Cape Fear 2013
AKA 2013 Cape Fear Rally and Annual Bike Wash
Yes, another ride report. I spend the time to create these not only to share with folks who might be interested, but just as importantly, to help my failing memory keep track of who, what, when, where, and how. This was our seventh consecutive Cape Fear Rally and in all honesty, they start merging together. If we've been to a bonus before, I remember that - but when is a totally mystery. Anyway, on with the show.
The fun and games this year would kick off in Union City, TN located in the northwestern part of the state just a stone's throw from the Kentucky border. Weather in the Southeast in the springtime is always interesting to say the least. The Weather Channel becomes omnipresent as rally time approaches. This year didn't appear to break any molds as rain, storms, high winds, etc. were forecast for just about anywhere we might venture over the weekend.
We made the ride up Thursday April 18th without incident having made our way to this part of the country many times. Storm clouds were gathering as we arrived at the motel and we quickly unloaded and got the bike covered. We rested for a while and piddled around with our projected route. Possible bonus locations were scattered over a 10 state radius from Pennsylvania to Georgia. Dinner was at a nearby restaurant where the riders gathered to share stories, poke fun, and issue good natured challenges. Just as we left, the rain started in earnest and continued well into the night as the front passed through. Of course, the TV was glued to the Weather Channel!
The object of the game is simple. Travel from your start location in Union City, TN to the finish line in Wilmington, NC in the allotted 29 hours and garner as many points as possible. Failing to reach the finish in the allotted time means you have DNF'd or classified as Did Not Finish - not a good thing! Of course, the further from a direct route the bonus is, the more points it is worth. Lots of big point bonuses were located in places like Mobile, AL, near Cleveland, OH, north of Pittsburg, PA for example. The only drawback to getting these big points in getting there and to the finish line in time. They all turned out to be more miles than we wanted to tackle. A more circuitous route was picked that would let us see lots of Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina.
One of the priorities in our route selection was to avoid walking as much as possible. Still in recovery from some recent Achilles Tendon surgery made hiking a no starter! So every bonus we chose was based on the need to ride straight to the bonus without a hike. Fewer points in some cases, but doable! The planned route has us riding 1189 miles.
We always tend to cajole and poke a fellow rider from Athens, GA with route selections. Sometimes to see if he has a better solution, sometimes just to jerk each others chain a bit. Regardless of this good natured banter, once the clock started it was game on and may the best rider finish higher! We compared notes this time and he happened to like my solution better than his.
Start time was 10:00 AM EST on the dot! The odometer read 154493 and game on! We absolutely, positively, had to be in Wilmington, NC by 3:00 PM EST the following day. 28 hours, 1189 miles meant we had to keep an overall average speed of 41 mph. Easy since the first 600 miles or so were all interstate. But wait....there is a monkey wrench. There is a mandatory rest break that must be started between midnight and 6:00 AM. 4 hours minimum up to a maximum of 6 hours which garners the most points. So, 6 hours of rest now means our average speed must be 51.6! Still no problem since we have so much interstate riding at higher speeds.
One of the wildcard bonuses was to document your visit to 4 public libraries along your route. Since the nearest was less than 2 miles from the start, that became our first bonus stop. The Orion County Public Library - which I think every rider from Wilmington grabbed on the way out of town.


Well, finding this grave wasn't quite as easy as we thought. A huge cemetary with a maze of roads! How hard can it be to find a tombstone shaped like a pyramid guarded by two sphinx statues? Harder than we thought as we zigged and zagged sorta following a fellow rider. We see him parked and off the bike so we pull in behind and jump off to start looking. We spot it - a nice little hike away across semi-rough ground. My foot started barking loudly immediately while Barbara stepped in a hole and face planted in the grass. A photo opportunity missed! But we found our bonus, took a photograph and somehow negotiated the maze back out of the graveyard. I do dislike graveyard bonuses!

Next stop is Spring City, TN for a photo of a memorial to the children lost in a horrific school bus crash in the 50's. We arrived at 3:18 PM with 154820 on the odometer. 327 miles down and we are still on schedule.

Now it is a 300 mile slog across Tennessee into Virginia. It is chilly and damp but no rain yet. Heated gear is wonderful as we manage to stay mostly warm. Our only stops so far are bonus and gas.
The rally book warned us that in getting to our next bonus the GPS may route you along a dirt road. It was absolutely correct! Although we had yet to directly encounter any rain, we continued to see evidence of wet roads and standing puddles of water. It is now dark as we turn off onto Buffalo Road headed to the Blue Mountain Church reported to be in Laurel Fork, VA. Rough, wet muddy roads and 1000 lb Goldwings are not a match made in heaven. We slipped and negotiated our way to this beautiful isolated mountain church. Would love to have seen it in daylight, but we snapped a picture and negotiated the slippery parking lot.

Time is 8:22 PM odometer reads 155121. 628 mile - almost halfway through and on perfect schedule at this point.
Luckily we routed out of there without having to suffer the dirt road again. Mountain roads in Virginia in the dark are never fun and tonight was no disappointment. Still no rain which is a blessing. Somewhere on the way out, we got behind a local pulling a trailer with a 4-wheeler on it. He obviously knew the roads and was flying through the curves and switchbacks so we did the obvious thing and just fell in behind him. He also made a very good deer catcher!
Somewhere around Danville, VA and 10:00 PMish, we caught the front that had been moving ahead of us all day. Intermittent rain at first before settling into a steady drizzle. Oh, the joy! Since we both wear waterproof clothing it is simply a matter of hunkering down and making miles.
Next stop is Halifax, VA for a photograph of a junkyard sculpture of a dinosaur in front of the library. Expecting a T-Rex, instead we found this!

Disappointing! But we did get a photograph of the library for our 2nd library.
Time is 11:08 and the odometer reads 155250. 757 miles in!
More mountain roads continued rain enroute to Alberta, VA for a picture of a plaque in memory of some fellow named Sonny Johnson. Alberta is a very small ghost time at 12:41 AM. We saw no other living beings anywhere and not a lot of anything else. We grabbed the picture and took off with the odometer at 155326 - 833 miles in. Now begins the real fun and games.
It is time for our rest bonus which we have preplanned in Roanoke Rapids, NC. My brain tells me to head east, hit I-95 south and get there fairly quickly. All 3 of our GPS's had different ideas. Well, it is dark, rainy, and we are starting to get a bit tired so we chose to follow the GPS. HA HA f***ing HA!
Once we crossed I-95 where we should have turned south, and off on some circuitous route known only to the idiots at Garmin, the rain which had to this point been simply an annoyance grew to biblical proportions. Not just rain, but horizontal rain coupled with wind gusts that would send you from one side of the road to the other. And of course, curvy, hilly, 2-lanes! Thank goodness there was little traffic. What should have been a quick run to a nice warm motel room became an odyssey that Noah would have avoided.
We started our rest bonus at 1:55 AM. Now that we are so far behind schedule we chose to cut an hour off of the maximum of 6 in an attempt to regain some time. 4 hours and 55 minutes later we are back on the road at 6:50AM.
The good news is the rain has stopped as we head for Seaboard, NC and a photo of a historical marker. 
Now a series of quick bonuses fairly close together.
A photo of the Halifax Resolves monument.

A bonus honoring Veterans.

The 4-H Club
Now off to Edenton, NC for two bonuses only a few feet apart. Thank you Rallymaster!
First is a Civil War Trails Placard for the Battle of Albemarle Sound.

Followed by a photo of some cannons and chimneys!

Time is now 9:25 AM with the odometer at 155515. We are at 1022 miles. Even with the rain and rest stop we've managed over 1000 miles in 24 hours.
Another cemetary is on the list in Roper, NC. Thank goodness this is a small one! We had to find the marker for Burl C. Swain.

Chocowinity, NC and a Blue Painted Crab Statue. Time is 10:57 AM odometer is at 155586.

Havelock, NC and a photo of an A-4 Skyhawk. Time 11:49 AM odometer 155637 or 1144 miles.

The clock is ticking down and we are watching our arrival time in Wilmington. It's only 101 miles by the most direct route, but that isn't the route we are following. Anyway, we keep a watchful eye on our arrival time since we are headed to the coastline. It isn't a pretty day - cloudy and cool so our hopes are the beachgoers have stayed home alleviating the traffic problems.
Now it's Moorhead City, NC and a picture of the Carolina Sounder monument. The instruction are specific - photo must be taken from the water side looking face to face with the fisherman. You gotta read the instructions since it would have been easy to snap a picture from the street and roll on out.
12:29 PM and odometer is at 155659. 1166 miles.
Traffic is starting to pickup at we head to Swansboro, NC and a photo of CPT Otway Burns. It's in a small park by the bridge. Well, there are lots of bridges and we managed to go right past the "small park". So now it's turn around in traffic and turn across traffic into the parking lot. The clock is ticking!
We had two more small point bonuses that would have taken us directly along the coastline. With traffic increasing and the clock ticking, we chose to skip the last two and head for the finish line.
One final stop to pick up another wild card bonus which is a 6-pack of your favorite beverage. Of course, stores are never on the same side of the road so we found one, crossed traffic and got our last bonus.
We hit the finish line with about 20 minutes to spare. Had we gone to the last two bonuses, I think we would have been late.
Gathering everything necessary for scoring, we waited in line comparing notes with everyone. Our friend from Athens managed to get the full 6 hour rest and grabbed the last two bonuses. He had a great ride and the difference was he didn't listen to the Garmin bitch and hit I-95 enroute to the rest bonus. You have to let common sense and your own internal compass override that voice from the Garmin bitch sometimes!
Scoring was painless. One of our goals during the rallies is never leave points at the scoring table by properly documenting everything. We left no points at the table.
Loads of delicious BBQ at the banquet as usual. Jim Bain, the Rallymaster welcomed us all the the 2013 Cape Fear Rally and Annual Bike Wash. In seven consecutive Cape Fear Rally experiences, we have yet to complete one without rain. Don't know how he manages to do it, but he does! Sometimes it's just a light rain, other times involve tornado sirens, torrential downpours, and the famed storms of biblical proportions. You never know!
We finished in 8th place which was just fine with us. A good night's sleep was sure to follow. Had we managed to ride the route as planned, it would have been a tie for 3rd place. Oh well, there is always next year.
We took our time leaving Wilmington and had a very pleasant ride towards home. A stop for a big mid-day breakfast and painless transit through Atlanta made the ride easy.
UNTIL Lincoln, Alabama - 93 miles from home. We had been hearing a different sound over the last couple of days from the rear of the bike. I had checked several times and could see nothing amiss. Maybe just a brake pad slightly dragging.
When we stopped in Lincoln at a very nice Pilot for a potty break and cold drink, I noticed the rear brake didn't seem to have much stopping power as we exited the interstate. Getting down to take a look, the entire rear of the bike and tire are covered in 90W oil and the final drive is hot to the touch! Yes that is correct - a Honda Goldwing with a failed final drive. After over 156,000 miles who would have thought it would break down!
Anyway, a call to my son at home got him on the way with my truck and trailer. After 7 faithful years and loads of miles, the final result was to rest on a trailer for the very first time. Oh the shame!
Postscript to the whole story!
I will admit that I have been suffering from NBF (New Bike Fever) for sometime now. I've looked at, test rode, sat on, drooled over many different new motorcycles ranging from a big adventure bike such as the Yamaha Tenere, the Triumph Explorer or BMW GS to the new Yamaha FJR, The BMW K1600GTL, or the new Triumph sport tourer. All have a certain appeal!
But, I have yet to find one will do everything the Honda Goldwing lets us do. Unlimited accessories, tons of storage, comfort beyond anything else we've tried, and that good ole Honda reliability. With that said........ this followed me home last weekend from Texas.

2008 Honda Goldwing with lots of bells and whistles already in place and very low mileage. The bike had 14,305 miles and was a one owner. Barbara had already said no more red motorcycles so this fit the bill.
Now I'm in the process of making this one our rally/touring bike. Many accessories will direct swap, others will be replaced, and we'll reorganize and make this one even more efficient that the old one.
Next adventure is in June. We are headed to Salt Lake City, UT to participate in the final running of the Utah 1088. Going to do a lot of flower sniffing on the way out through New Mexico and Colorado. So stay tuned!
