An hour or so after a call from Roy P saw the Road King fuelled up and ready for a ride. While waiting for Roy to show a shower of rain, which was forecast for the day, passed over but the decision was made and we were on our way not matter what.
The route was agreed, Paterson via Maitland, a short stop and then on to Dungog. Roy had Max on the back, my wife and three kids opted for the 4WD. My son was keen for a ride but conservative about the chances of a dry run. The ride to Paterson was uneventful, the road mostly roadwork or road that needs work (read crap roads). We (Roy) decided to opt for more of a restaurant stop than the quite busy take-away and we found ourselves in an old but well maintained eatery full of relics. Luckily the company and conversation was good, the line from the milk-burning Maitre'd when we confirmed we'd like to look at the menu after having been seated for 10 minutes sums up the rest of the experience "They're over here."
With that over we headed towards Dungog and an short way out of town it started to rain. Not enough to scramble for wet weather gear but enough to dampen the legs with no help from the splashes of water that eminated from the craters in the appauling road surface. A quick discussion and a decision to forge ahead until we arrived at the choice between turning right and heading homewards via Clarencetown or continuing to Dungog. It seemed that we were on a "Dungog or bust" day and left we went. The road just outside of Dungog brought back memories of hanging on to pneumatic jackhammers in my labouring days and heading into the main street wasn't much better.
After parking the bikes I noted one advantage of the Road King over the Fat Bob, the wheel guards are much mmore effective. It was clear that Max copped the spray off the back wheel of the Fat Bob up her back which left with the (sorry Max) skunk look when she dried off. We sat for 40 minutes or so at Chillbillies, had a couple of decent coffees and I checked out the Rhubard Mille Feuille which warmed the proverbial cockles while the rain subsided.
On our way again and after being slammed about again on the road out of Dungog the road improved slightly and we returned to home base via Clarencetown and Raymond Terrace. Overall the ride was quite enjoyable, the countryside is pretty, the dampness didn't warrant complaining about, the only down side was the crappy condition of the roads. Easier for me one up, but if you were two up and your bike didn't like the bumps I'd give those roads a miss.
Fuel: 13.76l @ $20.08
K's Travelled: 159