I drove the car down, for a couple of reasons, one was that I didn't want to tire myself out riding solo that far then have to spend a day trying to make her do what I wanted her to do on the training course, the other was that I would have plenty of room in the car to cart shopping. On the way home the next day I thought of another reason that I was glad I'd taken the car, after a long busy day on bikes I was tired, even driving the car home at night I was feeling the need to stop more than I normally would, I hate to think what might have happened if I'd been forced to ride like that.
This is the first time I've driven the car on a trip in a long time, well a few months anyway. And I noticed some strange things. The first was when I first passed a truck going the other way, I braced for the wind ... then I found myself trying to find the lines on the road where I would miss the bumps and creating buffer zones with oncoming traffic .... I laughed to myself and then sat back and relaxed, it was nice not to be battling wind and take it easy listening to music while I travelled. As I was going through Geurie I noticed something big and red parked on the other side of the road, I figured it was one of those big trike thingys. I realised I was wrong as I got closer to the bike with the grey haired couple leaning against it eating an apple (it could have been a pear), it was a huge Goldwing with all the mod cons! Towing a matching shiny red trailer loaded up with pretty well everything and anything they could have possibly wanted on a round Australia trip. My first impulse was to turn around and go back to them to find out their story, maybe get a pic of that camper van on two wheels. But I kept going and made do with imagining that they are on the adventure of their lifetime and loving every minute of it.
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| Twisty windy roads, rain, and an overloaded truck in front ... |
Shopping trip: I was pretty successful, stopped at Orange at a pretty standard country town bike shop and immediately found the perfect winter gloves, they fit perfectly and were toasty warm, so I waited round to see if one of the people making all the noise in the workshop through the door at the back of the shop would notice me and come to serve me. Then after about 10 minutes of stamping my feet, coughing loudly and sticking my head into promising looking doorways, I left without the gloves, sheesh I think I could have walked out of there with a bike and no one would have noticed. I visited a few other bike shops that day and they all had humans, but no gloves. I did manage to get a few other things that I was after and a couple I didn't realise I wanted or needed, one of those was a new bike cover, my original one is too small now that I've put the sissy bar on, and the freeby one I've been using has been blowing right off the bike in the wind cause it has no straps. I also scored a pair of kevlar jeans with knee pads, they're a touch too big but better that than too small on the bike I reckon. And got both of us a disc lock, they are shaped like grenades, and aren't alarmed which I really wanted, but the finances are getting tight and these were a bargain so they will do.
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| Even though it was rainy, Bathurst was showing off all her beautiful autumn colors. |
It was a big day of shopping and driving, but a fun day, looking through bike shops all day then curling up in a warm motel room as the rainy evening sets in. The next day was the big test day and it had been raining all day, but Terry promised it wouldn't rain Thursday and it seemed to ease as the night went on. I had my wet weather gear all ready just in case though :)
I didn't get a photo of the Goldwing tourer, but I did spot this in a shopping centre car park in Bathurst ...
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