2017 South Carolina Day 5

Hardeeville, South Carolina to Home:  694.8 Miles

The weather forecast was predicting lots of rain closer to home with the potential for severe weather as well, it was best to give us time in case things got ugly.

I was able to see my cousin briefly as she dropped off  her son Brandon to Grandpa and Grandma's house.  Brandon was a little apprehensive, but once it was explained that we were second cousin's, he seemed OK with it.  Until he did the math after we told him that he didn't have any first cousins.  So he decided that we must be first cousins.  The eight-year-old logic was hard to argue with.

After a breakfast of peanut butter and chocolate chip muffins - almost like eating cake for breakfast - we started to pack up the bike.  Brandon walked out into the garage and stopped on seeing the motorcycle, "Whoa!"

We had had a great adventure so far, but it was time to head home.  And we left around 8:00 into the steamy Southeast morning.  Unlike the trip south, we couldn't dither, so it was mostly going to be a day on the interstate.
Traffic was surprisingly light and the temperature was extremely nice, if a little humid.  We worked our way north and west.  The only place traffic really seemed to pick up was briefly in North Carolina.
Temperatures stayed nice with mixed clouds through the morning.  It was good that even with the potential for rain, we didn't feel rushed.  As we gained elevation from the coastal United States, and the day progressed, it started to get hot - very hot for late April.  Most of the afternoon was near the 90's which is not what we were expecting.

Getting off the interstate for a while, we went around Knoxville.  I'm not sure why, but I've always disliked that stretch of I-40/I-640.

And through the tunnel at the Cumberland Gap.

As we got closer to home, SO kept and eye on the radar and saw all the rain was west.  Temperatures were still tolerable and neither one of us really felt like ponying up for (and staying in) another hotel.  So we slogged it on home.  As we got closer to home, we saw evidence of very heavy rain with driveways washed out and some areas with huge puddles and flooding.  Whatever deluge happened, I was glad it did earlier in the day.
Suffice to say, given forecasts, what we enjoyed and what we missed, we hit the weather lottery on this motorcycle (and fishing) adventure.

We got home well before dark.  It was a slog of a day, but with decent weather and tolerable traffic it wasn't too bad.
Overall, it was a short, but fun-filled adventure.  We had an amazing day of riding on the way south, getting to catch up with family for a few days and had some great fishing.  And had a good long ride home.
Uncle Dave was wondering if this could be an annual trip - that would be fun, but reality is that there is only so much vacation time.  Yet, I know we'll have to do this again.

2017 South Carolina Day 4

After an early morning breakfast of waffles, we were out the door shortly after 6:00 for our fishing charter out of Hilton Head.  In addition to Uncle D, SO and myself, Uncle D's friend Chris was joining us.  Traffic was light and we found the dock and our captain waiting for us.

First up was sea trout, which I had never fished for before.  Action was tolerable, but slow.  We tried a variety of fishing setups, using lures, minnows and flies.  We caught several sea trout and SO caught a large lady fish - which will make an appearance later.

We tried several more places for various fish in the sound and open ocean.  Action wasn't too hot, but there was at least some bites everywhere we went.  Eventually our captain cut up the lady fish and set out two very large hooks which hunks of it as bait right on the bottom.  Soon enough, one of the rods started bouncing and I reeled in a nice, if a bit small shark.  I had always wanted to catch a shark, so I was really happy.

Shortly after that, Chris started to bring in another fish from the bottom - much bigger than my shark.  It took out tons of line before leaping from the water a couple times and snapping the steel leader.  We were able to see that it was a very large spinner shark.  We may not have had the right tackle for something that large, unless we would have had tons of time to play the line.

Bottom action slowed down and the seas were getting very rough, so we headed to another spot to put more lady fish chunks out.  This time Uncle D was able to bring in a decent sized shark.  Throughout the bottom fishing, we had several more sharks on the line, but were unable to bring any of them in.

We decided to extend our charter by an hour and went into the flats to go after reds.  This was probably a lot more fun than the early trout fishing and we caught several reds.  

We also managed to bring in a few flounders.  I've always heard they taste good, but flounders are very ugly.

We were about fished out and had landed an incredible variety of fish, so we headed back to the dock.  On the way into the dock, "Shorty" stopped by to visit.  It was pretty neat seeing a great blue heron so up close in person - er, bird.

Our captain helped us clean the few sea trout that we kept - also keeping the roe sacks from the females.  I've never had them before, but when in Rome...

We all headed back and told lies, looked at pictures and rested for a while.  It never ceases to surprise me how much just being out in the sun all day can sap so much energy.

We all tried the roe during a dinner of fresh sea trout.  I was apprehensive, but it was surprisingly good.  Delicate flavor, with an unusual, but not bad, texture.

After dinner, Uncle D and I went out to wet a line a few more times.  We hooked into a couple small bass, before tearing it up on the crappie.  At one point, after reeling in a smaller crappie, the fish got very energetic and nearly bent the rod over.  Reeling it in to the bank, I saw it was a massive large mouth bass - by far the largest I've ever hooked.  I fought with it for a while and told Uncle D to come over.  After fighting, the bass got off the line.  Looking down, I saw a crappie still attached to my hook.  The bass had taken the crappie as I reeled it in.  I was a bit bummed I didn't land the bass, but it was sure an interesting fishing story.  And a true one.

With potential severe weather building to the northwest, we turned in for the night, ready to bike home.

2017 South Carolina Day 3

Monroe, North Carolina to Hardeeville, South Carolina:  233.3 Miles

After some rather unusual hotel waffles - the normal better was runny so I made them with oatmeal and strawberry batter - we were out the door to another early, slightly foggy morning.
The goal was again to mostly avoid the interstates so after getting turned around in Monroe, we worked our way south.  There was more traffic than I assumed there would be, and the schools take dropping the kids off very seriously, with many cops directing traffic, etc.  Tuck and roll kids!

Once out of the school zones, we found some nice roads to take south.  Outside of the small towns, there was almost no traffic and ample passing zones making the morning zip by.

Once into the low country, the terrain turned very familiar with lots of Cyprus bogs and boggy swamps.  This was hog country!  I love it.

The Garmin GPS was getting quite irritated, until we finally got on the interstate south of Yemassee, South Carolina.  I-95 isn't my favorite, but it did move us quickly down to Uncle D and Aunt R's house.  We found their house easily enough in a new and gorgeous development.  Uncle D gave us the tour of their new house - very nice.

After lunch, we headed out to Savannah.  We parked near the ferry and took it over to Savannah.  This was a pretty neat way to get there and it runs continuously.  It is also probably a win for the city since it greatly decreases congestion.

The ferry also gave a nice way to see the skyline of Savannah.

Once docked, we spent some time touring Savannah.

The city was an odd mix of historic squares and newer businesses and chains.  Joe's Crab Shack next to monuments to the 1700's.  Still it was a neat city.  Lots of steep historic steps and well worn cobblestones.  The history that these roads have seen...

Savannah was a nice change for us.  We usually avoid the big cities with difficult parking, angry congestion and cost, so taking the ferry and spending some time seeing Savannah was a treat.

After a while we headed back to the ferry and back to the house.
After a nice dinner of grilled chicken, Uncle D and I headed out for some pre-fishing fishing.  The house is surrounded by any number of ponds that hold bass, bluegill, crappie, alligators and any other manner of critters.  We were just after the fish...
In the short amount of time we were out, we hooked into many fish.  For about a half an hour, we were in a school of aggressive crappie that were very good in size.  I even caught a fish I've never seen before - to me it looked like a bass/bluegill hybrid.

Yes, some of the big ones got away.

At dark we headed back to the house and talked about our various adventures for a while before turning in.  It was going to be an early morning for ocean fishing!

2017 South Carolina Day 2

Paris, Kentucky to Monroe, North Carolina:  444.6 miles

We woke up to a cool but comfortable morning and were on the road at first light.  As is usually the case, we had the early road to ourselves.  The temperatures rose and dipped with the road, as we generally headed south and east in Kentucky horse country.  Early morning on vacation is amazing.

Horse country eventually began to shift to coal country.  Large farm estates disappeared and much hillier terrain pushed the road into sinuous ribbons.  At times, the fog was quite thick - not so thick that we had to slow down, but there was enough fog that things got wet as the temperature dropped.

Coal country may have a reputation of being grungy, and in a minority of places it may be.  Most of the area is simply gorgeous, with miles of trees just starting to bud and very little in the way of traffic.  Some of the towns seem quite nice, while others appear to be in the midst of the death rattle.  But the areas in between are some of the best motorcycle roads in the East.

We wound our way around eventually passing into Virginia for a short spell before heading south into Tennessee.  As we spent a lot of the late morning at higher elevations, it really didn't get warm until afternoon.
Lunch was at the small and simple Whiteway Grill in Roan Mountain, Tennessee.  Food was extra good and the people were very friendly.  I think we were the only non-locals there.  One kind gentleman even thanked us for stopping in before he left.  He might have been the owner - it was all a bit ambiguous.

The area around the Tennessee and North Carolina border is absolutely silly with wonderfully empty roads and rhododendrons. I suspect if we were a week or three later, they could be in bloom which would be an amazing site to see.  But even seeing them on this late April day, their waxy leaves were magnificent next to the just-budding trees.

We briefly got on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I've heard people say that they absolutely loved it and that it was a terror, filled with trundling cars and gawking people.  We saw very few other cars on it, but we were only on it for a few miles.  I'm not sure I would plan a vacation around it, and it goes in an awkward direction - NE to SW - for most of our trips.

After the Blue Ridge Parkway, we continued heading south and east.  Weather warmed with gorgeous blue skies and perfect temperatures.  I think the day ranks as one of my top 5 motorcycle days east of the Mississippi.

We got near Charlotte and headed around it, "enjoying" just a bit of traffic before stopping in Monroe.  Frustratingly, we could not get into our hotel room with the keys we were given.  The nice lady at the desk, working alone, tried helping several times.  We thought about just getting a refund, but there weren't too many more reasonable hotel rooms available around Monroe, and the next place on our route was about two hours away.  After calling the maintenance man (he apparently had had problems with that door as well), the clerk got permission to give us a cut key for the room.  I'm quite sure this is actually the cut key for the whole hotel.  That is something to think about...

Dinner that night was at Logans.  Not bad, but not great.  The night was completed with some ice cream from the gas station.  I've learned from the past and have my own travel spoon now.

2017 South Carolina Day 1

I heard Robert Pirsig died this morning.
I first read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in 2004.  Since my boss (now my boss' boss) gave me a copy of it about five years ago, I've read it a few more times.  It is not an easy read, but every time I got more out of it.  It is an epic about life, mental illness, family and friends, motorcycles, quality, and melds Eastern and Western philosophy.
It would seem appropriate if on the day of Pirsig's death this were the beginning of a motorcycle trip out West, but this one is headed southeast.
Phaedrus rests.

The company I work for made a change in how the previous years vacation can be used; before this year it needed to be consumed by the end of April.  Even though I have more time to use it, I guess I'm indoctrinated at this point to need to take at least a short trip in April.
My Uncle and Aunt recently moved to southern South Carolina.  I'm not sure if they invited us down or if we invited ourselves down.  But we're headed down to spend a couple days with them and hopefully do some coastal fishing.

SO had training for work in the morning and subsequently headed home to take care of the dogs and get the house cleaned up before leaving.  Jackson is getting to be a very old 16 years and I worry about putting him in the kennel.  Considering I thought he was down to a few weeks near the end of 2016, he is still chugging along well enough.  Spring can be a dicey time to travel on two wheels weather-wise, but at least the first few days look good.

After packing everything up and double checking the house, we headed out for a short ride.  I hate sitting at home once the dogs are kenneled, so I'm willing to coin up for a hotel a couple hours away.
It was a bit of a slog to do this after work, but the weather was splendid.  Sunny with a few puffy clouds and temperatures in the mid 70's.

Day 1:  120.2 miles

We headed out before 3:30, getting us around Cincinnati before any rush hour mayhem.  Once a little ways south, traffic thinned.  Just north of Lexington we headed east.  The hills rolled in Kentucky green although it almost looked less green than at home.  This was horse country.  This was Bourbon County.

We arrived in Paris, Kentucky.  For all the jokes I've heard over the years of Paris, Kentucky vs. Paris, France, I think the Kentucky version is prettier.  Having been in the France version a few times, I don't think that the reputation of rudeness is totally deserving, but I'll also suggest that Kentucky is a little friendlier.

We checked into our hotel and got unpacked before heading to the Huddle House to eat.  Fine French dining it may not have been, but it was tasty, filling and inexpensive.  A to-go turtle shake rounded out the evening.