did talk about selling her bike & no she didn't change her mind. It turned out that a friend of ours wanted a motorcycle & his wife wanted to buy it for him. I guess there are other awesome wives out there. That was how I got my bike. Plans were made for us to drop the bike off on our way back to Florida.
With our reduced work schedule we had a crazy thought. What if we got the bike to Bob early? Mary contacted Terri with our idea & she was all for it so she could surprise hubby with what he already knew he was getting. Monday morning we headed out starting with a ride through the Smoky Mountain Park. We stopped in Waynesville NC to see a friend. Two years ago we spent a month at his RV park while we enjoyed the Blue Ridge Parkway. We figured that we were about an hour into our 5 hour trip. Kenny & all the locals said we had a good 6-7 hours to go.
What the ?!?!?! The map planner said it was only 4 1/2 hours! Have we been going the wrong direction for the last hour??? We stopped for gas and asked some guy what he thought. Again he said about 6 hours, but after telling him the route I was taking he said it should only be about 3 hours. How do these people plan there trips? Do they get PAID by the mile? Well we left with hopes that the map software was right.
After about 2 more hours, with a stop for lunch, we stopped to rest & gas up while we were there. The guy at the gas station said we had about an hour to go. After chatting with the Florida transplant & flexing all our muscles & joints we hit the last stretch of our journey. An hour later we were on the bypass around Charlotte. Of course we hit it just as rush hour was peaking. It wasn't as bad as I've seen in NY, Atlanta, or Tampa but there was some stop & go traffic. By the time we got to our exit Mary's hands were bothering her & she was sure she had made the right decision to sell her bike. We got to Bob & Terri's, pulled into the driveway, & leaned on the horns. Terri was out in a second with the camera & Bob came out wondering what was going on. Well he looked like it was Christmas morning & Santa got his letter.
After the usual greetings Bob disappeared & reappeared in jeans with a brand new helmet ready to go for a ride. A quick spin around he neighborhood & he had to park it so we could all get some dinner. I think there might have been a little pout about parking it but mostly there was a smile that he couldn't wipe off his face. We stayed a couple of days enjoying good friends before we had to turn around & head for home.
Packing on one bike took a little creativity but we managed to hit the road early enough to get home at areasonable hour. The trip was uneventful including lunch,a stop for gas, & 2 stops just to stretch. At the last stop Mary had to delete a bunch of pics from her camera. As a passenger she had all this free time to take pictures. Somehow she filled a 600 picture memory card. Go figure. We made it home in just over 5 hours & were glad to be there.
We have a few things to take care of before we go back to Red's. So after our chores are done we will call it a night here in our home in TN because....
Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary
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