Pebbles
Member
Trip Report! We had a great time on our first interstate group meet up ride of the season the last weekend of April at Chincoteague, VA. WE always look forward to this ride as it's the first time we get to see many of our riding friends from other states again after the winter. These trips typically are 3 day weekends- travel to the destination on Friday, group dinner Friday night, Group ride on Saturday, group dinner that night and then ride home on Sunday. It's amazing how fast it goes by!
The region is referred to as the Eastern Shore and we have to leave Virginia, cross the Potomac River, cross from rural areas to the outer Maryland suburbs of DC, cross the Cheasapeake Bay, cross the flatest, dullest stretch of Maryland on the other side and finally re-enter Virginia and cross a 5 mile causeway to reach the island of Chincoteague.
The spring weather is always a mystery on what we're going to get. In the past we've experienced 50 mph gusts, heavy rains, 32 degree temps (night ride returning from dinner), hail, 85 degree temps (during the day), summer style thunderstorms and even occasionally perfect calm blue skies and mild temps.
This year was windy going out, overcast & threatening to rain on the day of the group ride (but held off until dinner) and beautiful weather coming home.
The ride out and back for us was 270 miles each way to get there and the Saturday group ride was 262 miles! On Saturday we rode out from Chincoteague and past the Wallops Island Flight Facility (they still launch orbital rockets from here)
ESR026 by Terran Sin, on Flickr
and thru the rural farmlands of Maryland on our way to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.
ESR111 by Terran Sin, on Flickr
We stopped along the way to pick up bag lunches and drinks and then headed off for Hooper Island where we lunched on the rocks of the breakwater at the end of the road on what's called Middle Hooper Island.
ESR117 by Terran Sin, on Flickr
On the way back to the group's motel we took the Whitehaven Ferry, which is a little 3 car/ 6 passenger flatbed ferry crossing the Wicomico River at a point where it's only 900 ft across.
ESR105 by Terran Sin, on Flickr
It's an annual tradition to take this ferry ride and see how many bikes we can fit on it. The Coast Guard has cracked down on the ferry operators for overloading (see in the picture- it says only 6 passengers) but these old Marylander ferry "Captains" always give us a wink and take as many as they can. And it's a free ferry too!
ESR107 by Terran Sin, on Flickr
We only had 11 bikes in our group (there was a 2nd group that had taken a more sedate pace) and there was no problem fitting everybody aboard. We caught a little bit of rain on the way across and for another half hour down the road. But we had completely missed a big storm that had already crossed ahead of us!
ESR109 by Terran Sin, on Flickr
The only two events that were less than perfect happened to Sukuta Girl on the way there Friday.
1) We got caught up in a big traffic back up caused by road construction and as we inched our way along we started to ascend a curved and banked bridge just as our left lane was starting to be blocked by construction barrels ahead. I looked back and suddenly Sukuta Girl and her Dino were stopped and laying on the left side. She got up and the bike was only leaning over, held up by the left folding floorboard and her rear saddlebag. Another friend of ours was riding behind her and quickly rushed up to help her lift the bike back up and jump on. She had to turn the key off and on twice as the tip over switch must have triggered and it wouldn't start right away. I'm happy to say she kept her head and got moving again, putting it behind her. She's not sure what caused her to drop but I suspect the creeping along just caught her at a point where the revs dropped, the tranny disengaged and she was caught off balance on the bank, fully loaded with top case, seat bag and saddle bags. She couldn't hold it up but managed to let it settle gently- causing no damage to the Givi, the bike or herself. Wouldn't you know it, we crossed that little bridge section and the construction crew was just on the other side and then the road was wide open.
2) We had almost arrive and were about to cross the causeway to Chincoteague and decided to gas up a convenient place with great prices. Sukuta Girl finished fueling but then had trouble fitting her key back into the ignition switch. I took over and after few minutes another friend tried too. The key wasn't bent, it felt like the ignition switch was freezing up, possibly from surface corrosion inside it. I dipped her key into motor oil and worked it into the switch, which eventually worked. It was a frustrating 25 minute experience and we had to fuss with it several times during the trip. Since we've returned I've been hitting the switch with WD40 daily. But I'm concerned we'll have to replace that switch.
Happy Travels!
Terran Sin
Chief Farkle Mechanic, Key Wrangler and Valet for Sukuta Girl
The region is referred to as the Eastern Shore and we have to leave Virginia, cross the Potomac River, cross from rural areas to the outer Maryland suburbs of DC, cross the Cheasapeake Bay, cross the flatest, dullest stretch of Maryland on the other side and finally re-enter Virginia and cross a 5 mile causeway to reach the island of Chincoteague.
The spring weather is always a mystery on what we're going to get. In the past we've experienced 50 mph gusts, heavy rains, 32 degree temps (night ride returning from dinner), hail, 85 degree temps (during the day), summer style thunderstorms and even occasionally perfect calm blue skies and mild temps.
This year was windy going out, overcast & threatening to rain on the day of the group ride (but held off until dinner) and beautiful weather coming home.
The ride out and back for us was 270 miles each way to get there and the Saturday group ride was 262 miles! On Saturday we rode out from Chincoteague and past the Wallops Island Flight Facility (they still launch orbital rockets from here)
ESR026 by Terran Sin, on Flickr
and thru the rural farmlands of Maryland on our way to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.
ESR111 by Terran Sin, on Flickr
We stopped along the way to pick up bag lunches and drinks and then headed off for Hooper Island where we lunched on the rocks of the breakwater at the end of the road on what's called Middle Hooper Island.
ESR117 by Terran Sin, on Flickr
On the way back to the group's motel we took the Whitehaven Ferry, which is a little 3 car/ 6 passenger flatbed ferry crossing the Wicomico River at a point where it's only 900 ft across.
ESR105 by Terran Sin, on Flickr
It's an annual tradition to take this ferry ride and see how many bikes we can fit on it. The Coast Guard has cracked down on the ferry operators for overloading (see in the picture- it says only 6 passengers) but these old Marylander ferry "Captains" always give us a wink and take as many as they can. And it's a free ferry too!
ESR107 by Terran Sin, on Flickr
We only had 11 bikes in our group (there was a 2nd group that had taken a more sedate pace) and there was no problem fitting everybody aboard. We caught a little bit of rain on the way across and for another half hour down the road. But we had completely missed a big storm that had already crossed ahead of us!
ESR109 by Terran Sin, on Flickr
The only two events that were less than perfect happened to Sukuta Girl on the way there Friday.
1) We got caught up in a big traffic back up caused by road construction and as we inched our way along we started to ascend a curved and banked bridge just as our left lane was starting to be blocked by construction barrels ahead. I looked back and suddenly Sukuta Girl and her Dino were stopped and laying on the left side. She got up and the bike was only leaning over, held up by the left folding floorboard and her rear saddlebag. Another friend of ours was riding behind her and quickly rushed up to help her lift the bike back up and jump on. She had to turn the key off and on twice as the tip over switch must have triggered and it wouldn't start right away. I'm happy to say she kept her head and got moving again, putting it behind her. She's not sure what caused her to drop but I suspect the creeping along just caught her at a point where the revs dropped, the tranny disengaged and she was caught off balance on the bank, fully loaded with top case, seat bag and saddle bags. She couldn't hold it up but managed to let it settle gently- causing no damage to the Givi, the bike or herself. Wouldn't you know it, we crossed that little bridge section and the construction crew was just on the other side and then the road was wide open.
2) We had almost arrive and were about to cross the causeway to Chincoteague and decided to gas up a convenient place with great prices. Sukuta Girl finished fueling but then had trouble fitting her key back into the ignition switch. I took over and after few minutes another friend tried too. The key wasn't bent, it felt like the ignition switch was freezing up, possibly from surface corrosion inside it. I dipped her key into motor oil and worked it into the switch, which eventually worked. It was a frustrating 25 minute experience and we had to fuss with it several times during the trip. Since we've returned I've been hitting the switch with WD40 daily. But I'm concerned we'll have to replace that switch.
Happy Travels!
Terran Sin
Chief Farkle Mechanic, Key Wrangler and Valet for Sukuta Girl
Last edited:
