Day 31 found us leaving Daytona Beach and heading back to Georgia, but this time to Augusta. Renata rode with Jason through the heat – and rain - back to the overwhelming humidity. Everyone was exhausted and cranky by the time we arrived at our hotel and it’s illegal to sell any alcohol in the entire state on a Sunday…so the team couldn’t even cool down with their cold beverage of choice. We ordered in food – Chinese and pizza were our choices – since many of the group are staying away from bread, Chinese it was!
We had a short day on Monday – through South Carolina and into North Carolina where we would stay the night so we decided on a later start. We discovered that Augusta National (home of the PGA’s Masters Golf Tournament) was just over a mile down the road so a couple of us decided to take a walk over. We got to the open gate and started up the driveway to the guardhouse. We only made it a few steps before we were greeted by security informing us that this was private property. Even Dr. T’s friendly “we just wanted to say hello” wasn’t going to soften this guy up.
The ride through the Carolinas continued to be hot and humid. We were all happy to arrive at our hotel and most of us decided to head out to a steakhouse across the street for dinner. After our meal we struck up a conversation with our server, Summer. She asked where we all were from and then questioned whether we were in town on business. Dr T pointed out her and Del’s ACT shirts and explained what we were up to. She started to cry as she told us that her father-in-law had just passed that morning of colon cancer. We were speechless as she talked about the past couple of weeks for her and her family. And again reminded of why we are out on the road this summer – it’s for moments and people like this. (Please see "This Is Why We Ride")
Tuesday was Day 33 and we were going to Waynesboro, Virginia. We decided to take the Blueridge Parkway and we were all happy to be on a smaller, incredibly beautiful road for the day. Lori went on ahead and enjoyed the curves of the road, while Del and Jason met up with some people along the way that suggested a great detour for them. The rig slowly made its way through the twists and turns of the Parkway – every corner brought a new view to the valley below or another deer running out of the trees.
Wednesday was Washington DC for the team. They all rode down on the bikes while the rig skirted the capital and headed to Baltimore. While looking for a place to park the bikes, the team noticed several empty parking places just behind some planters. So instead of finding a clear roadway in, they drove through the planters and parked. Just climbing off the bikes and shedding their helmets, and suddenly everyone was surrounded by at least 8 members of the secret service.
Apparently the ACT team had inadvertently penetrated the White House grounds. The charge would have been “illegal entry onto White House property” but thankfully the secret service was in a good mood that day and the ACT jackets and branding helped ease many (but surely not all) doubts the officials may have had about the group of bikers. After legally parking the bikes, Del, Lori, Jason and Dr T took a bus tour around the city to see as many of the sights as possible in a short period of time.
The clouds started rolling in so the bikes headed to Baltimore, our stop for the night. Along the way it became clear that there was a problem with Del’s bike – most likely the engine. The skies opened and the traffic was terrible. It was a long, wet 40 miles to the hotel.
The news wasn’t good for Del’s bike at the Harley shop. He was advised to not ride the bike another 5 feet let alone even back to the hotel. But they also couldn’t fix it for at least a week and a half. We called for the rig to make it’s way back to Baltimore to pick up the bike and we hoped for an opening in a New York service department – our next stop up the road.
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