Post date: May 17, 2016 8:20:03 PM
Mileage: 761
I left at 0600 and headed to Virginia Beach, VA to visit my Aunt and Cousins. The route took me through Cincinnati on I-74, down Kentucky 9, across I-64 to US 60 all the way to Richmond, VA, and finally US 460 to Virginia Beach, VA. I finally arrived at 2130 after stopping only for fuel three times and lunch for about 45 minutes. Loaded with gear, the bike is getting about 39.2 mpg so far, compared to the 45 mpg that it usually achieves.
Having driven or motorcycled to and from Virginia many times, I am surprised that this route never made it into the plan. It's too bad because US 60 out of Charleston all the way to Richmond is a beautiful road. It has long sweeping curves, switchbacks, elevation changes, and few straightaways. Some of the route parallels the New River and passes by Kanawha Falls & the New River Gorge Bridge. This area has some of the best whitewater rafting in the country. The road is similar to the Back of the Dragon, but it's not as long.
As I crested a hill, two buzzards dining on the carrion de jure took flight. One of them made a B-line across the road directly in front me. I was required to duck behind the windshield to avoid being decapitated! That was the the most action I experienced during the ride, except for the aggravation with my motorcycle communication system. I did see four Whitetail deer hanging by the side of the road in Kentucky. They were all spring-loaded to cross the road but didn't, thankfully.
It's just my luck that something would go wrong - on the first day of the trip no less! The 3.5 mm male connector that plugs into my tablet developed a broken wire. Now, the audio only comes in from the right side instead of in stereo. Grrrr... This is how I get GPS directions from the tablet! I believe that the broken wire is grounding to something else and is causing some interference because I can hear engine whine and some crackling sound again. It seems to be intermittent. Luckily, a friend of who lives in, "The Beach," had a spare cable that he gave to me. I'm going to do some more electrical work and solder a new end to the comm system cable using the gifted cable. I'll take care of that after fixing a more pressing issue.
The other item to iron out is that I used Counteract Balancing Beads in the new set of tires I installed on the bike. I mounted these tires three times to get the amount of beads to be used even close. First, I used two ounces. That was WAY too much weight that caused the front end to act like a bouncing ball down the road. Next, was one and a half ounces that turned out to be too much still, but not as bad as two ounces. The third time I used only one ounce. At speeds under 70 mph, the imbalance is not noticable; however, as soon as you exceed 70, the wobble is more of a momentary vibration that I'm just not comfortable with for any length of time. Therefore, I called Morton's BMW, and they are going to balance the tires the old fashion way when I stop there on the way to DC.