Overnighting in Winchester, VA

We're in a hotel in Winchester, and planning on getting the bike to an independent mechanic (who has very kindly agreed to work on the bike tomorrow despite the holiday!) in Charlottesville early Monday morning.

To step back a bit, we started out this morning in Harrisonburg, and stopped at a rest stop for a rousing roadside breakfast of granola and coffee.



Maybe 50 miles later, we were leaving the highway for our first fuel stop, and I discovered that the clutch wasn't engaging as I was decelerating up the ramp... talk about clunky downshifting! My fantastic and dedicated spouse pushed it up the rest of the rise for me, then we were able to get it into neutral and coast it downhill to a gas station.



This guy was following us on the stretch leading to that gas stop, and happened to pull off on the same exit, and he stayed with us for quite a while with his wife on the other end of a cellphone looking up numbers in the Anonymous book (ours, of course, we neglected to bring...). He had just picked up his Buell and was bringing it home, and his kindness in assisting us was the first of several really nice folks we interacted with in this smallish town. Nothing however was going to change the fact that this was Sunday morning on Labor Day weekend, and any sort of repair shop was of course closed, and most everyone is out with family.



After failing to find a magically-available mechanic after a lengthy search by cellphone, we relented and called the BMWMOA help line. They recommended a repair shop about 15 miles north of Middleton, in Winchester, and found a tow truck for us, which was great!



Then, when we arrived at the repair shop, it was even better, because there were people in the shop! It was a little less great that the shop hadn't worked on BMWs in years and were now a Harley-only shop... but what can you do?

It was more funny than anything, and the tow truck operator was kind enough to run the bike to a hotel a smidge up the road and drop it off there for us, while we regrouped.



So, wow, after a shower and some dinner, we got a couple of calls from helpful folks in the Georgia chapter of the BMWMOA, one of which pointed us to an independent mechanic in Charlottesville, who would actually work on our bike Monday if we can get it down there!

The mechanic suggested we ride it down without the clutch if we thought we could do it, but I'm not at all confident I could get it 100+ miles down there fully loaded in its current condition without incident or causing additional damage to the bike. Kenny could do it, but I can't ride his bike (it's too tall) and I'm concerned about him riding my disabled bike that far and us being separated. So, we've opted to have it towed. We're also gambling that what we lose in towing to Charlottesville ($), we gain in getting the work started a day early, plus the knowledge that the parts are there in Charlottesville, and we have no idea if one of the BMW dealers would have the parts in stock. BMWMOA comes through again for the first 50 miles of this tow, the overage will be charged to us but the tow company is very reasonable, as far as towing goes :eek

I'm still amazed at the kindness of someone who would work on a holiday to get a stranger back on the road... plus, that same poor tow truck driver is picking up the bike at 0-dark-hundred! So the good news is, it's looking like we may be back on the road sooner than we thought we might be, depending on the diagnosis of course. Will I jinx it if I hope we'll be up and running tomorrow sometime?

stranded in Winchester, VA

We took off before 8AM today, but we didn't get terribly far before a mechanical problem befell us in Middletown, VA. We called all over looking for an open cycle mechanic to no avail, before finally using our BMWMOA membership to get a recommendation for a cycle shop and a free tow to the shop, which is in Winchester, VA (nice!).

Unfortunately, the recommendation turned out to be for a shop that doesn't even service BMW motorcycles! So thanks for the tow BMWMOA, but no thanks on that recommendation. Unless we get lucky enough to find an independent who is open on Labor Day, looks like we're here until Tuesday, then getting another tow somewhere else. Thankfully, even a second tow is free through the club, so we can't complain too much.

On the positive side, everyone in Middletown who we came across were so friendly and eager to help with information about local mechanics, towing services, etc. And we could have broken down in far worse places, like, say, 300 miles down a gravel road somewhere in Canada.

The trouble? Kenny thinks it's the master cylinder on Kristy's bike, and we're both hoping it's a matter of a parts swap, and we're back on the road Tuesday sometime. We hope...

Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, departure day

We started out a bit later than usual, having needed a little extra time to work out some integration 'issues' with our intercom system and various electronic items... at last, around 11:30AM, we headed out!



We're carrying a lot of cargo -- each of us has a waterproof bag for personal items (clothes, sleeping bag, etc), then Kenny has another waterproof bag for the tent and campsite stuff, and I have a big Motofizz bag for food and utensils. We made good use of the dehydrator and have several days' worth of premade meals in there.

Despite our late start, we made a little over 500 miles, to Harrisonburg, VA. We had a Cracker Barrel dinner and are staying the night at a hotel; the camping probably won't start until we get a few days into our trip. Our goal is to make at least 500 miles each travel day. Here's our route for the day:



On the way we saw the Gaffney peach...



...and this guy driving a 'trash car'.



Look for more tomorrow, assuming we find another hotel with wifi ;)