Road Trip to ID8

As seems usual, our trip to Philly for the Independence Day Rally was not without a little bit of adventure. Year one for us (2004), I made the trip up on my Vino 125. The bike was a week old when we set out and I hit the official 600 mile "break-in" point coming home across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

Last year, we tested the towing capacity of our car and a rented trailer for the first time. More on that here.

This year, we were hoping to trailer up my "new" bike while Ryan rode his SportCity. Alas, my bike wasn't done yet, so I decided to be a passenger for once and give riding on the back of a 250cc a try. We made plans to load our stuff and the dogs in the car with me while Ryan rode his bike to the in-laws house north of Philly Thursday after work. I'd ride on the back of his bike to, and during, the rally.

Then, on the way to work on Wednesday, Ryan's bike started gushing gas and all our plans looked murky at best.

We tried out our trailer for the first time and hauled his bike home. Ryan then spent 45 minutes removing 5 body panels and 15 pieces of hardware (in five different varieties) to find where the fuel line to the EFI/carb was detached at the fuel pump. It took two seconds to click it on--and another 30 minutes to put the jigsaw puzzle of body work back together. The commute to work and back on Thursday proved that things were roadworthy. We hit the road around seven and reached our destination just before midnight Thursday night.

More on the destination tomorrow...