I JUST WANT 2 RIDE!!

Debbie and I left our home in the early morning and after a quick fuel stop for both us and the motorcycle we were head for the beach. We had checked the weather the night before as part of a debate between using the full face Nolan helmets or our half helmets. As the forecasted temperatures for our path of travel and the beach itself was to be in the low to mid 90s(F) we chose the Nolan’s. Well, the weatherman was not right on the temperature projections. But for now those helmets and light jackets were very comfortable.

Our route was south on US 15 then US 17 then I95. Traffic was, mostly, light and we rode for three hours before stopping at Prince George, VA for fuel and a visit to Colonial Harley Davidson. We have stopped by that dealership on several occasions but this was the first time we had caught it open. The entire stop lasted about thirty minutes and we were on the road again.

As I may have mentioned in other blog posts (and as you can see on the Facebook version of IJUSTWANT2RIDE) I collect dealership pins. I did not have one for Colonial HD or next stop at Roanoke Rapids, NC and Collier Harley Davidson.  I was able to procure a pin at Colonial, Collier was out of stock. The girls working at Collier did say they would email me when the pins were in stock.

Back on the bike and headed south it started to get hot. By noon it was in the mid-nineties and we were looking for a cool place for lunch, and fuel. Debbie spotted Shelton HD which was also in an outlet mall area with lots of gas stations and restaurants. While I had the pin for this dealership we decided to stop and take a look anyway and this is where I got the picture to the right.

Back on the road we began to see the most iconic signs on I95. We were getting closer and closer to Pedro’s South of the Boarder. If you have never been there, you are missing a throwback experience to a time before …. well a long time ago. If you are in the area it can be worth you time to explore Pedro’s it will be a fun 45-90 minutes especially if you have kids that need a travel break.

By now the temps were over a 100F (104 at one point). The Nolan helmet were getting quite hot even with the chin bar locked open, creating a 3/4 style helmet. As long as we were able to maintain a speed over 30 it was somewhat tolerable but, unfortunately for us, there are a lot of stop lights and heavy traffic between Pedro’s and the beach. While “All The Gear, All The Time” is a great ideal, we could not comply and were down to t-shirts. But, even though South Carolina is a helmet optional state we did keep ours on. So much for accurate forecasts.

We made it to the beach house, stripped down and took some cool showers. For the next couple of days we hung out on the shore and had some good meals (if you are at Myrtle Beach you have to have breakfast at The Golden Egg, put it on your list).

In Part 2 we will cover our trip from the beach to the mountains.