July 26, 2021

With nearly 700 miles on the trip counter, I pulled into my driveway in Macon. I left Red Springs just after 8:30 this morning, had lunch in Columbia, and pretty much just rode home. I was a long, hot day, but satisfying—like running a marathon—or at least a half-marathon. The last 50 miles was pretty tough—even my trick of standing up to ride through low-speed areas didn’t give me much relief.

As expected, the BMW R 1200 GS performed flawlessly. I’m always so impressed by this machine. I rode it all day, and it never complained. I just wish there had been more twisties on this trip. My best riding day was Friday, for sure.

I had a good time with Walter. I’m glad I was finally able to see his place and catch up. We see each other at Mailer conferences, but that rarely affords us the time to really hang out. I’m glad I took the time to visit. Plus, we watched a bunch of The Expanse.