Trip Stats:
Total Days: 67
Total Miles Traveled: ~2139 miles
Breakdowns (*Mechanical*): 4
Gallons of Gas Purchased: ~24 gallons
Longest stretch with no showers: 6 days
Washington, DC
I stayed just outside of DC in Bethesda, Maryland with my friend Simon from University. During the day I biked into the city while Simon had work. We hung out at night for dinners, I made risotto one night. On Friday Simon went to the beach with his family, I met up with my friend Yashaira's boyfriend Derrick and we watched the new Deadpool movie.
Saturday I met up with my high school friend Gabe for a BBQ with his fiance Justine and Naval Academy friends. Gabe just graduated and was down in Quantico completing officer training for the marines. We grilled on the rooftop at Justine's apartment, there were some pretty cool views of the city. Gabe drove me back to Bethesda in his stick 90s Toyota Land Cruiser. We made it back to Simon's place but when he turned off the engine plumes of smoke came out from the hood.
We checked under the hood the plastic casing on the heater core valve had exploded. Luckily Gabe was the guy who got me into fixing cars and rebuilding engines back in high school. Using some old rubber tube (somehow the right size) in the trunk and a hose clamp I had been holding onto for my moped, we made a bypass for the valve. After filling up the cooling system again we started it up and Gabe made it back to DC.
Gabe came back in the morning since we were planning to go check out Annapolis and the Naval Academy. When I walked outside he was filling up the radiator with more water, never a good sign. Somehow he was losing coolant and the engine was overheating again, but coolant wasn't leaking from the bypass we had previously made. After some inspection we found the hose from the rear of the engine block connected to the bypass had developed a crack in it. Luckily the hose was long enough and we were able to trim off the cracked section and reconnect it. We made it to Annapolis and back with no further issues.
When I got back from Annapolis, Simon's family was back from the beach. I met his parents and his 3 brothers. The rest of the day we relaxed, Simon and his brothers played one of the most intense 2v2 sibling basketball games I've ever seen. I left Bethesda the next morning to head towards Richmond.
Washington, DC to Richmond, VA
There's a saying in the motorcycle world that crashing isn't a question of if it's a question of when. About an hour into my drive I hit a bump in the road at full speed and next thing I know my rear end feels like it's on snow (I have driven the moped on snow before, I do not recommend it). I was able to slow down a tiny bit but I ended up wiping out in the middle of the road. Luckily the guy behind me saw the rear end kick out and slowed down to not hit me. The only thing that hit me was the reality of the dangers of riding mopeds, even such a testosterone boosting vehicle can not save you from death. The guy behind me had a truck so we loaded the moped in the back and he dropped me off at a gas station. The only damage to me was a scrape + bruise on my knee. My pants had some new rips in them that I sewed up later and the front forks on the moped had to be realigned. The rear luggage rack had some yielding of steel, it was fine to keep using it but it would need to be re-welded soon. I fixed the flat and bandaged up my knee in about an hour and was back on the road. I made it to Richmond with no further problems.
I stayed with my Mom's friend Martha in Richmond. We went out to dinner with Martha's close friends Anya and Rick. I got a driving tour of the city before we stopped to eat dinner at a very good chinese restaurant.
Richmond, VA to Raleigh, NC
Leaving Richmond, I had trouble starting up the moped. Spark was fine so I decided to tear apart the carburetor and clean it out. I swapped in a #60 jet from the stock #57, the weather was a bit warmer and it had been getting harder to start recently. Hotter air is less dense so to achieve the proper air-fuel ratio you need to add more fuel (a larger jet). It started up and I was on my way to Raleigh, NC. About halfway into my trip the engine started to cut out and next thing I know the rear tire completely locked up and skidded to a stop in the middle of the road. Luckily no one was behind me and I was able to pull over to the side of the road. I tried starting the engine again and surprisingly it started up first try. I thought I may have run out of fuel but that wouldn't explain the rear wheel locking up. I got back on the road and somehow made it to Raleigh without any more problems. When I made it to Raleigh I also noticed that the rear sprocket had rotational play in it and a few of the bolts were loose. The rear sprocket nuts are all captive (can't spin) and the bolts have a washer that you bend to stop them from spinning. So somehow the bolts stretched axially and the sprocket holes also wallowed out. I tightened the bolts up and it seems fine for now, I am planning on replacing the sprockets at some point.
In Raleigh I stayed with my cousin Andrew and his girlfriend Anne. We went out to a very good BBQ place for dinner and hung out the rest of the night. At night, I started doing some research into rear wheel lockups and found that partial engine seizures are a thing. The bike engine will lockup and then start up again right after. After a crash 2 days prior and a near crash from the seizure I decided I should rebuild the engine to avoid any further issues. I also already had spare piston rings with me.
Raleigh, NC to Lexington, NC
In the morning, I found a machine shop that had the tools to re-hone the cylinder wall and reapply the crosshatch pattern. I disassembled the entire engine in the machine shop's parking lot, they re-honed the cylinder wall and then I reassembled the entire engine with new piston rings. The engine started up first try and I let it idle for a bit to break in. I drove back to Andrew's apartment, loaded up my stuff and was on my way. I was no more than 30 minutes outside of Raleigh when the engine died on me again. I checked that I had fuel and I also checked spark with a spare spark plug. I walked over to a gas station and sat for around 20 minutes pondering how I was gonna sell the moped and start hitch hiking the rest of the way. I checked the actual spark plug in the engine because I hadn't actually checked it yet (thanks Adam) and I found that the spark plug had shorted itself out on a piece of dirt. I've never seen anything like that before but the bike started right up after removing the piece of dirt. I got on the road again and made it to Lexington where I was staying with a woman from a website called bunkabiker. When I got to her house, I called her and she said she wasn't actually gonna be back because she was on a motorcycle ride herself. I slept in her tiny motorcycle trailer that had AC and got going the next morning.
Lexington, NC to Mill Springs, NC
I had issues cold starting again, something might be wrong with the carb or maybe the new jet is too big. I was able to get it started again after adjusting the idle screw and made good time to my next stop, a semi-off-grid community in Mill Springs, NC. I'll be in Mill Springs for the next 3 weeks with pretty limited cell/internet service. I'll be heading to Atlanta the last week of August, taking a bus down to Florida to visit relatives, taking a bus up to Nashville to visit relatives, cat sitting in Atlanta for 2 weeks, then head towards Austin, TX at the end of September.