After a careful review of the Weather Channel this morning we decided it was time to get out of Charleston, SC. A line of severe thunderstorms is beating a path of destruction across the United States from Minnesota to Texas and is anticipated to arrive at the east coast within 24 hours. We have two choices, sit it out in Charleston for four days or bite the bullet and head west into the mouth of the lion hoping to get through the front as quickly as possible as we ride west while the storms move east. We opted for the latter.
We pulled out of our exclusive $20.00 per bike per night hotel parking lot at 7:00 a.m.and headed for the Interstate toward Columbia, SC. The sky was an earie overcast of low clouds mixed with smoke from the recent fires. The rising sun hung in the eastern sky like a faded orange Christmas ornament on an invisable tree. It was hot and humid and the sweat was already beginning to seep up through the surface of my dearskin gloves before I even reached the freeway only ten minutes away. It felt good to get on the Interstate and get some air circulating. Even 95 degree heat and high humidity is tolerable if your are moving, sitting still it's miserable.
As we missed our planned harbour and Fort Sumter tours in Charleston we elected to substitute a tour of the Kings Mountain National Military Park near Kings Mountain, NC, approximately 110 miles north of Columbia, SC. The national park is the site of a decisive Revolutionary War battle in 1781 wherein volunteer malitia from the Carolinas overthrew a force of Brtish loyalists and regulars helping to swing the tide of the war against Great Britian. Some say that without this victory we might all be speaking with British accients today.
Departing Kings Mountain we contacted Bob and found that his bike had been repaired and he was on his way to join us. In fact, he and we were all approximately one hour from Gereenville, SC, our destination for the evening. We all pulled into the Holiday Inn Express in Greenville within fifteen minutes of each other, the six are now seven again and the "family" is reunited.
That evening, black storm clouds rolled in and the wind began to blow sending us scurring for our motorcycle covers before the deluge began. With the bikes secure, Lane and Bob and I walked over to the adjacent Italian restaurant for a late supper and got caught in a down pour on the walk back. It rained most of the evening. We had finally come face-to-face with the east-moving front, complete with thunder and lightning.
Stay tuned for more tomorrow as we head for the Great Smoky Mountains .
John and the Usual Suspects
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