Ride to Fort Fisher

What started out as an idea just to visit Mike and stretch the bike out a bit, actually turned in to a pleasing group ride.

Saturday morning we were joined by Chad and Lynn, Larry and Linda, Patrick and Heather, James, Roger and Otis. The group consisted of nine bikes total.







From 44 degrees to 58 degrees by 10:00, and from cloudy to sunny in the same time frame, we knew it would be a great day. So at 10:30 the group pointed its collective wheels to New River Harley-Davidson just south of Jacksonville.




Just inside Jacksonville we rode the bypass around and it certainly cuts down on the drive time through town. We wheeled in to New River Harley to discover an Open House under way with food and drinks. Mike called and said he would meet us at the intersection in Dixon about 10 miles further south.





With the temperature well on the way to 75 we switched from leather to nylon and headed south again.




The four lane from Jacksonville to Wilmington is a great ride and lends itself to back seat photos. Here's a few of Debbie's shots. Just remember that these shots were taken at a little better than 55 mph.



Roger on board his Honda.








Linda at the controls of her Harley-Davidson Dyna Low Rider.






Larry was leading the pack to Wilmington and is using his one handed control technique to pilot his Dyna.







James cruising the asphalt on his Ultra Classic








Brett during one of the few times he has two wheels on the ground with his Suzuki.










Patrick and Heather on board their Indian themed Kawasaki.







The Mike Bike. 2002 1200 Sportster. Mike has a lot of extras on the bike. Mike likes to ride fast. Mike plays ice hockey. Mike is crazy.





A few weeks back Mike told me about the Open House at Cape Fear H-D in Wilmington. So we had loosely planned the trip around that date with an alternate or two in case of bad weather. We hit Wilmington about 12:30 or so and stopped in for a visit.
Around 1:30 we decided to ride the beach route for a while. Unfortunately Larry, Linda and James had to head back to New Bern.



We headed to Wrightsville Beach for the first leg of the beach trip just to take in the scenery. From there it was over to Carolina Beach, through Kure Beach and to the ferry at Fort Fisher. If we had made it to the ferry 15 minutes earlier we could have made it.







It looked like it would be another hour so we opted to head back to Carolina Beach for a late lunch at the Sea Witch restaurant.





After a bite to eat and some liquid refreshments we headed north to Wilmington for the return portion of our trip. We stopped briefly in Holly Ridge at about 6:30 to switch back our leather jackets in anticipation of the cool air at sunset. We arrived back home at 8:00 and finally had the opportunity to ride at night. I will have to say that I am impressed with the lights on the Ultra Classic. This trip was one I had hoped for for quite some time. Everything worked out great, especially the weather, and 250 miles later I am ready to head that way again in the very near future.

I was impressed with several bikes and severely traumatized by one individual along the way so here are a few pictures to end this entry.






























I will never sleep well again knowing this guy is in traffic somewhere. He should be locked up. This guy is crazy.