Here is the trusty steed all loaded down and ready for action.
The plan was to get as far off the east coast as fast as possible and to avoid traveling any roads that the CCC would be hitting on the return trip. This put me on the interstate from Va through MD, PA, OH, and into IN. Nothing worth taking any pictures of except this Ferrari in Big Beaver PA.
I had been getting a little nervous about this trip for the past week or so. I had never done a trip nearly this big and I was doing over half of it alone. Like Cheap said that goes away in about five miles. Well by the time I got to Ohio I was feeling pretty good about things and it began to show. I was rolling out of a toll booth and there was a minivan beside me. The kid in the passenger seat was pointing and telling his dad to look at what was the finest bike he'd seen when I decided to make it memorable for them both. A handful of throttle and a good tug on the bars got the front end up good enough that I stretched out a good hundred yard wheelie. I had the stupid grin syndrome pretty bad even ten miles up the road when a State Cop went flying past me lights a-blazing. The grin faltered when he got in front of me and started pointing to the left shoulder. I was doing about 85 so I figured a speeding ticket was in my future. I didn't even get the helmet off before he was out and yelling at me "Nobody does a wheelie right past me and doesn't get a ticket". Damn it, you saw that. He takes my license and says "Your older than I am so I know you know better". I started eating humble pie and after about three good slices I asked if he could just write it for something I didn't have to come back for. He was still pissed when I saw the first crack in his armor, he mumbled something about how I needed to see a judge and it wasn't like he hated bikers 'cause he had a TL100S. A few minutes later he came out with a ticket and told me to sign it but not to read it. I did and later pulled out a "failure to signal for a lane change" ticket. Yessssssssss!
