So just to sum all that up....So that was that then. This time last week we were waking up in the Buffalo Creek Bed & Breakfast with ice cream muesli and grits for breakfast, overlooking a babbling brook in the heart of the Smokie Mountains. The prospect of another week on the road stretched out ahead for the seasoned explorers. And now we are home, and it’s back to work tomorrow. Only one night in our own bed and the whole thing seems like a bit of a distant memory. So, before that memory fades, the Blogmeister (Stuart) has decreed that we try and capture a few thoughts to summarise our adventures. Here goes…

Most sensible people would ask why we would bother to do a tour on a motorbike when a car is so convenient. The automobile is more comfortable, you can take as much luggage as you want, you stay dry in the rain, it is safer, it is more comfortable, you can travel with your friends and converse throughout the journey etc etc. Well, yes, all that is true – but on a motorbike….

1. You become much more absorbed in the environment. You can see the clouds drifting past overhead or the branches as they form a beautiful natural tunnel winding up the Appalachian mountainside; you can hear the rivers raging past at the side of the road or the cicadas in the trees; you can smell the earthy breeze as it drifts up the river valley or off the corn drying in the fields as it is prepared for winter fodder; and you can feel the wind in your face as it cools with the setting sun or tries to blow you off course as you top a spectacular arched bridge along the Outer Banks. The whole experience is just magnified.

2. You meet more people. It turns out that just about everybody:
(a) is a biker,
(b) wants to be a biker or
(c) feels the need to justify to bikers why they are not bikers.

Whether you are packing your saddlebags in the hotel car park, stopping for a cup of coffee along the roadside somewhere, or pausing in a viewpoint to take a few pictures, people seem to catch your eye and come over to share stories and experiences.

3. Everybody seems to care about you. Obviously you are in the fellowship of bikers and receive a warm salute from every motorcycle going the other direction (especially warm when it is another Harley!). But even non-bikers care; I can’t count the number of other people who assumed the mother role and told us to be careful; the kindly restaurateurs, the ladies in the toll booths, the hotel receptionists and all the rest. And you only have to pull over for 30 seconds before someone stops to make sure that you are OK. It is even different when you are trying to change lanes because cars or trucks are quick to make space for you. I think the vulnerability of a biker brings out the best in human nature.

4. You are closer to your partner. Driving in a car with your wife is one thing, but there is something unique about riding with a pillion. Perhaps it is the level of trust required or maybe the physical contact. And conversing over your own private intercom is inexplicably more fun that just talking in a car.

5. Your concern for your friends on their bike, either ahead of you or in your rear view mirror, makes you part of a little team – only connected by CB radio when required. And at the end of the day you share the stories and experiences from a slightly different angle. Perhaps being cooped up in a car with another couple (and Stuart’s jokes) for 2 weeks might have stretched a friendship rather than deepened it.

It added up to the fact that at the end of each day the experience felt somehow richer and more all encompassing. I’m probably getting a bit boring, so I’ll quit while I’m ahead. (if I am still ahead), and the Fulton/Bluebird half of the gang will sign off with our 5 favourite pictures of the trip. Quite a tricky selection given that the 3 photographers managed over 3000 pictures between them!

In conclusion though, what does 2x2x2 equal? I could tell you, but it wouldn’t add up to the same if you hadn’t experienced it. Perhaps you can join us on the road next time out. Thanks for following us this far.

God bless.
Craig & Mandy-Jane.
xxx

Kings of the road...

Ah...smell that open air.

Mj looking like a fighter pilot walking to the spitfire.

Have to admit goggles are good for practical rather than fashion reasons!