We just got dried out from our soggy off-road adventure from day 2 and now we have to hit the road again. The best way to describe day 3 is to call it a wash out. Our planned route would have taken us on some legendary roads in the southeast. The most well known is the “Tail of the Dragon”. If it had not been raining on our little parade this is the route we had planned out.

We all slept in a bit to recover from day 2 and then we converged on the covered porch to have coffee and pontificate on our adventure the night before. The owner of the Laurel Park Inn came out and shot the breeze with us. He is also a rider and we swapped a few stories and tribal knowledge of the local roads.

We put off the inevitable as long as we could, but all knew we were going to have to suck it up and ride back. After getting our bags packed up we took a few minutes to get some closing remarks and impressions of the Mancation 2013. Check out the video below.

Once we got geared up we started watching the radar on the iPhone using the Dark Sky app. We could see when the rain was going to get lighter and allow us to load the bikes up and prepare to drive home. Remember in the day 2 story I told you I had an extra pair of rain pants? They didn't get turned down on day 3. We thought up all kinds of contests and feats of strength that Jimmy and David could participate in to decide who got them. Unfortunately, David just let Jimmy use them without making a spectacle for us to enjoy. I am pretty sure Jimmy will be owing a big favor in the future!

Instead of riding our ultra-cool route we had planned we just got on I-40 and blasted home. At least we had enough light to see, but I still had to ride with my visor cracked to keep the fog down. I think we got about 15 minutes up the road before I started feeling the water creep into my gloves. That was promptly followed by cold hands. Then the worst happened. Since I gave up my rain pants I was relying on the rain liner zipped into my riding pants. For the most part they did OK, but then about 30 minutes into the ride I felt a single cold drop of water infiltrating my crotchular area. Dang! That is really cold and right behind that drop of water was a steady trickle of cold water.

Since it was raining and traffic was somewhat heavy we had to work together on the ride home to maintain a presence on the highway. We needed to pass this car hauler that was throwing all kinds of water at us. Jimmy got out on the left lane and passed me to make some room for me to get over. He started leading for a while and got behind an 18 wheeler. There was so much water getting flung up off the road that visibility got bad. Then I saw one of the funniest things I have ever seen on a motorcycle. Over the headset we heard “Aw man”! Jimmy saw it coming but he couldn't do anything about it. He ran right over a dirty diaper in the highway! We laughed about that for a while and made a few good jokes. Jeff mentioned that judging by the size of that thing it might be an adult diaper!

I finally made it home around 2:00 with numb hands and soaked through. It was a pretty big disappointment for day 3, but we all had a good time hanging out and riding the twisties while it lasted.

What I Learned:

Rain liners are not as effective as rain pants.
Waterproof gloves are highly advisable on any long ride.

Spirit Strike:

Psalm 133:1 NIV “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!”

We faced some pretty adverse conditions on this trip and without everyone being united in a common goal things could have gone very differently. The unity and cooperation was necessary to keep us all as safe as possible and to move forward towards a common goal. How often could our lives be made easier with a little bit of unity and cooperation?

More Mancation 2013:

Mancation 2013 - Day 1 Ready to Roll!

Mancation 2013 - Day 2 Mullets and The Sirens of West Virginia