Day 7:
9:00 AM 12:00 AM
720 Miles
Hampton Inn (Florida): We pack up the bikes for the return trip home. It's going to be a long trip, but our goal is to get 800 miles in today.
South Carolina: We pull over to the side of the road, and Mike realizes he has lost his glasses. We look everywhere for them, but he must have left them on the bike when he was filling up at the last gas station. We go to another gas station to fill up so Mike can call his eye doctor to figure out what he can do. While we are waiting I see two forlorn looking men walk by with bottles in paper sacks. They go into the woods by where we are standing. While Mike is talking on the phone, the men come up to me and try to sell me a pocket knife for ten dollars. I tell them I don't have any cash on me (which is true). A side story that I forgot to include in this is that on Day 4 of the trip I was informed by my bank that one of the vendors that I had ordered something from had their database broken into and my debit card number was one of the ones stolen. They had shut down my debit card so I have no way of getting cash for the rest of the trip. I found this out when my debit card was denied while trying to get gas. Luckily I have a backup credit card which I had been using for the rest of the trip. Anyway, I tell the two hobos that I am not in a position to buy their pocket knife. They proceed to tell me that they are down on their luck and trying to get back to North Carolina, etc. etc. One of them tells me how he can't sleep because of the mosquitos in the area and proceeds to show me all the different bumps on his arms. By this time Mike is off the phone and they try selling him the pocket knife. But Mike tells them he's from Philly and he's not interested. We leave the gas station.
Stuckey's: We stop at Stuckey's to gas up and check out the store. They don't have homemade milkshakes like the one in Virginia. They do however have a Dairy Queen.
South Of the Border: We stop at South of the Border and Mike stocks up on fireworks except for a pack of rockets that can't fit on his bike. I see a Dad taking a picture of his son on the gorilla. I remember getting my picture taken on the gorilla when I was a kid. Maybe 20 years from now that kid will grow up, go on a motorcycle trip with his roommate and see another kid getting his picture taken on the gorilla...
Outback Steakhouse (North Carolina): After driving for 640 miles we are tired and hungry. We hit an Outback steakhouse off of I-95. I can barely walk after getting off of the bike.
It is the most crowded restaurant we've been to on the entire trip. North Carolina seems to be a pretty popular place. The food is delicious. After eating we decide to go for the extra mileage to get to 800.
I-95 (North Carolina): After driving again on I-95, we realize that it's getting dangerous in the dark and we're both pretty tired. We decide to pull over to find a hotel. We pull up to a Marriott but they have no vacancy. In fact none of the hotels have any vacancy in the area so we have to get back onto I-95. We travel to the next town and try a Quality Inn. The cheapest room they have is $94, which is pretty expensive for the quality. We get back on I-95. At the next town we pull up to a Comfort Inn and get a room for $59. It's no Hampton Inn, but it's 12:00 AM. We have driven a total of 720 miles and are halfway home.
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