Every year for the past 15 years (the past 5 for myself personally) a group of friends makes trips from across the country (Louisiana, Texas, Indiana, Maryland) to converge down in Tennessee and North Carolina for a week of motorcycle riding, automotive driving bliss, and general woodland debauchery.
This year, due to the size of our group, we decided to rent out an entire compound 2 miles from the Cherohala Skyway on the NC side of the Tail of the Dragon. Three different houses, each with its own garage equipped with beer fridges and air compressors, pool tables, and dart boards.
The roughly 1225 mile round trip is mostly highway. Typically the commute takes us Marylanders down I81 which is long and boring, so I decided to switch it up this year and spend the night on the way down outside Raleigh, roughly halfway between my house and the cabins in NC.
As I have the past 3 years, I was again towing a boat turned motorcycle trailer behind the M5. I bought the trailer with one wheel snapped off and no decking boards. I had to weld steel tubing to the front of the trailer to square it up, install a new axle, and tossed on a set of larger aluminum wheels to help dissipate hub wheel bearing heat and reduce hub speed by increasing tire diameter.
5 minutes into a roughly 4.5hr first leg of the trip I am hit with a CEL. Typical.
SoMD has some great backroads, but they are shared by the Amish and covered in horse crap. So typically, I just avoid them.
Made a quick pitstop at Maryland International Raceway just to see if there was any action. I think it was some testing/elims for an import event.
Spotted this civic on the way out. huge exhaust pipe coming out of the front fender and an AWD badge on the trunk. Probably scoots pretty well.
Some bridge on the Richmond, VA Bypass.
Got a waze alert in NC for hail reported ahead. Decided to pull over and check the weather app. Decided I would wait 15 minutes before driving through this mess in hopes I would miss the hail. NC Weather be crazy.
While pulled over I decided to scan the CEL. yay O2 sensors!
After 15 minutes on the shoulder of I95 just north of the storm, I decided to give it a go. Holy standing water batman.
Finally made it outside Raleigh, where I consumed much NC barbeque and brews. That city never disappoints.
This year, due to the size of our group, we decided to rent out an entire compound 2 miles from the Cherohala Skyway on the NC side of the Tail of the Dragon. Three different houses, each with its own garage equipped with beer fridges and air compressors, pool tables, and dart boards.
The roughly 1225 mile round trip is mostly highway. Typically the commute takes us Marylanders down I81 which is long and boring, so I decided to switch it up this year and spend the night on the way down outside Raleigh, roughly halfway between my house and the cabins in NC.
As I have the past 3 years, I was again towing a boat turned motorcycle trailer behind the M5. I bought the trailer with one wheel snapped off and no decking boards. I had to weld steel tubing to the front of the trailer to square it up, install a new axle, and tossed on a set of larger aluminum wheels to help dissipate hub wheel bearing heat and reduce hub speed by increasing tire diameter.
5 minutes into a roughly 4.5hr first leg of the trip I am hit with a CEL. Typical.
SoMD has some great backroads, but they are shared by the Amish and covered in horse crap. So typically, I just avoid them.
Made a quick pitstop at Maryland International Raceway just to see if there was any action. I think it was some testing/elims for an import event.
Spotted this civic on the way out. huge exhaust pipe coming out of the front fender and an AWD badge on the trunk. Probably scoots pretty well.
Some bridge on the Richmond, VA Bypass.
Got a waze alert in NC for hail reported ahead. Decided to pull over and check the weather app. Decided I would wait 15 minutes before driving through this mess in hopes I would miss the hail. NC Weather be crazy.
While pulled over I decided to scan the CEL. yay O2 sensors!
After 15 minutes on the shoulder of I95 just north of the storm, I decided to give it a go. Holy standing water batman.
Finally made it outside Raleigh, where I consumed much NC barbeque and brews. That city never disappoints.