After double-checking our inventories and making sure everything was squared away, it was time to get moving. His roommates made sure to send us off with all the love they could muster: lots of sarcasm and jokes. The first stop was to go to the gas station, top off and head out. At this point, we're in Fairfax County, VA and I'm not too familiar with where we're headed, so Kyle leads the way. As we're on route 50 headed west, a car pulls right out in my lane without stopping and I ended up swerving and clipping his bumper. 2.2 miles away from Kyle's house. UNBELIEVABLE!
I manage to keep upright somehow and move into the parking lot bordering the intersection where I got hit. I knew I had damage to my bike, but at that moment, I didn't know how much. Of course I'm thinking it's going to be horrible and I won't be able to continue to the trip. Kyle heard me honk my horn and heard me on our bluetooth yell, "FUCK," or other choice words. (Hey, can you blame me?) When I got off my bike I found my lower right front fairing, engine guard, highway peg, rear engine guard and rear right saddle bag all damaged. There was an actual chunk missing out of the saddlebag. Needless to say, I wasn't happy. The driver gets out of the car and I try talking to him...he stared at me blankly. Luckily, there were cops already in the intersection, so they immediately came over and started the process of exchanging information. Good news: the driver was insured. Bad news: he spoke very little english so it was very hard to communicate. I decide that I'll just wait for other police to show up and I'll let them handle it.
The cop that showed up was pretty cool, he understood perfectly was happened and conveyed that it was definitely the other driver's fault. I was cool with this, especially since I didn't really get too hurt minus the cut and friction burns on my legs from the collision. I have no idea how I managed to stay up, but I'm sure glad I did. We were way-layed by an hour, but then it was time to start off again, making sure to call the girlfriend and assure her that I was fine. I was met with an "ok," indicating that she was very worried but didn't want to let me know. I knew.
We decided to take a way to Ohio that took us through the mountains of West Virginia that would run us through the George Washington National Forest, Dolly Sods, and numerous podunk towns that no one has ever really heard of. This was my first experience with twisty, windy mountain roads. Wow, it was definitely an interesting experience, especially when confronted with tractor trailers that would take up much of their lane and a bit of mine. This was my first experience going through Huntington, WV. I never really fathomed how large and industrial that city is, but I got to see the picturesque views offered by the interstate of all the warehouses, factories, refineries and the ridiculously shitty interstate that took us through it. Kyle advised that at least 20 miles of this interstate was like this and I should really try and avoid the potholes.
We exited the interstate at the exit for Ironton, crossed over a bridge and I could immediately smell the city of Ohio. I did not get the same reaction that Robert Duvall's character had in Full Metal Jacket. Napalm would have smelled better.
Sure enough, as we're passing one of the local Wal-Marts, I look over and see a lady lean out of the window of a gold SUV and whistle very, very loud and start waving at Kyle very enthusiastically. I key up the bluetooth headset and say, "Wow, who was that? That was quite a welcoming, must be a small town." His response: "My mother." First thought that came to my mind: what a nice lady. Second thought: what a coincidence; this must be a small town.
After sitting through some traffic, a few glimpses of the Ohio river, and numerous closed stores, shops, etc., we end up at his parents' house. A bunch of highly-populated windy roads took us to a nice, quiet neighborhood. Greeted by his dad, sister, and niece, we were glad to be off the bikes. 476+ miles down and plenty more to go, but I know I could feel the trip starting to have effects on my body. The other thing was that I finally understood why everyone thinks Kyle is a dick: his parents and rest of his family are incredibly nice, whereas, he is not. Guess someone has to be the oddball.
We wash the many colors of bugs off the fronts of the bike, share stories, and head to dinner at some place called "Freds." From there, we went and visited some of his friends and headed to a bar called, "The Fish Bowl," where it was bike night. Upon arriving, I realize I'm going to have to park my big ass bike with an audience. The ENTIRE outside crowd watched as we pulled up. Kyle effortlessly parked his street glide. Me: well, not so much. It took considerable effort considering I'm still not able to touch the ground completely with both feet, even with it lowered. It's all because of my massive seat that I bought for the trip. I end up parking it, with a little advice from a guy at the bar and head in. I'm greeted with a bunch of individuals all in Harley t-shirts, facial hair, and sheer blue-collar attitudes. I definitely didn't belong. Well, we get a bucket of miller-lite and chill. No one talked to us, I checked in with the girlfriend and went back out to the outside deck. While standing there, we witnessed a girl ask a guy if he wanted to go smoke some pot. They then disappeared around to the side of the building and the smell of ganja then filled the air. Ah...another smell to add to the queue. After they smoked whatever it was they smoked (yeah, right), they came back to the deck and debated on the legal uses of pot.
Upon leaving, we headed down some dark roads to head back to his house and sure enough, 3 doors down from his house while behind another car, I witnessed a large dog come from the shadows of a house on the right and bark furiously at the car and Kyle's bike, but it stopped...presumably at the invisible fence line. While watching this unfold, I then witness another dog come from the left...not stopping at an invisible fence line. The dog chased the car and of course wasn't able to keep up and was clipped by Kyle's bike. The dog sustains a head injury and is in the middle of the street trying to get up and barking and whining at anything and everything. Thankfully, I was far enough behind to where I missed the dog and we both turned around to go find the owner. I wanted to get the hell out of there because I knew there was another dog, but Kyle made sure he went and told the owner. At the time, i didn't realize just how close we were to his parents' house. When I turned around, I saw the dog still laying in the road, this time not moving. I park the bike in the middle of the street to make sure no one else hits it and I walk up to where Kyle is telling the owner about what happened. As the owner approaches, the dog hears her voice and immediately pops up as if nothing happened and forlornly walked over, blood still dripping from it's nose. We recommend to the lady that she may want to go to a vet if one is open, but she dismisses it. I then watch the dog attempt to sit but instead just about falls over...sure sign of head injury, at least in a human. After the owner making sure we were ok, we head back to the bikes and put them up for the evening: we have a long trip ahead the next day. We were going to shoot for making it to Joplin, MO. It's going to be about a 770 mile trip...not easy. With that, we head to our respective rooms after chatting with his parents and rest up for the next day.
No comments:
Post a Comment