September 26, 2017
510 miles…
6835 Miles total this trip…
All day on Interstate I-40 East. What a joy, just couldn’t believe the truck traffic. The economy must be in great shape with all goods moving on the highways. I can’t tell you how many times trucks quickly pulled into my lane as I was approaching them. It was a struggle to stay out of their blind spot and 2 of them tried to run me off the road. Makes for a anxious ride in the heat.
The only good thing that happened today was I finally found a dealer who could change my oil and a few other service items. I changed fluids just before I left but that was almost 7,000 miles ago. Service schedule is every 6,000 miles. The bike has 24,100 miles since I purchased it just 15 months ago. I was going to have to do it myself in the hotel parking lot tonight. Not a problem but disposing the waste oil would be tricky. If you think car dealerships are expensive, you ain’t seen nothin’. Oil change with filter, 2 spark plugs and oil change for drive shaft was $240. None of it is hard to get to either.
Nashville was a mess. Major traffic jams everywhere. There’s just too many major Interstates intersecting in that town. It’s really a disaster. It was 95 degrees in the stop and go traffic. My riding jacket doesn’t vent very well when stopped. Plus I was wearing my helmet of course. Good thing I switched to my Kevlar jeans today.
Not much else to report. I’m in a Best Western in Knoxville tonight and plan to get an early start tomorrow hoping for cooler temps and less traffic. Should be on the Blue Ridge Parkway by mid morning. This will be 180 degrees from the riding I’ve done for the past 3 days. 45 mph speed limit for 400 miles. Hopefully the scenery will be as good as advertised.
If things go well, I should be in Dayton by Friday afternoon. We’ll see…
What a trip! I was having problems viewing the pictures but finally got to see the ones I hadn’t previously. Still love the “Where am I?” Looking forward to personally hear about the adventure.
Love and stay safe.