GAR 2012 Day 9 Home Again

With Tropical Storm Debby churning in the Gulf and rain threatening NE Florida, we decided to forego our planned six-hour ride back home and motor down I-95 instead for three hours. Since we weren’t leaving until 9, I still had time to wet a line in John’s pond. No trophy fish today but I did catch one small bass before heading back to the house to pack the bikes. Early morning fishing may be the second best way to start the day, with early morning riding, of course, taking the number one spot.

Steve said goodbye temporarily to his Fat Boy, leaving it in John’s shed until next weekend when he’ll haul it to Jacksonville and assess the damage. Consequently, he had to ride home behind Ruth on her bike. Like that would really happen. He rode John’s bike back while John joined Sue in the car.

I continued to have throttle failure issues, this time on the interstate at 75 mph. After two episodes, I told Steve and Ruth and Jack and Lori to ride on to try to avoid the rain and Marilyn and I would get home when we could with John and Sue watching our backs. Not long after we got back on the road and about 60 miles from Jacksonville we ran into rain but I had already made the decision not to stop for rain gear if we hit rain. As we were about to enter some I-can’t-see-shit driving rain, we passed the SRJL quartet on the side of the road suiting up.

Eventually, we rode out of the rain and we all made it home to dry clothes and hot showers. Another Great Adventure came to an end after more than 2,000 miles of great riding on the most diverse set of roads of any GAR so far.

For those who have been following along on the hdrider blog, thanks. It’s been fun sharing GAR2012. The blog will continue with periodic entries in the coming weeks and then go back into daily update mode in August when I ride west for a four week, 15-state tour. Stay tuned.

“I can’t wait to get on the road again.”