Saturday was a melange of two lane roads from VIR
south through North Carolina, eventually ending up in
Pinehurst.
Had a great visit with my sister, her husband Bob
and Calley, their beautiful Golden
Retriever on Saturday evening and all day Sunday. They live on one of
the lush golf courses in Pinehurst with a back yard that slopes down to
one of the fairways. Between golf and the local Barbershop Quartet, Bob
is enjoying his well earned retirement.
Caroline keeps herself occupied with a variety of
volunteer
activities as well as working with the grounds around their home and
playing golf as often as she can. Of course, "working" with Calley
takes a certain portion of her time as well...
The two days were a nice way to break up the riding
and the
accommodations sure beat the other places I stayed on the trip.
Although we've lived quite a ways apart since the `70s, it's nice to be
able to spend more than telephone time with Caroline. It seems that
over the years, we've become closer and that the differences of our
youth have either disappeared or become, at most, inconsequential. It
was a good visit.
On Monday,Wendy, Mike and Kaylee drove down from La
La FaLooza, on
their way to Wilmington. Caroline hasn't had the opportunity to spend
much time with my daughter Wendy and, other than keeping up with Kaylee
on her website, had not yet met her great niece. Kaylee is a charmer,
and as soon as she was completely awake from her nap, she turned on her
charm and became the life of the party. Not that she enjoys being the
center of attention or anything...
Shortly after noon,
I realized I really needed to get on the road in order to be in Atlanta
on Tuesday. Particularly since showers and thunderstorms were
threatening the are I was riding through. While Mike headed off for a
tour of the Pinehurst clubhouse and golfing legend memorabilia, I
packed my saddlebags and wheeled the RS out of the garage. Biding
farewell to both my families, thanking Bob and Caroline for their
generous hospitality, I pulled out with one eye on the road and the
other on the increasingly threatening skies.
The original plan had me running two-lane roads
south out of Pinehurst into South Carolina then west on more meandering
roads to Atlanta. Shortly out of Pinehurst, I revised my route to skirt
the growing storms, heading east and north towards Charlotte where I
picked up I-85. Despite my best efforts on the BRP, my rear MeZ-4 is
becoming noticeably squared in cross section, much to my chagrin. While
super slabbing is not my preferred method, when given the choice of dry
riding, I'll put up with it.