The morning was finally here. The last couple months have been hell. I'm feeling completely exhausted by constant feelings of being on the brink of breakdown. Good thing the open road for a couple weeks is the perfect medicine to clear my head, finish the chapter and close the book.
The day was looking a little overcast but I was adamant about not wearing wet weather gear so with a final gear check I threw a leg over and hit the road. Our first rendezvous point was a rest station on the Hunter Express Way.
Arriving at the rest stop there was plenty of beaming faces, both old friends and some new soon to be friends. I walked around and chatted as more of our chapter turned up. I was itching to get some miles under my belt so as soon as the saddle up call was made I was ready to go.
Heading for Dunedoo was fairly clear until the last 20 or so kilometres when it rained enough to make the road a little greasy. I was sitting behind a slow horse float looking for an opportunity to pass. When the time came I rolled on the throttle as per normal but I must have hit a patch of oil as my rear wheel lost traction and sent me sideways. I fought some pretty big tank slappers to keep the big girl straight and slowly backed off the throttle. Thankfully she straightened out fine and I was still upright in the pilot seat. Nothing like a heart starting moment 300kms into a 7,500km journey! Needless to say I didn't pass the horse float.
At Dunedoo we all stopped for lunch and for me a coffee to calm the nerves. Turns out I wasn't the only one to have trouble. Darcy, one of our regular members, had a pannier fall off and skid down the road! Thankfully no one hit it! Next stop was Trangie for a beer and then the final run to Nyngan for a rest.
Once settled into the motel a BBQ dinner was arranged as was a six pack of VB. Plenty of good laughs and cheer were had. Man it's good to be on the road. I'm feeling better already.