Catch-Up Penance

June 22.

We awoke this morning in Jefferson NC, and we all agreed this may have been the crappiest Best Western we've ever seen.  A decent family restaurant but these motel style rooms were small and tired.  It was my turn to sleep on the fold-out, except there wasn't one.  They rolled in a cot instead.

This cot had the typical bar sticking in your back all night but was also equipped with a rubberized mattress. I know this because none of the sheets stayed on the bed, and I ended up sleeping on a rubber mattress with a lump of sheets here and there, and air con blowing directly on me all night.  Awesome.  This is the kind of experience that is really starting to have me looking forward to getting home.

It was a sad morning because Mike would be leaving us and we'd had a great time since Phoenix.  He would be heading back south to Myrtle Beach, where he needed to return his motorcycle rental.

Our last look at Mike, the "greasy biker", on his way to Myrtle Beach.

Scott and I would be headed today to the Washington DC area.  Unfortunately since we "took our time" during the day at Deals Gap, we were a little behind schedule, and needed to catch up.  We decided that today we would make our way over to I-81 and run it up to DC.  Then on Saturday and Sunday, we would be able to enjoy some more back road bombing in Pennsylvania and Western New York before getting home.

The roads that led us to the Interstate first thing in the morning were quite nice and a pleasant start to the day.

The road brought us into Virginia, and the small town of "Independence".

Independence: Small town Main Street USA

This picture is for my wife and daughter -
this school's team name is the Blue Devils!

We stopped for a break mid morning at a combo gas station / Burger King.  We went in, to get something to drink, and I could hardly believe my eyes with what I saw on the menu - The Bacon Sundae.  This is no joke; it's a real thing you can actually buy.

Don't get me wrong; I like ice cream sundaes and I like bacon.  But it's just so wrong to put them together!

While I was repulsed that this thing even existed, Scott was much more adventurous, and decided he should give it a go.  When in Rome, I suppose.

This is so wrong...

"It's salty and sweet... I think I actually like it"

With the bacon and ice cream swirling around in Scott's belly we hit the road again.  Our next stop was lunchtime and hit the Harley dealer afterward.  They were great and loaned me the tools I needed to remove my horn and drain about two ounces of water out of it.  It hadn't worked right since Mike and I went through the river of water across the road in Texas.  Seems to work ok now!

The interstate eventually brought us to the DC area, but it was Friday afternoon rush hour.  Traffic sucked everywhere.

Fortunately the GPS brought us through some very nice parts of Virginia and Washington.

The only trouble was, when the GPS said we had arrived we were nowhere near our intended destination.  It took us about another 10km to find it, and more pounding through city traffic in the heat.    You really begin to discover the downside to a Harley air-cooled motor in stop and go traffic, in 91F humid weather!

Aagghhh... I'm so hot.

The bridge to Alexandria.

We finally arrived at our intended destination, the George Washington Masonic Memorial.  My buddy Scott is a Freemason and he really wanted to see this.   I thought it was pretty cool too.

Scott is also a member of the "Widows Sons" masonic
motorcycle riding club.  Note his Widows Sons vest in
the photo with the Masons' square and compasses.

We snapped a few photos and got out of there as dark clouds loomed.  We got a few raindrops but managed to get into a hotel north of the city before the skies really opened up!

Tomorrow:  Pennsylvania!