We again woke late and had a lazy morning of good coffee and homemade waffles, bacon and strawberries. Thunderstorms were still booming this morning, but since we only had about 200 miles to ride, we were in no hurry to get wet. The radar showed that the line of thunderstorms was slowly working its way east, so procrastination was the order of the day.



We spent the rest of the morning admiring Bill's stable of bikes, which includes a PC800 and a GB500, and working on ours. Minor tweaks were all they required – a little oil, some chain lube, and a cinch on one of my exhaust header nuts.

Around 1 pm we decided that we should get on the road since we had 6 or so hours of riding ahead of us. We worked our way slowly through Durham before the road opened up slightly, but then we reached Raleigh and again had to slowly wind our way out the other side. Here we were greeted by faster roads and darker clouds and spent the rest of the afternoon dodging showers and other vehicles. The scenery in eastern North Carolina isn't nearly as pretty as the rest of the state, but we were excited to finally be nearing the coast and the end of Phase 1 of our trip. While we tried to exercise some throttle restraint for the sake of our fuel mileage for most of the day, our excitement won out once we turned south in Jacksonville and headed the last 20 miles to my parents' house. Turning into Sneads Ferry we could smell the salt in the air and zoomed down the last couple blocks to our destination for the next couple weeks.



My dad met us in the driveway, and we got off the bikes for the final time in this leg of our journey. Our butts were looking forward to a couple of days of hot sand and salt water therapy.

We have done over 3800 miles in 12 days of riding, and aside from the chains and one simultaneous bike nap, it's been a trouble-free trip. Thanks to our generous friends who provided us with several nights accommodations and home-cooked meals along the way, our 15 days on the road only cost about $850. Over the next couple of weeks we'll be visiting family and friends, going to the beach, eating east Carolina barbeque, and surveying our vast tracts of land (we just bought 2.5 acres in Selma, NC) before we head out again to Ohio and on to Toronto in early September.

195 miles in 6 hours. The bikes are running well, but the clutches are still unhappy.

For the past couple of weeks we have been staying with family and friends in North Carolina, waiting for Phase 2 to start. It was convenient to leave Oregon when we did as our lease had expired, but we didn't really want to get to Africa before mid-September for weather-related reasons. Initially we had planned to fly to South Africa around the 8th of September but found that we would save about $400 per person if we fly on the 15th. So that gave us a few weeks of downtime to spend visiting in NC. We lived in NC for about 12 years, and most of my family is still here, so it seemed like a natural place to stay. We have had the opportunity to see all of my immediate family and see how much all the kids have grown.



We also recently purchased about 2.5 acres of land in Selma, NC adjacent to the new “family compound” and wanted to spend some time doing a little work on it. We spent a couple of days clearing some land and “mowing” the section that was formerly a tobacco field with my dad's DR Brush Machine. It was hot and sweaty work, but it at least looks like we did something (at least until the weeds regrow).



Food has also been a priority and have made the rounds of all our favorite place to eat. Chief amongst them is Scott's BBQ in Goldsboro, NC. We have been eating their porky goodness since 1989, and it's still the best anywhere in the US. Unfortunately they are only open on Thursdays and Fridays for lunch since they reopened after Hurricane Floyd, but we were there on the 18th and we'll be there tomorrow, too!



We've also been to the beach several times and have been working on our base tans so hopefully we won't get too burned in Africa and India. We took the Symbas to visit North Topsail beach and were ATGATT over our bathing suits. We got a lot of stares and a few smiles as we stripped off our Dariens and hit the sand. The bikes loved the ride, it was the first time in a long time that they weren't carrying a ton of extra weight and we found ourselves swooping through the turns and twisting the throttles wfo at every stoplight. The clutches liked it better, too, and weren't grabby at all – maybe it's just all the extra weight?

Additionally, we did some banking (to get brand new, uncirculated USD to take with us and also a few traveler's checks) and got our International Driving Permits while we were in Raleigh one afternoon. Oh, and hit the Char Grill for the ½ pound steak burger, naturally.

We have also been catching up on these RRs and trying out our new Hero Gopro video camera which we will hopefully soon start using to add some excitement to our RRs and blog posts. Re has also enjoyed having a kitchen again and has been treating people to such good stuff as Steak and Guiness pie and homemade gnocchi. She loves to cook and we have been putting on what I have been jokingly calling our “Africa reserve layer!”

Hurricane Irene also made an appearance last week. Before Irene made landfall about 50 miles up the coast, we put up boards on the windows and got the generator ready for the inevitable power outage. Lots of wind and rain and trees down but we escaped any real damage. We had the boards down by Saturday evening, and by Sunday the yard was clean. The power went out at about 2 am on Saturday morning and came back on at about 2 am on Sunday. The generator kept the cold and a few lights on, so it wasn't even much of an inconvenience.

We have had a couple of bike-related issues while we've been here. Re was trying to start her bike one morning, and the starter wouldn't turn over, as if the battery was weak. Because we were in a hurry to get to Scott's BBQ, I just ran over and gave the kickstarter a kick to get it going. The kickstarter would barely turn for a revolution or so and then it turned easily...? The bike fired up, but I almost didn't notice the strong smell of gas when it did. We took off for the gas station as we were nearly empty, and when we got there Re said that her bike wasn't running right. When I filled up the tanks I saw that Re's took nearly .1 gallon more than mine, which is unusual since they usually take almost identical amounts. I swapped bikes with Re and found that her bike was hesitating but would pull a normal top speed, it was just jerky while doing it. Thinking back through our trip, I recalled the beetle that went down the funnel into Re's tank on our third day of our trip. My suspicion was that the low fuel level in the tank might have resulted in beetle parts being pulled through the fuel screen and into the fuel filter, restricting fuel flow. (Maybe?) After a few miles, the bike began running smoothly and kept doing so for the rest of the trip. But the beetle-induced fuel restriction just didn't make sense, the bike would still pull full speed – not like there was a fuel restriction. And then it hit me. I signaled to pull over and looked at the clear airbox overflow tube and saw just what I was afraid of. It was full and it didn't look like oil. Hard to turn over, strong smell of gas when it did, using too much fuel, and blubbering because of too much fuel. My suspicion was confirmed when I pulled the drain plug on the airbox drain and watched the gasoline drain onto the pavement. The bike had “hydraulic-ed,” the cylinder had filled with fuel, probably due to the vacuum petcock not stopping fuel flow to the carb when parked or perhaps a sticking float. Crap. We were only about 5 miles from my sister's house when I finally figured it out, so we stopped for a quart of oil and headed for her place. We drained the oil and it was full of gas, we shook and tilted the bike to try to get out as much as we could – another time when a 200 lb bike is handy. While the oil was draining I dropped float bowl and pulled the float. The float hadn't sprung a leak and the float needle and seat both looked OK, too. (Another nice thing about the Symbas is you can remove the float bowl with the carb still in place on the bike. Just remove the leg shields and the two screws that hold the carb bowl on, and you have full access.) We buttoned the carb back up, pulled the fuel line and found no fuel flow, so whatever the problem was appeared to have fixed itself. (I still think its the ghost of that beetle!) We filled it back up with oil and changed it again the next day. (Another nice thing about the Symba is an oil change only requires 800cc's of oil!) The problem hasn't reoccurred yet, but we are keeping an eye on it.

The other problem is my broken rear spoke. I just found it this morning as I was doing my usual maintenance in preparation for getting back on the road tomorrow. All the other spokes were tight enough, so I don't know why this one broke. It snapped on the end near the rear brake hub, approximately 1 inch from the hub itself. I have a call into Alliance Powersports to try to have a couple Fed-exed to us in Ohio. I hope they come through as it would be the easiest solution, but I also have already checked out Buchanan's as a back-up. Sigh.



We also partially disassembled the bikes yesterday so we could measure them for crating. We are going to have a crate built by a company in Toronto and are in the process of finalizing our shipping plans. The big bummer is that it appears the crate is going to weigh 275 pounds!?! Apparently it is made out of depleted uranium or something... The bikes only weigh 200 pounds each. And at $6.53 CAD a kilo to ship from Toronto to Cape Town, that is one expensive crate. We are looking into an uncrated option right now and are waiting for a call back. I'd rather they be crated, but between the cost of the crate and the added weight it has added nearly $600 to my estimate.

Tomorrow we head to Selma, NC to visit more family, Friday and Saturday we'll be in Raleigh with friends for drinks and debauchery. Sunday (my 45th birthday) we start our two day ride to northeastern Ohio for a visit with the in-laws before riding to Toronto on the 11th where the bikes get crated on the 12th for a flight on the 15th. We fly out on the 15th and land in Cape Town on the morning of the 17th, where we hope to soon be reunited with our Symbas for Phase 3 of this little ride.

9/1 Ride to Selma, NC

No maintenance today since I did it all the previous day. We re-packed the bikes and rode out about 10am for a lunch date at Scott's BBQ in Goldsboro. As this was the first time we had ridden the bikes fully loaded in over two weeks, we were surprised by their girth. It took the whole day of riding to get re-acclimated to the weight, topheaviness, and lack of acceleration that results from carrying a full 50 pounds of gear on each bike. I also stopped periodically to check on my rear spokes but had no further problems with them. We made our way to Goldsboro and sat down for another meal of porky goodness at Scott's before riding to my sister's house in Selma. We checked over the bikes when we arrived and found no problems, so we toured the property to see what Irene had wrought. Our new mailboxes were still standing and, other than a few downed limbs and split trees, there was no other significant damage to her property or ours. Later that evening we went to my great-nephew's soccer practice and spent time with the family. Afterward, we adjourned to Heidi's in Smithfield for a truly excellent burger and a couple of s.

122 miles in about 4 hours, bikes running fine.

9/2 and 9/3 Ride to Raleigh

We enjoyed a late morning with my sister before heading for Raleigh. A short ride later we were at our friend Matt's business where we unloaded the bikes and headed out for (wait for it...) more food. A delicious taqueria at the BP gas station on Capitol. Yummy! We spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on what has changed (and what hasn't) before heading out to the Flying Saucer for and visiting with more old friends. After another stop for a few more s we returned to Matt's for the night.

The next morning we woke late (I'm getting too old for this shit) and drank some coffee in an attempt to clear the fog. Shortly after another old friend came by, and we spent many hours catching up on travels and times. Benjy lived in the Chiapas region of Mexico for many years before leaving on extremely short notice due to increasing drug activity and violence in the area. It was fascinating to talk to someone who actually lived in the area for so many years and hear about the changes that he has seen over the years. Lunch and then dinner and then a little hair of the dog before heading to bed early so we could head for Ohio in the morning.

43 miles in about 2 hours, all the spokes are still ringing clearly.

We woke up a little late again but felt better than the previous morning. It was my 45th birthday today, and I was looking forward to a good day on the road. Coffee downed and shower taken, I headed out to the bikes for the now familiar routine of morning maintenance. It was a happy surprise to find everything basically in spec, they just needed some chain lube and one psi in the rear tire of each bike, and we were good to go. The weather was good but a little humid as we rode north out of Raleigh towards the Virginia border. We were both experiencing some mixed emotions about our stay in NC. We lived there for 12 years and still have family and friends in the state but left under some unhappy circumstances. Neither of us ever thought we would want to return but both found ourselves a little sad as we rode farther away. These emotions seemed to cloud our journey today. The weather got hotter and more humid, the roads were busier than they needed to be, and I had a bad case of “bike noise paranoia”. We also seem to have lost our paper map somewhere along the way. It was tucked in its usual spot inside the Rok-straps behind Rebekah but went missing sometime during the afternoon.



I kept checking over the bikes every time we stopped, sure I could see or hear something odd as we slowly made it further north. We stopped for a lunch of Clif Bars and warm water and took a rest in the parking lot of a high school in Oxford, NC. When I once again checked the spokes, I noticed what turned out to be the cause of the erratic tapping that I could occasionally hear – the funnel which is clipped to the helmet lock on the left side of my bike was turned around from its normal position and was banging against the side of the bike in the wind. One mystery solved, we got back on the road and found ourselves in Front Royal, Virginia at about 6:30pm. We had only ridden about 260 miles by this point but my sister (who travels for a living) had mentioned how much she liked Front Royal a couple of times, so we decided to stop for the night. Mistake #1. Maybe there is a North Front Royal?, or maybe life at the Fairfield is nicer?, or maybe it was just our general funk, but we never found the good side of Front Royal. Since it was my birthday, we checked out the under $60 hotels and quickly decided not to stay in any of them. Cigarette burns and moldy carpets were the common denominator and apparently (as evidenced by the numerous non-operable cars outside) the inexpensive hotels in Front Royal also double as Section 8 housing.

So we decided to camp. Hey, it's a tourist area – there has to be good camping, right? Mistake #2. We fired up the iPhone and located several local campgrounds and ruled out a few due to distance. We stopped by one and found out that tent camping (no hook-ups!) was $32, so we rode on. By now it had started sprinkling and our standards quickly plummeted, and the “right” campground turned into the “right now” campground. About this time we spied the Gooney Creek campground and pulled in, determined to take whatever we found and pitch camp ASAP. Mistake #3. If you get bored you can read the reviews on TripAdvisor (that we later found) and appreciate the loveliness of this place. One of the reviews likens it to a campground from Deliverance and that is a pretty apt description. If the place hadn't been packed due to the holiday weekend, I think we might have seriously worried about banjo music late at night. But I digress. As I set up camp, Re once again headed out in search of food. Lightning was flashing in the hills around us by the time she returned. She did a nice job of approximating a birthday dinner with a steak and blue cheese pasta dish, salad, bread, and a tiny cheesecake for dessert, all washed down with oil cans of Foster's lager. We soon went to bed and fell asleep to the sounds of falling rain and the drunkards down the way.

Just a quick update on our spare spokes – it turned out that Alliance Powersports, the SYM importer, was unable to get spokes to us after all. Michael, in the parts department, did put me in touch with Chris from Ootys Scooters in Santa Barbara. Chris recently installed a new front wheel on a customer's Symba and was able to salvage some spokes from the damaged wheel. He, very kindly, is sending a few via UPS to my in-laws house in Ohio, gratis! Thanks, Chris!

280 miles in about 10 hours. The bikes are running fine, I'm just having a little trouble trusting them right now.

After a not very restful night, we woke up to a soaking wet campground. At least it wasn't raining while we fixed our coffee and ate our peaches. We started taking down the tent and wrenching on the bikes when it began to sprinkle again. A quick check of the radar on the iPhone showed what a long day we were in for. I did an abbreviated service on the bikes, adding a bit of oil and actually airing down the rear tires to 32 psi (from 34). I also dutifully rang every spoke in my new ritual of penance to the gods of tensile strength as it began to rain harder. While riding yesterday I had the opportunity to think about my spokes. Before we started this trip I decided to set our tire pressures at 30/34 (up from the recommended 25/28) for lower rolling resistance and longer tire life. I wonder if the increased pressure might have contributed to the spoke failure by decreasing the amount of “give” in the sidewalls? I guess I will never know, but I decided to lower the pressures just in case.

We decided to skip the shower that morning as we couldn't figure out how to dry off in the rain and (honestly) the bath house was more than a little scary. While the bikes warmed up before we set off, I noticed that my tail light wasn't lit. The brake light still worked, but I had no running light. Fortunately we had an auxiliary bicycle light (my dad insisted that we have them for heavy traffic) that I clipped on and set to continuous red. We hopped on the bikes and headed out once again and strained to see any clearing in the distance.

Our route for the day was confusing. In order to stay off the interstates, the route involved so many different roads that I actually had to write them out as a list. Our missing paper map also added to the confusion since I couldn't check the directions against reality. For a while we were on a different rural highway every 10 miles or so. And it rained, and rained, and rained. It rained for the first 8 hours of the trip: occasionally it sprinkled, occasionally it poured, but the water never stopped. And it was cold. The highest temperature we saw was about 65 degrees. Our gear was purchased with Africa, India, and SE Asia in mind, so warm it isn't. We stopped shortly after we started the ride and cinched up all our vents. Later we donned our fleece pullovers, and by the end of the ride we were shivering. We didn't break out our wool base layers but, in retrospect, should have.

We stopped for lunch in the early afternoon at McDeath, which looked like the warmest and driest place in whatever that town was. We sat and ate for a while as we watched the rain continue to soak our bikes. The gear mostly did what it was supposed to: the Dariens kept the rain out, and our Ortliebs and Pelicans kept our stuff dry. Our boots, however, appear to only be waterproof for 6 hours or so, as we both eventually found our toes squishing in water.


That afternoon we rode out of Virginia into West Virginia,



through Maryland,



and into southern Pennsylvania. The roads in places were as steep as many in the Rockies, and some may have been steeper. Re and I found ourselves struggling up some of the hills in third gear and had to resort to second gear on more than a few occasions. The roads here were beautiful and twisty, and they would have been a lot more fun in better weather (and on a bigger bike). The rain finally stopped somewhere north of Pittsburgh, and we were glad to see some sun trying to break through. After spending the afternoon wringing the water out of our gloves at every stop, our spirits started to rise as we pushed through the last two hours of the day. We finally crossed into Ohio and arrived at the in-laws' sometime after 6 pm and jumped in the hot shower to warm up. Eggs and potatoes and coffee also helped to warm our cores before we headed off to bed.

299 Miles and 5 states in about 10 hours today. The bikes ran well, the spokes held, but I lost a tail light bulb.

Our last stop before leaving the US was a familial obligation visit with the in-laws in northeastern Ohio. One last chance to do some maintenance on the bikes before we pack them up. Yay! And one last chance to listen to my in-laws express their disapproval of our lives. Boo! Tuesday was an easy day of slacking off and sleeping late. The in-laws have 100 acres of land that used to be a rod-and-gun club, complete with a 10 acre or so lake. My father-in-law recently purchased a small pontoon boat with a 2hp electric motor for general lake duty. In the afternoon the sun made one of its very few appearances for the week and in order to take advantage of it, we took the boat out for a cruise and some fishing. The rest of the evening we again tried to explain our reasons for this trip, to little avail.

Wednesday we borrowed a car and rode into town for some last minute supplies and to get out of the house for a while. We picked up fresh oil and a new blue tarp to replace the “custom” bike cover that we somehow lost in Raleigh. It rained most of the day, so it wasn't very conducive to getting much else done. Fortunately we went out to dinner so we could make polite small talk about the food instead of hearing how we are throwing our educations away (again).



Thursday was a better day as it was not raining too much and we could escape to the garage to do some bike maintenance. Our rear tires were shot and needed to be replaced. We had been carrying a new Michelin Gazelle each in case the stockers didn't last this far, but they did an admirable job for the last 5500 miles. Changing the tires couldn't have been easier. No bead breaker was required, just a firm squeeze with the hands, and no more than one tire iron was ever needed. We did Rebekah's bike first, the tire was easily removed and a tire iron was only needed to start the first bead over the rim. The tube was still in good shape, so it went back in and the new tire popped right back on. On installation, a tire lever was only required for the last couple of inches of the second bead. Sweet. The owner's manual has you remove the exhaust to facilitate getting the tire in and out of position, but I just lifted the back of the bike off of the ground as Re wiggled the tire back in place. Another advantage to a 200 pound bike! I just removed the tire from my bike since I was still (somewhat nervously) awaiting the delivery of my replacement spoke. I also took the opportunity to change the oil in both bikes and to adjust the valves. The valve adjustment is easiest with two people and only takes about 30 minutes, including removing and re-installing the leg shields. The intakes were less than .02mm loose and were easy to put right thanks to screw-type valve adjusters. The exhausts were both still good at .12mm, so we just buttoned them back up. A visual inspection of the chains showed no real change since the initial adjustment after installation. The sun made a brief appearance later that afternoon so we grabbed the binoculars and went out for a bird watching cruise on the lake before another uncomfortable dinner.

Friday was a nervous day, waiting for the UPS man to arrive with my spokes. This was the last chance for them to be delivered before we left for Canada and Africa, so I was more than a little anxious. We spent the morning shopping for my belated birthday dinner and having lunch at a great little hotdog shop in Sharon, Pennsylvania. The UPS man finally showed up around 3 pm with my spokes. Yay! Once again I would like to say “Thanks” to Chris at Ooty's Scoots for saving my butt and sending me these spokes. One of the most pleasant surprises of this trip has been the kindness of complete strangers who have helped us when we needed it. I installed the replacement spoke and popped the new tire on and lifted the rear of the bike so Re could wiggle the wheel back into place. Re got the wheel into the gap, and when I set the back end of the bike back down, we both saw and heard a nut fall out of the rear end of my bike... Well now, that's not right.



Re pulled the rear wheel back out, and we soon found where the nut came from. The rear wheel of the Symba actually fits on a splined hub that remains attached to the bike when the wheel is removed. Similar to the set-up on bikes with single-sided swingarms, it's a nice system because you don't have to disturb the chain when you remove the wheel. The rear sprocket is bolted to the splined hub by four bolts that are held in place by tabbed washers. This is where the nut came from. Closer examination revealed that only one bolt was mostly snug, one had lost its nut entirely and the nuts were almost off on the other two... More worryingly still was that one bolt head had clearly been rubbing against the inside of the swingarm and had machined some thickness off of the bolt head. Not cool. The tabs on the washers appeared to have not done much good as they were all partially bent away from the bolt heads. I removed the hub from the bike, removed the bolts, re-flattened the washer tabs, and put it all back together and re-staked the tabs as tightly as I could. We then put it all back together and fit the wheel in place once more. We tightened everything back up, adjusted the chain and pronounced the bikes (after I inspected the bolts on Re's) fit for Africa! Ahem.

Saturday was our last day in Ohio and most of the day was taken up by lunch with many of Re's extended family, which was nice; it was good to catch up with some people we haven't seen in a long time. The not so nice part was the 1.5 hour ride each way with the in-laws. Later that evening we had the big discussion over dinner. Re and I both know that our lives make some people very uncomfortable. One common reaction to our situation seems to be that our lives make people reflect on decisions in their own lives that they have (or haven't) made and things they have or haven't done. The reactions to this seem to vary from people looking quietly confused to outright hostility. It's very peculiar. We often say how our lives aren't for everyone and that everyone has to do what makes them happy. We certainly never try to push our way of life onto other people and we wish other people would do the same. After another awkward evening, we headed to bed early so we could be on the road in the morning.

No miles, just a lot of maintenance.

We rose early and got going quickly as we couldn't wait to get on the road again. Re's mom cooked us omelets, potatoes, and sliced tomatoes all accompanied by some good coffee. We loaded the bikes under gray skies (again) and said our good-byes and we were off. Heading north towards Lake Erie the sky began to lighten and the sun made a brief appearance. Our spirits felt lighter than they had all week as we approached the North Coast. We turned east on US 20 and crossed into Pennsylvania.



We stopped for a quick commemorative picture at the border as we had just completed the first 5000 miles of this trip. The ride was pretty even though the sun decided to hide again, the light traffic allowed us to enjoy the fields of grape arbors that populate this region.



Enjoying the sights and smells we soon found ourselves at the New York border where even the light raindrops dotting our face shields didn't dampen our spirits. We turned onto NY 5 which followed the coast more closely and we spied glimpses of the water through the grape arbors as we cruised along. We stopped in Dunkirk, NY late in the morning to stretch our legs and have a peach. Refreshed we continued towards the ever darkening skies which finally let loose near Angola, NY. At first we attempted to keep going but the pummeling rain limited visibility to only a few hundred feet. I spied a car wash on the left and we quickly pulled off through the standing water and into the shelter of an empty bay. We hid out for about 30 minutes, waiting for the rain to subside. We also enjoyed another Clif Bar and water lunch. Only the best for me and my lady! The rain eventually slacked off and we made for the Canadian border and (hopefully) drier pastures. As we approached the Peace Bridge we were happy to see blue skies ahead. A few minutes later we had completed our first border crossing, paid our $6 toll and promptly missed our first exit. A few u-turns later we were heading west through the Canadian countryside. This was our first real visit to Canada and were surprised to see how similar it is to the US. There are some notable differences, though. We really are enjoying the cultural diversity and the associated cuisines. I am also enjoying the denim shorts that seem to be the style here for women. As an unrepentant ass-man I certainly appreciated the “scenery” as we rode. (Sorry, I didn't get any pictures) We wound our way through the countryside and eventually made it to our hotel that will be our temporary home until 9/15 when we depart for Cape Town.

279 miles an about 9.5 hours. The bikes are running well.