Rising this morning, I'm relieved to see the rain has stopped. I've never done it, but I can imagine that packing up my camping supplies in the rain would not be a pleasant experience. Actually, it's not enjoyable when not raining. My method is to pack everything inside the tent while inside the tent. That's not too bad, but putting on my boots in that little tent can be challenging. I'm not the most limber guy in the world and things are getting progressively less flexible as I get older.
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| Willville |
I decided to try the BRP today even though I was cautioned the weather might be a factor. In the beginning, the ride was most pleasant so I didn't exit at the first logical place to take the interstate. I would regret this decision rather quickly as I encountered very wet and thick fog at elevation just a few miles later. It was eerie creeping along the ridge of a mountain top with visibility almost zero. At times, I was concerned about getting hit by an airplane. Any pilot out in this weather would only be marginally more crazy than I.
After many miles of slogging through extremely dense fog, I manage to exit the parkway to find the interstate. Even though I'm not on the parkway anymore, the fog is still an issue and I'm hopeful that the constantly decreasing elevation will help. Ultimately, that's the case, but the fog has transitioned to a steady light-to-moderate rain. This ought to be fun.
The rest of the ride was pretty much uneventful, if you can call riding 400 miles in the rain uneventful, until I was about 25 miles from my house on I-85. All of a sudden the moderate rain became a downpour of biblical proportions. Traffic slowed to a crawl and I was no longer able to use the wind protection of the motorcycle to divert the rain around my body. I had been placed under a waterfall and the water was finding it's way into my rain suite at an alarming rate. I'm sure the folks on the interstate were getting a chuckle out of the nut-job on the motorcycle.
Ultimately, the rain moderated about two miles from my house and I was able to pull into the garage without too much difficulty. Undressing, I noticed my rain suit did a good job for the most part. I definitely needed a change into dry clothes, but considering the amount of water I had gone through, I can't complain.
This trip was interesting and fun for the most part. I traveled a total distance of 2888.8 miles in eight days which is an interesting number considering my spring trip netted 7770.6 miles. The longest one-day leg of my excursion was just over 500 miles; I did that a couple of times. I averaged 361 miles per day which isn't that bad considering all the rain. All in all, my personal performance was pretty good and I didn't really experience that much typical rider fatigue -- probably because I was too wet and cold to notice.
Yet again, the Yamaha FJR1300 has demonstrated what a magnificent machine it is. The motorcycle just performs with no misgivings whatsoever. It's just as happy blasting around a corner dragging the foot pegs as it is smoothly violating the upper boundaries of any posted speed limit. The anti-lock brakes are awesome and it gets great gas mileage with one of the largest fuel tanks in the sport touring class. The ergonomics are spot on for a 6' 1" guy like myself and it doesn't cost that much. What's not to like?
I am disappointed that my original plans had to be modified to account for the rain. I'm sure New England is beautiful this time of year and most enjoyable exploring on two wheels. Unfortunately, motorcycle touring is like life in that things don't always go the way you want. All you can do is make the best of each day and hope the next is better.
Until next time,
Cheers
Really enjoyed the report.Nice pics as well.Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you for reading!
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