Moonshine
Day 1
Thursday
With the weather pulling a "one more storm before spring" stunt in the Midwest, the last few days have been full of "go" "don't go" "go" "don't go" chatter in my head.
I decided to wait out the heavy storms as they passed through Virginia. Instead of leaving yesterday and taking a leisurely ride through Ohio, I left today and made a beeline through Kentucky heading west. I thought the southern route would give me a better chance of missing the nasty stuff even though it will add a few more miles to the ride.
I left at 9am when it had warmed up to 46 degrees. It was still overcast and very damp outside from the heavy overnight rains. By the time I made it to the Charlottesville area, the sun was breaking through and the wind was whipping around like crazy. I dealt with 25 mph gusts all day.
In West Virginia I could see the heavy storms in my direction of travel--on the GPS weather screen and by just looking over the horizon. I made a stop in Beckley, WV to fuel up and make a radar map check. Looks like if I dawdle for a bit in Beckley, I might miss the rain a few miles down the road. So this is my plan... I grabbed something to eat and kept an eye on "MyCast" on my cell phone. When the rain moved on its way, so did I. Sure enough -- I stayed dry, but saw lots of wet roads and water filled ditches as I continued on my way to Moonshine.
West Virginia State Capital...as seen flying by on I64.
I missed the "Welcome to Kentucky" sign. My fingers move much slower when so cold. I stopped at the Kentucky visitor center to pickup the motel coupon books. No sense in paying anything more than the CHEAPEST price available on a room.
Ever wonder where all the stuff would go if a Prowler were to ever go out of town on a prowl?!
Too Cool!
I was thinking ...driving along... as I often do...
I was never one to keep a "death grip" on the handle bar. I always valued a horse with a "soft mouth" so I appreciate a "light hand." I see it much the same ... having a light touch as I control Fleeter. But today, I caught myself holding onto those grips like a was holding a snake that might squirm out of my grip if I let up on my hold of it.
I had some heated grips installed for days like today. As it got colder, I had a choke hold on those grips trying to squeeze the heat out of them. The outside of may fingers just kept getting colder though. At least I had feeling on the inside of my hand! I had to remember to relax once in awhile to let the blood circulate some.
Anyone that has had the experience of riding horseback when it's cold know that your feet can very cold. So cold that you barely have any feeling in them. When you hop out of the saddle and your feet hit the ground, it feels like your feet have turned to ceramic and shatter as they hit the ground. Oh the pain! Well, it's not so bad on a motorcycle, but I think it's just because you don't have so far to go to get to the ground.
You see the little light meter on the handlebar in the above picture? That's my battery meter. Since Fleeter doesn't have much spare battery juice, I have to keep a close eye on what's happening with the battery when I start turning on my added toys. GPS, MotoLights, and hand grip heaters. But if I run all these at the same time, I'll run a deficit on the battery juice output and might not have enough to start up again after the next stop. Remember what happened last October in Newport, TN? Yeah, that was before I installed the battery meter ... So now you know what the lights are about.
What? Where's Moonshine and why are you going there...you ask?
Stay tuned to find out.
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