I took a "bucket list" motorcycle trip and visited my younger brother in Charleston, South Carolina. I got back home last week, Thursday afternoon.
I am in upstate New York, my brother lives in Charleston, South Carolina.
I'm soon approaching 70 years old, and long distance motorcycle touring/riding is a skill/equipment set that requires a competent rider and a suitable motorcycle.
You just never know when those skills will begin to fade away as you age.

My brother moved to Atlanta, GA in the early 1990's because he was tired of dealing with upstate NY winters & shoveling snow.
Some years later, he moved from Atlanta to Charleston, SC.
We stay connected, and text/call frequently.
He is three years younger than me.

But it just isn't the same as an "in-person" visit.

Whenever my brother traveled to upstate NY for business, he always tacked on several vacation days onto the business trip and packed his motorcycle riding gear with him.
I have always owned at least two motorcycles, and my brother would ride one of mine while here.
My brother is a civil engineer, and formerly worked for an engineering firm that had an office in Syracuse, NY.
But he always did most of the traveling, and this time, I decided that I would do the traveling.
He has since moved on to a different engineering firm, and no longer travels to upstate NY for business.

This year is listed by the National Weather Service as the eighth wettest spring on record here in upstate NY.
My entire spring has been focused on dealing with mowing grass at the house and recreational property/cabin.
I decided to go visit my brother in Charleston, SC and ride my Harley Davidson Road King for the trip.
I am retired now, and have the time available.
The bike was ready for the trip, other than adding a handlebar mounted phone mount, for navigation using a cell phone for unfamiliar urban streets.
I am a bit out of practice for long distance motorcycle touring trips, and hoped that the crazy level of mowing lawn had prepared my back muscles for the extensive number of hours in the motorcycle seat.
As it turned out, crawling around/under/over my recently purchased Kubota tractor doing mechanical repairs and down to the frame restoration, along with the crazy amount of tractor seat time mowing,
did actually prepare my body physically for the motorcycle trip.

The route picked out was relatively simple. I-81 south from upstate NY to Staunton, Virginia. Then I-64 across Virginia from Staunton to Richmond, VA. I-95 got me from Richmond to below Florence, SC and
then I-26 and I-526 got me near my brothers home in Charleston. The one way distance was 980 miles, and I wisely divided the 980 mile distance into two one day legs.
I picked out a brand new Hilton Hotel in the middle of Virginia for an overnight stay in each direction.
Choosing that particular route avoided Philly, Wilmington, Baltimore, and DC.
I did find a very nice Interstate bypass route around Richmond, totally avoiding inner city Richmond for the connection between I-64 and I-95.

I am good for legal concealed carry in all of the states I traveled in, with the exception of Maryland.
I had a small steel handgun lockbox in one of my Road King saddlebags, and placed my unloaded 9mm HK P2000sk in the lockbox while inside Maryland borders, only for about 15 miles on I-81.
The remainder of the trip outside Maryland, my loaded HK P2000sk was inside my leather motorcycle jacket outside pocket.
I've heard horror stories about a Maryland State Police unit with patrol cars equipped with plate readers, laptops, and mobile internet trolling for concealed carry holders. I didn't see/meet that unit.
Thanks to Gary Slider, his website, and several concealed carry apps on my phone, I was able to remain legal while on my trip.
I experienced no traffic stops during my trip, even considering my average speeds.
North Carolina was the only state with the duty to inform at first LEO interaction.

The day I departed, within 25 miles of my home, I had to pull over and get into my rain suit. The further south I went, it was warmer.
Wearing full leathers (padded/armored leather riding jacket, and leather chaps) with a waterproof motorcycle rain suit during hot weather is an invitation to a sauna!

Several observations from the trip. The worst traffic conditions were on I-81 around Harrisburg, PA. Both I-78 & I-81 are combined in that general vicinity and they need about four more lanes width.
I've done extensive Interstate motorcycle touring trips before, and the general driver civility and level (lacking) of driver courtesy have plummeted since my last long distance trip.
The new standard for both cars and trucks is to camp out in the passing lane and obstruct traffic flow requiring passing using the slow lane.
I-81 (in NY, PA, and VA) was much heavier traffic flow along with the fast lane "campers" compared to I-64 & I-95.

The trip south spread over the two days was completely uneventful, other than some light rain on the morning of my first riding day.
Average speed on the Road King was 75 to 85, and I still pulled slightly better than 48 miles per gallon.
I would fill the gas tank, ride 200 miles, stop again for gas, stretching, hydration, and climb back on and repeat.

Once in Charleston at my brothers place, we planned out a few items to do, and got right to it.
We did some sightseeing in downtown Charleston.
We attended "Cars & Coffee" in North Charleston, a smaller weekly car & bike gathering held virtually every Saturday almost year round.
We did some local motorcycle riding.
We did some power boating.
We did a day trip to Edisto Island, south of Charleston by about an hour.
Also, good food and several beers.

The day after we did the power boating, my brother asked me if I wanted to do a day trip to visit some former coworkers in Florida. The former coworkers had just closed on a new home in Florida,
and the ride from Charleston to the new Florida home was only slightly over 200 miles. So the round trip and visit/home tour was easily done as a day trip.
I had met one of the new home buyers a decade ago while on a motorcycle trip to Tail of the Dragon, TN/NC.

I enjoyed spending time with my brother and doing the trip. The downside to a solo trip, while driving a motorcycle solo, it's about impossible to take any photos when moving.
When planning on ~ 500 miles per day, there also isn't very much available time for stopping and taking photos at scenic overlooks and similar scenic locations.

The return trip was also uneventful. The morning that I departed Charleston, a coastal tropical depression was approaching fast with rain forecast for all day.
I ended up getting up early, packing, and on the road at 07:15 so I could avoid the rain and wearing the rain suit.
The two day trip back to upstate NY followed the same route as the southbound trip, and another overnight in central Virginia at the same Hilton Hotel.

A large storm system stretching from Galveston, TX to the Ohio river valley was forecast to arrive on my last day of riding.
I awoke at 05:30, and on the road at 06:30 and arrived home in mid afternoon.
The storm system arrived about 08:00 PM the day I arrived home with torrential rainfall and significant hail nearby.
I had successfully dodged weather for the the entire trip, with the exception of some light rain and mist for the first half of the first day!
I had sunny hot weather for the four days in Charleston, the day trip to Florida, and the two days for the ride back home. Seven and a half out of eight days with great weather across nine states.

During the eight day trip (two travel days southbound, four days there, two travel days returning) I traveled in the following states.

New York
Pennsylvania
Maryland
West Virginia
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
Florida

I had zeroed out my Trip "A" on the Road King odometer just before departing and ended up with 2561.8 miles for the trip total. Not bad at all for eight days.
The straight line distance ("As the crow fly's") distance from New York City to Los Angeles is about 100 miles less than my trip total.

The Road King? Zero problems. It used about one cup of engine oil during the trip, which really isn't unexpected considering the distance, speeds, and temperature while that far south.
The LED forward lighting really wasn't needed as almost all of the trip riding was during daylight hours.
The cruise control was invaluable!
The Road King doesn't have the audio systems available in the other Harley Davidson Touring bikes due to not having a frame or handlebar mounted fairing.
I use an Apple iPod Touch for playing music, and keep it in an interior pocket in my leather riding jacket, with corded "in the ear" ear buds under my helmet.

Where we went in Florida is only about five miles south of the Georgia/Florida state border, and some distance north of Jacksonville, but now I can honestly say that I have driven my Road King from upstate NY to Florida and back!

Here is the Road King. It's a 2013 model, 103 cubic inch motor, fuel injected, six speed, and cruise control just like a car. It had a few factory accessory items added prior to delivery.
Touring seat, LED headlight, LED driving lights, special HD speedometer/tachometer unit with customizable background illumination color and "pointer" colors. The remainder is all stock.
Staying in the red/reddish purple spectrums minimizes night vision loss for night driving, as the speedometer/tachometer is set into the top of the gas tank. (see the Trip "A" photo below)

DSC02280 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

Cars & Coffee in North Charleston.

PXL_20250531_133231265 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

Brother has several Yamaha machines, his R1 here, my Road King, and see that little Honda Grom?
The motor has been heavily modified, bored cylinder, 13:1 high compression piston, re-jetted carburetor, cam, exhaust header and high flow muffler and that tiny bike will do 80 mph!
It belongs to my brothers friend & neighbor. I recall the Grom single cylinder displacement at 175cc now after modifications.

PXL_20250531_143210539 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

Power boating and returning from the ocean/bikini beach.

PXL_20250601_152210378 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

Charleston is a deep water port location, but the ocean going vessels create heavy nautical traffic and significant BIG wakes in Charleston harbor.
There are multiple waterways that reach the Atlantic coast that accommodate power boat traffic without the ocean going ships.
We went to a beach that fronts on the Atlantic Ocean south of Folly beach on Kiawah Island.
My brother calls it "Bikini Beach" and the place is packed with anchored power boats and hundreds of young/younger tanned women.
The ladies stroll up and down the high tide line on the beach where the sand is hard packed.

PXL_20250601_164645210 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

Brothers place, back yard, enjoying a cold beer. New fireplace on the new patio.

PXL_20250601_003251147 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

I had told my brother before departing to Florida for the day trip that I wanted to stop at the first rest stop/visitor center after crossing the Georgia/Florida border.
I wasn't sure if he would remember, but he did.
We parked the two bikes, ditched the helmets, and walked over to the "Welcome to Florida" sign.
When we parked the bikes, a family in a minivan was pulling in next to the parked bikes and getting out of the minivan.
We bumped into the family at the Welcome to Florida sign, and what appeared to be the six foot three blond teenage daughter, she offered to take our photos rather than us doing selfies.
I am in the black leather motorcycle vest, long sleeve gray shirt.

PXL_20250602_164414629 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

Road King in the central Virginia Hotel parking lot.

PXL_20250604_225648430 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

Trip "A" back at home.

PXL_20250605_193659344 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

Edit: spelling

This message has been edited. Last edited by: cee_Kamp,

I spy a CBX & a Honda Rune in that photo! And an obscured R34 Skyline

Cool trip, I wouldn't mind taking some long trips, either on the bikes or in the Midget [top speed limited heavily in the MG].

Absolutely, many cool & hi end machinery items at Cars & Coffee.
Autos also, Maserati, Porsche, Ferrari, new Corvette's
One guy had a factory early 80's Honda CX 500 with factory turbo setup.

You never mentioned you were twins....

I've made a few thousand plus mile trips on my Road Glide(s) the FL bagger system really shines on those trips. I've hit those interstates on a trip to Greenville, and 85 is just keeping up on 95 and 26... Might as well paint NASCAR numbers on the doors of some of those cars..

Realize you were making time on the interstates, too bad you couldn't take some back roads through NY, PA, VA into the Carolinas. But that would probably add a few days to the trip.

Sounds like a nice trip

What a great trip! Thanks for the details.

Nice trip and report! Did you manage to stuff all your gear into the hard bags, or did you have to strap on a duffel?

My butt isn't up to that long a trip any more! But then, I have an Africa Twin, so the seat isn't nearly as comfy as yours.

I have a Harley Davidson soft side luggage piece.
Wheeled, pop up handle on top.
It fastens down on the rear luggage rack. Straps & buckles.
Also, the 3rd bag has a neoprene wet suit material which slides over the passenger back rest.

I also have the Harley Davidson cordura nylon saddlebag insert bags.
If you can stuff the insert bag full, it fits in the hard saddlebags.

Epic adventure! Glad everything went well and safely.

Looks like a fun trip. Good write up, but...uh...it seems you left out a few pictures?

quote:

Originally posted by cee_Kamp:
My brother calls it "Bikini Beach" and the place is packed with anchored power boats and hundreds of young/younger tanned women.
The ladies stroll up and down the high tide line on the beach where the sand is hard packed.

Feels good doesn’t it? I rode from NW Ohio to Daytona for Biketoberfest in 2018. That was 2 1/2 years after heart surgery. Tail of the dragon on the way home. Great memories. I’ve gotten weaker. Sold the Ultra and ride a Tri-Glide now. Not the same but safer for me.

That sounds like an awesome trip, thanks for the trip report and the photos! That's a beautiful bike, and it looks comfy...even still, though, that's a long time in the saddle, and you went through some pretty heavy traffic areas...I'm glad you made it safe!

Nothing like taking a multi day ride on your motorcycle. Everything went well to, outstanding!

Duuuude! Thank you for this write-up, I truly enjoyed reading about your trip and looking at the picturs. Glad you had a good trip to your brother's and back.
Man, you make me miss my touring motorcycle (never sell your toys, folks.)

That's a great way to reset the stress clock.
I'm conflicted when I take a significant MC trip. Solo is great as you do what you want when you want. Small group of friends is great as you share MC experiences with like minded folks. But, it's REALLY hard to find that perfect group size and personality mix.

Dang, that sounds like a fun trip my friend. I noticed a CBX in one of your photos. My first sport bike was the CBX's little brother, a 900F. That brought back a few memories. Nice looking Harley by the way.

Thats a hell of a ride.....

Looks fun!

That looks like a great bike for a long trip!
Congrats!

The Roadking is a perfect touring motorcycle, sounds like you had a great trip.

Good on you! That sound like a great adventure and time well spent with your brother.

If you want to up your game check into adding a PacTalk in your helmet. Enjoy voice activated controls for your favorite tunes.

Ride safe and cheers~