Arrival and preparation

It was great to meet up with my old mate Marc, while he has been in the U.S. for 30 years now, we are still the best if mates and can pick straight back up in to a conversation. True friends! We have dinner and a couple of well needed beers with him and his new wife Grace, who is an absolutely charming and clearly they are both very happy.

Marc has kindly lent us his pick up and the following morning, Friday 19th June, we collect a large trailer from U-Haul and head to Baltimore to collect the bikes from the warehouse. Unfortunately we get caught up in horrendous traffic going through DC and don't get to the warehouse until 5pm. As it closes at 4pm we call ahead and offer the guys a "drink" to stay until we are there. It's money well spent and by 5.30 we are on the road home very relived to finally have our bike , safe secure and intact.

The following day in the sweltering heat of Virginia (not what I was expecting) we uncrate the bikes and rebuild the front ends. Mine fires up on the button, but Simons battery is screwed, which is not a total surprise, however as his bike uses a lithium iron unit, which can't be bought in any old shop, this present a problem. After much discussion we fit a traditional lead acid unit of the same dimensions and all is good, fingers crossed!

After some very generous hospitality from both Grace and Marc, as well as Grace's family, we are finally set to go. All packed we look over the maps to decided on the first days destination, cold beers in hand. Tomorrow at 6.30am we will ride to the beach to say our farewell to the east coast and the next ocean we see will be the Pacific 😎.