So I know this was a dumb move and in hindsight I should have done it differently. However last week when the tornadoes were rolling through, me and my wife (she rides her own bike) were in Boone, NC. On Wednesday we saw the weather heading towards that area and we decided to head south on highways (no interstates) to head back to Florida. We left in the a.m. and got into some bad weather until noon but nothing that lasted more than a few minutes at a time. By the afternoon we were both tired and we decided to stop for the evening since we were ahead of the storm.

We watched the news the night before and the next morning and saw Birmingham get ripped apart live on TV and so we decided that we would take off if there was a lull in the storm - basically because we did not want to die in Swainsboro, GA... Anyway, since we were heading south and the storm appeared to be heading northeast we thought that we would not be in too bad of weather. We headed out and rode for about an hour. I am thinking to myself that we made a good decision - when all of a sudden the bottom dropped out. Thinking that we were hitting weather similar to what we experienced the day before, we both decided to push on through it.

Well to make a long story longer, that was another mistake because for the next 150 plus miles we hit nothing but major storms lasting most of the way. Sometimes it was so bad that we could not see more than a few feet ahead. I had my radio on low and was not paying attention to it until I heard the familiar weather beeps and noises that usually are tests. This time though it was not a test. It was warnings about severe storms, lightning and hail. As I listened to the county affected, I realized that was the county we were in. Unfortunately the road we were on had no place to pull over so we pushed forward. Each time we would get to a town there would only be a gas station or gas station/food mart but no restaurants and no hotels. Generally when we hit the towns the storm was calmer. So we pushed on... I continued to listen to the radio and each time a county was announced that happened to be the county we were in.

We finally reached Jasper and and we had been through the most severe storms I have ever ridden in on a motorcycle. Our bikes were complete disasters and we were no worse for wear. There was so much water that fell on us that the windshields no longer beaded any water at all and often I could not look through the windshield and had to ride with my head off to the side to see where I was going.

Like I said, if I had to do it over again I would have just stayed in Boone for another 2 days. At the time it looked like a good idea to get out of the way of the tornadoes but weighing the statistics, it would have been better to play the odds on a tornado instead of a traffic accident. However what is done is done and we arrived home safely. I also want to mention that my wife is the real trooper here - she's does not have the battle hardened biker chick look and you would never know by looking at her that she is this tough. At 5'4 and 120 pounds she managed her Heritage Softail Classic like a pro.

Anyone else have a severe weather story to share?

 

Your nuts

 

Dude, you are nuts.

 

I would say stupid luck and I would never do it again. But sometimes once you get started down a path there is no way to turn back and that is how it ended up.

 

On the day that, I scheduled the trade in on my old 2007 Vrod Night Special for the new 2009 Road Glide, I needed to ride out to the stealership about 1 1/2 hours away and it was raining lightly at first, but once on the road the rain got a lot worst. Then the lightning and thunder began with strong winds. All, I could say is that it was not fun and once I arrived at the stealership I knew that I would have to wait it out. A few hours later, I thought the worst had passing, so I took off and I rode right smack into the lightning storm again. The 1 1/2 hour ended up to be almost three hours riding back home and the New Bike let's just say the she was "baptised" Lol. I needed to stop a couple of times on the side of the rode to empty out the all the water from my new gore tex boots that adviously did not work very well! It actually took me three washes to get the bike clean again. I had a few rides in the rain, but that was the worst for me. The only reason I did the ride was because It would of taken me another week or two to do the deal. So, I took a shot at it. I wouldn't recommend anyone putting themself in that kind of risk, you never know....

 

glad to hear you made it safe

 

If you want to know how lucky you are to make it past all that weather, take a look at the storm damage that went through Tuscaloosa.

 

Sometimes it's hard to predict weather when you're in unfamiliar territory. About the only thing you can do is find a gas station or restaurant to get an opinion from the locals.
Small diners seem to be the best choice for useful information.

 

If there had been a way, you could have contacted me when you were in Swainsboro. I'm only 25 miles east of there in Statesboro. Ya'll could have waited out the storm at my house. I could have even brought truck and trailer and hauled the bikes to my house!

 

Next time! Although I could have ridden to your house by the time we had weathered what we had weathered.

We almost went through Statesboro but my bad decision making put us west. I figured that the storm would pass over during the night and being more east would keep us in the path.

I also agree unfamiliar territory messes with you. We never saw much more than gas stations on the way back and once you are soaked and miserable, what is a few more miles? One day I will go back and actually enjoy the scenery because it was really a nice ride along 297, 221 and 441.