Moto-camping with the CE-04: a ride report!

[triangletom]

Somehow my teenage daughter thinks I'm cool enough to go camping with her and her Girl Scout troop:



It's a 161-mile (260km) round trip, so I plan to charge twice in each direction and where we're camping. Here's how we're packed:

- Top case: my kid's motorcycle gear (she's going to ride with her friends there and possibly with me on the way back)
- Behind the passenger seat: Big Agnes Tiger Wall UL2 Bikepacking Tent
- Helmet compartment: sleeping bags, J1772 cable, repair tools, air compressor, power adapters
- Between the knees (bicycle handlebar bag): Fuji X100V camera, TeslaTap, first-aid kit
- Side bag: Clothes for the weekend for my kid & me.



I may take until Tuesday to post the full travel report but expect lots of pictures.

 

[ghostrider4]

Dude, it is cause she thinks the bike is Cool

 

[triangletom]

We repacked this morning. After making a proper packing list, the amount of stuff we're packing has ballooned significantly, including camping chairs, plates & other things. To my astonishment, it fits - albeit barely.



Here's our packing list:



One thing I've done differently this time is hide my repair tools and air compressor in the small cutout at the back of the helmet compartment. I duct-taped my tools into place:

 

[ghostrider4]

So when is the first, of what will be an annual event, a NC CE04 camp out scheduled? I heard you were doing one next year. Granted, I just made this up but still

 

[triangletom]

I've been battling some tendonitis problems in my hands, so it took a bit longer to get this follow-up out the door than anticipated. Enjoy!

The first river crossing was the Haw River, named after the native tribe that once occupied this area. The tribe disappeared through death and assimilation after 1715, but the place names live on in their memory. North Carolina is filled with Native American history, and even today, North Carolina has the highest number of Native American residents (122,000) this side of the Mississippi.

The first charging stop was at Welford Harris Ford in Siler City, where a most curious and friendly manager welcomed me. He’d never seen an electric motorcycle before. I usually avoid charging at car dealerships because they have the lowest likelihood of functioning in my experience. Dealerships never seem to have more than 1 charging port, which is often deactivated, locked away, in use by a dealership car, or deemed customers only.

Welford Harris Ford, on the other hand, is exceptionally friendly and has a great food options nearby, so you can fill your belly while you fill your battery:

By the time I had lunch and returned to the bike, it had charged from 43% to 100%. Heading south from there toward the Deep River, I was soon welcomed by a series of abandoned barns, chicken coops & textile mills. Also: rain. Not enough to slow me down too much, but enough to make me take the curves carefully as they were filled with wet fall leaves.

At the Deep River, I encountered Coleridge, home of Enterprise Manufacturing – this cotton mill was built in the late 1800s, it’s been shuttered for the last 65 years:

There was even 3-4 miles of quiet gravel roads to enjoy. It still blows me away how well the CE 04 handles gravel. Somehow, I feel more confident. on it in gravel than I did with my old F650GS Dakar.

Just south of Asheboro, I stopped at the North Carolina Zoo for a free charge and a much needed bathroom break. I’m always skeptical of free chargers, as people often unnecessarily camp their cars out at them. It’s a cold & rainy day, and the zoo provides more chargers (6!) than anywhere else I’ve been outside of a Tesla Supercharger, so it was no hassle.

 

[triangletom]

I went a little out of my way to check out Seagrove, the Pottery Capital of the United States. There are more working potters per capita here than anywhere else in the US. Every building in the town seemed to cater to pottery somehow.

Heading south down via Ether Rd & Okeewemee (meaning “land between two rivers”), I avoided the highway and passed farm after farm: mostly cows, but also horses and sheep. I also noticed the youth of the trees here: it seems like everything around me had been clear-cut at least once in the last 25 years.


I soon arrived at our campground, an old farm in Troy, NC. It was gorgeous and peaceful. The host, Karl, was exceptionally welcoming and gregarious. He showed me around the expansive property, where I could charge my bike and place my tent, and welcomed me into his home. We soon had a campfire with smores.

My new tent, the Big Agnes Tiger Wall 2 (bikepacking version) was easy to set up and did not leak any rain: it’ll cozily fit two people and their gear and packs up exceptionally small. After a good nights rest, I woke up early in the morning to take some photos of the farm:

 

[triangletom]

We made a day of going to the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro, where I found my spirit animal, the Colorado River Toad. I had read about the psychotropic characteristics of this species as a teenager and soon referred to my peers as “toadblowers” for reasons I still don’t understand.

The next day it was time to head home. As I had initially planned for my daughter to join me on the way home, I selected a known good route home with known-good EV charging options. She, however, decided to ride back with her friends, so I took the time to scout out some new charging options. Here’s the Blink Charger at Montgomery Ford in Troy, NC – you can charge a bike here, but they always leave a Mustang Mach-E parked here, so don’t count on charging your car:

The nearby tiny town of Biscoe had a charger listed on PlugShare as vandalized and inoperable since July, so I dropped by to confirm that this is still the case. It’s weird to think that folks would vandalize an EV charger, but I imagine it was bored teenagers more than a nefarious group of anti-EV constituents.

Robbins, NC, has my vote for the most charming small town in the Piedmont. It has a lovely EV charger near a great coffee shop, walking trails, and Carolina Fried Chicken and House of Pizza (aka “Chicken Hut”) I stopped here to recharge myself and the CE 04: by the time I returned to the bike, it was at 99%.

After Robbins, I followed River Rd for a beautiful twisty route along the Deep River. The fall leaves and gentle curves quickly instilled a sense of peace in me. The next and final planned stop was the charger at the Goldston Public Library, where I arrived with a 53% charge.

I was in a hurry to get home and made the mistake of going by intuition and unplugging the bike at 68% rather than looking up how much charge I needed. I thought I only needed a 55% charge to get home from there, but it turned out to be 72% – so I made one last charging top-off at the Chatham County Agriculture & Conference Center to add another 15% onto the bike before reaching home.

Thinking back to this trip, it amazes me how many people went into making such an adventure possible: from the folks who organized the campout to the engineers who designed the EV chargers, and the people who built the roads. It’s a good reminder that behind all this amazing technology is a sea of people working together for the greater good of. the world.

That thought fills my heart. Until next time, keep the shiny side up.

 

[Luisimo]

Thanks for sharing, its awesome to see this kind of adventure.

 

[Low On Cash]

I know I'm late on this reply - but thanks so much for sharing your ride, when we're stuck in the house this winter it gives us hope for our next ride. Great images thanks for taking us along.

Stay Warm - Mike