Ride Home

If it weren't for the terrible flooding down south, the weather channel would have only talked about a storm front moving across the Midwest.  They wouldn't shut up about it so I knew what I was in for today. I could see that I was gonna have to pass right through it at some point so when I left Maggie Valley this morning all the gear went on including my yellow glasses. What a difference these make on a gloomy day. Anyway, I hit a few pockets of rain but nothing bad enough to slow me down. That is until I passed Nashville.  I can remember only one other time when the wall of rain was so heavy that I had to pull over. It happened fast and I couldn't even see the paint on the road and quickly lost track of the outline of the truck ahead of me. I knew I had to get out of traffic quick or something bad was gonna happen. I wandered to the right and felt rumble strips then began rolling off the throttle. Just then I was able to make out the hazy image of an overpass. The timing was perfect so I parked the big Ultra and got my ass away from the road. I was soon joined by two other bikes and their crew and we shot the shit till the bad stuff passed.
As I pulled out from under the bridge I was having some clutch slippage problems as I accelerated past 50 mph. I quickly realized there was nothing wrong with the clutch as the rear end started wagging back and forth. It rained hard and I doubt there was any oil on the road. I guess I'll just have to get used to the extra power I have now that I've tweaked the intake and exhaust.
Today was over 500 miles. The GPS said I could have been home by 1030pm with no stops. Screw that. I've done the iron butt thing. I'm ready for a hot meal, cold beer and good night's sleep.

Later.