Friday, March 9th, 2012 -- Pre-trip Prep.
Finally! Spring is soon upon us, and Daytona is coming along for the ride!
Linda and I will be headed out tomorrow morning for Daytona Beach, the motorcycles moving down I-95, with Florence in the rear-views. Somehow, even though we've been there twice before, we're even more excited about this trip.
We haven't taken a cycle trip since the Kyle Petty run in October. Oh, sure, we've done a couple of charity rides, and a ride or two to Myrtle Beach for lunch (gotta love Joe's Crab Shack), but this is turning out to be the traditional season opener for us.
The normal time for this trip is about 5 hours. We'll stretch that some, as we'll follow our usual 100-mile rule and break frequently. The 400 miles will roll away beneath us quickly, and we're hoping for fair skies and light traffic.
My cycle was due for it's 4000 mile checkup, and I'd held off taking it for a faulty grip heater until now. Pair that with a recall for a potentially faulty rear brake cylinder, and I ended up leaving the vehicle for a week. Both rides are ready to roll, and we'll be packing tonight.
As we take our 100-mile breaks, I'll be posting our whereabouts on Facebook, and I'll be sure to let everyone know when we arrive safely. Hope you enjoy following our trip, and I'll be sure to post a lot of pictures. I'd love feedback, and I'll be happy to answer any questions along the way.
Ormond Beach, Saturday, 6:44 PM
We made it! I know I was going to post our stops on Facebook, but we didn't break for long. Anyway, we pulled into the Best Western in Ormond Beach at about 4:50 this afternoon, about 7 hours after we hit I-95 in Florence.
For the most part, the ride was great. At first, light traffic made the southbound trek easy, and we cruised along at 75 mph. It's hard to converse on the CB at that speed, between wind noise and the motor noises of the vehicles around us, so as Linda listened to her MP3's, I grooved on the road humming under my wheels. The sun was shining, the sky was a cloudless blue (a "Carolina Blue," if you will), and the temperature stayed in the mid to upper sixties. We were dressed for 50's, so we were warm and content.
Stopped in Walterboro for our first 100 mile break, then headed towards the Georgia line. About 5 miles from the line, around Hardeeville (for my Yankee friends, yes there is a Hardeeville), traffic came to a sudden stop, and we moved at a snails pace for 5 miles. Accident? Traffic checkpoint? We couldn't tell. Finally arrived at the cause of the backup -- a tractor trailer had tipped over -- IN THE MEDIAN!!! There was no reason for the slowdown except for the damn rubberneckers, and we lost almost an hour screwing around with it. Sorry, rubberneckers, no bodies for you to drool over. It was just as bad on the northbound lanes.
Georgia passed with little incident. Traffic was heavy for a while, but we took our second break about 30 miles from the Florida line, and let the block of traffic move on. After that, it got easier.
As we crossed into Florida, the skies began to cloud over. We knew we might have rain, especially in Florida, but we kept on going, and except for a slight drop in the temperature, the road stayed dry.
There are just three words to describe Jacksonville -- We Hate It! I95 is under perpetual construction through there, lanes are shruken, traffic is nuts. We both clenched our teeth and got through it before we took our third break. We knew we were close, and we gassed up and took off again.
As we came down Route 1 into Ormond Beach, the rain finally hit. Not too heavy, but enough to soak the roads. As they say, if you're riding a Goldwing, you're not getting wet, so we road through the worst of it relatively dry.
All in all, a good trip. It's raining on and off right now, the skies are dark and menacing. I've covered the bikes for the night, and we're going to dine across the street at the (authentic) German restaurant.
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