Guy
Boutin's Motorcycle Touring and Travel Pages
Adventures in Sport
Touring with the Honda ST 1100, 1300 and the BMW 1200RT
Exploring North America...One Road
at a Time
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Guy
Boutin's Motorcycle Touring and Travel Pages
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Day 6 I awoke this morning to 29 degrees and a scathing wind. The wind was so bad it rocked the house. The guest bedroom of the Ferguson’s is on the 2nd floor, all night long the wind beat the walls, sounding like the footsteps of someone walking on the roof. I came downstairs at 9am and stepped outside to check the weather. The wind almost blew the door out of my hand. Next, I went to the computer for a weather check. High today will be 38 with strong winds. Damn. I contemplated that info, and looked over the options. My plans for today were nothing special. It was a built in easy day. I had been on the road 5 days, sleeping in a different place each night. Although I hadn’t put down a lot of miles, I had been in the saddle 10 hrs everyday. I’d covered over 1,600 miles, since leaving home, a lot of it on back roads, and coastal highways. Most of the miles had been good, but I still had too many mindless miles on interstates, but in the east it can’t really be avoided. I ride and tour for pleasure. When it ceases to be fun, I will find another hobby. I understand there are days when it is not fun, like late yesterday afternoon. I was cold, and being hammered in the wind in a strange mega city, where literally one mistake in the fast moving lanes of DC could have cost me my life. If I had more than a few of those days, I would sell my bikes. Bad weather days on tour are a given. You are going to have a few; it is why I have built in easy days. If all has gone well I will use it to layover and recharge my batteries before moving on to the next stage. If I’ve had a few obstacles thrown at me, the buffer days can come in handy. Today I have options. My trip planning factored in early spring weather. Thus, I could sit here in Lorton for 3 days if I wanted. But I didn’t want to. I wanted to ride into the District and see the new WWII memorial. But it was just too cold and windy. If the air temp is 30, the strong wind will make it feel 20. I confess I am not a cold weather rider. My blood is thin from the temperate climate of central Alabama. Anything near 40 is too cold for me for any length of time. My friends kid me about my lack of cold weather will. I plead guilty. Not feeling like sitting inside all day, I got Enterprise Rent a Car on the phone. Soon, a clerk picked me up and took me to the office for the paperwork. An hour later I was in a KIA and driving into the District. It was not much fun, but I was warm. I went down into the District and found the new memorial. It was not yet completed and to be honest, was not very scenic. I will have to return when the project is finished. A few years ago I spent a few days with my family touring the monuments, and I was here again in 2002. Already seen everything, so time to move on to something else. The strong wind had stripped many of the blooming cherry trees, I was disappointed. When I got back to the KIA I realized I was a guy with time on his hands. The weather was not going to be much better tomorrow, and I needed something to do. I got out the map and decided to drive up to Valley Forge. Everyone knows what happened there, so I pointed the KIA north and took off. A few hours later I was checking into the Motel 6 at King of Prussia. My plan is tour the park in the morning, and head back to south to DC, returning by mid afternoon. My Uncle Boots was not far away, but I felt guilty about crashing on them so many times the last few years, so I gave him a break this trip. The room was warm and I spent an uneventful night watching tv and talking to my wife on the phone. I plan on sleeping late, checking the park out, and back on the road to DC by lunch. Next: Valley Forge.
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