Her moving average was about 66 mph with an overall average of 53.3. Seemed like we were taking very long fuel stops, but over-all I was quite impressed with her ride. I rode along, but we used a single credit card on the fuel stops, so had to fuel sequentially instead of simultaneously, slowing her down a bit. The Silverwing performed flawlessly, though the "V" idiot light was on the entire time. It sure needs a larger fuel tank, though. Fuel range varied from about 125 miles to around 180 per tank, depending upon the headwinds and speed.

Close up view from John's bike.

The view John usually saw.

While she led the way almost the entire trip, I accompanied her to make sure she didn't waste too many hours stopping at Walmarts along the way. Due to my deer hunting experience (and HID lights), I took the lead for a few hours during the night ride through deer country in Southern IL. That was prudent as we did have one emergency stop for a suicidal deer meandering down the middle of I-57 and dealt with a couple of little 4-legged things running across in front of us.

There were only two traffic problems... Memphis traffic in construction areas was dreadfully slow southbound, and on the return trip, the I-55 bridge was totally closed (We were told because of a motorcycle-car mashup fatality), which caused us to detour around to the other bridge. No real fatigue problems although she even packed blanket for the IBM that didn't get used. The weather was warm, but perfect.

The turn around point was, appropriately enough, the "Midway Truck Stop" in Duck Hill, MS. I ordered fried chicken there, and surprised the clerk when she asked why we were there. "We just rode 500 miles to eat a plate of your fried chicken." doesn't seem to be a common answer to that question.

While the SS is an introductory ride for many long distance riders, this will probably be the peak of her long distance riding career. She'd talked about riding one ever since she got the Swing, and just decided to do it this week. She did enjoy the ride (she says), and claims to have a better understanding of what we do and why. At least now instead of agreeing to ride her own on 500 mile days on vacation trips, I think I can talk her into doing it with 800 mile days.

We arrived home about 1:45 AM after getting a witness at a local fuel stop, capped the ride by uncapping a bottle of $6.00 wine, and called it a long day.

A very successful, fun, safe ride for both of us. But now, she wants a larger fuel tank and HID lights and I've got to sort out the paperwork and get it mailed.