I went on another solo motorcycle adventure that started on October 21 and ending November 1, 2009. I started out with just one location that was a must-visit: Key West. Everything else was up in the air and not set in stone.

I started off on Wednesday, October 21. This day started out with some heavy rain, but the forecast high was about 65 degrees. I told a friend, who lives in Sullivan, IL, that once the weather got better, I would be on my way. Sure enough, at about 3 in the afternoon, the rain ceased and the sun came out. I did a last minute check over my supplies: clothes, map, phone charger, toothbrush, flat tire kit, and basic tools... and then I was on my way.

I wanted to get off to a good start, so I avoided Chicago all together and went through Beloit, WI. There were no hiccups in traffic and the weather was great. The only thing that surprised me was that Illinois people would not go more than 1 over in the construction zones. I guess the Land of Lincoln really followed through with that ticket proposal. As the evening progressed, it got cooler, but still decent.

I rolled into Sullivan, which is about 25 miles east of Decatur, around 11PM. I chatted with my buddy for an hour, but soon realized that we were in for some rain by 5AM. I briefly got some rest, but the weather was on my mind and I could not sleep. I kept an eye on the forecast and figured that if I did not leave by 4AM, I might be stuck in Sullivan for the next 3 days until the rain passed. My buddy was cool with the company, but I wanted to get to Florida. I was on the road again at 4AM.

Thanks, Preston!

I saw some lightning to the south and the west. Because of this, I turned onto hwy 36, which heads due east into Indianapolis, some 130 miles away. What came next were the coldest 12 hours of my whole trip. Hwy 36 is long and straight with the occasional twist. What caught my attention was that it was still dark out at 7AM and the school busses were picking up kids. It made sense, considering I was now in the westernmost part of the Eastern Time zone (sans the U.P.). Another interesting sight was the number of Amish buggies scooting down the road at 6AM. About ever 12 miles, I'd roll through a town. I kept an eye out for bank signs because they often told the outdoor temp. The lowest reading was 35 degrees.

I reached Indianapolis as the sun came up. I was still planning on heading to Florida, but I knew that criteria #1 was to avoid rain. I used my phone to get regional radar video. The Evansville area of Indiana was getting clobbered with rain, but I figured I could take I65 and make it to Louisville before it got rained on. This leg of my adventure was interesting because the temperature outside went from the low 40s to the 70s over a distance of about 100 miles.

By the time I reached Louisville, the weather was well suited to riding: 70s and partly cloudy. Unfortunately, there was still a heavy band of rain to my south and it was moving east at a rapid pace. I could literally see the dark bands of rain clouds about 30 miles to the south. Not wanting to ride through this rain, I headed further east to Lexington. This stretch of the trip was nice because the weather continued to get better as I proceeded east. What I remember about this leg is that there were horse ranches everywhere along the freeway.

After riding through Lexington, I turned onto I75 south. While riding this, I was narrowly grazed by the storm clouds I was avoiding. When I say “grazed,” I mean about 20 drops on my face shield. A short distance to the west were dark rain clouds.

I stopped for fuel about 10 minutes later in Berea, KY. While fueling up, I looked to the north and saw that dark clouds hovering over the freeway that I had just passed through. From here on, the weather cooperated well.

After crossing into Tennessee, I stopped at the first rest stop. This stop happened to also have a tourism information center. I talked with a few bikers there and they were all heading to the Smoky Mountains. Because I was planning on stopping in the next 200 miles, I thought Gatlinburg would be a cool place to stay for the evening. Before I left the rest stop, I hit up a vending machine: they served energy drinks (and I like energy drinks (especially when they have low prices))!

The next 50 miles to Knoxville kicked ass! Everyone was driving fast down I75. The traffic in downtown Knoxville was not bad, but hwy 441 was packed. Apparently, I chose one of the busiest weekends of the year to spontaneously roll through eastern Tennessee. It took me about an hour to get from one side of Pigeon Forge to the other.

I rolled into Gatlinburg and looked around for a cheap hotel, but they were all booked or cost $150. I ended up staying in Pigeon Forge, which is pretty cool too. After I dropped off my bags, I took off into the mountains. I took the Smoky Mountain road to the top. At the top, there was snow in the ditches and the road was loaded with salt. I wanted none of that, so I headed back down. One the way back down, traffic was backed up for about 3 miles due to a broken down van. I wasn’t going that fast, so I killed the engine and coasted down the hill for the next hour.

The next day, I packed up my bike took off into the mountains again, but this time the tops of the Smokys were cloaked in rain and the wind was fierce. Altering my course, I headed towards one of my favorite places in the world: Deal's Gap. As I rode down the Dragon, the rain let loose so I had to take it easy. This was a mixed blessing, because it made people cancel their reservations at the Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort. I spent the night there and met some very cool locals. I also had a few firsts while there: watched a bonfire get started with a gallon of fuel, tried moonshine, and washed it down with Natural Ice (Anheuser's version of Beast Ice? (worse than moonshine)). The weather the next day was cooler, but good enough for some trips down the Dragon a few times. I also found out why there are big wheels on the Tree-of-Shame.

I’d like to make a shout-out to the friends I made in the East Tennessee Riders!

As I left the Smokys, it was cold again. I traveled trough a bunch of mountain roads and eventually found my way to the freeway, taking me through Ashville. I then took I26 all the way down to Columbia, South Carolina. The great part about this leg of my trip was that I went from the part of the country where the leaves were in autumn colors to the part where the leaves were still in summer colors. I also noticed the considerable difference in common tree species (i'm a bit of an arborist).

When I reached Columbia, I decided that I would get off the freeway and take SC state highway 321 instead. On the map, it looked like it would save me about 30 miles of riding. The tradeoff was a slower riding speed, but it would probably even its self out in the end. 321 started with well-developed neighborhoods, but as I traveled farther from Columbia, the condition of the towns went down. About 50 miles down 321, it looked rather grim. I'd compare it to the photos of the Midwest during the Great Depression. Then again, the people down there were soooo nice. I was even offered hospitality by one family.

One of the scariest moments of my voyage happened while riding down 321. A pack of feral pigs ran across the road. The locals told me that these pigs are a hybrid of domestic pigs and razorbacks. These pigs are not pink. They are multicolored and have patchy fur. The pigs are also HUGE! According to the locals, a pig will wreck a car if you hit it. I later saw a dead pig on the side of the road. The local people said it was about 150 lbs and still a juvenile.

I eventually made it to the south end of South Carolina. I knew it was getting late and I needed a place to stay. I decided to go to Hilton Head because I went there as a child and I thought it would be cool to go there again. HH is usually packed around this time of year, but the recession has taken its toll and all of the hotels had vacancies. I checked with a few and asked for the lowest price. The last place I checked was $2 more than the lowest, so I tried bargaining with the guy. He didn't drop the price but instead gave me a master suite on the top floor with a beach and lagoon view for the same price. SOLD!

Hilton Head is an interesting place. It seems that the people in charge of the tourism there want to deter young men and women. Everything shuts down early, including the bars. Then again, the bars were gathering places for douche bags. Some dick with a Benz was bragging about how cool, classy and fast his C320 was. I politely tried talking “car” with this guy, but it seemed was not very well informed. His knowledge seemed to drop off sharply after the HP specs. When I asked him what tire pressure his car required, he was unable to answer the question. He also believed it took a quart of oil to fill the engine. I filled him in on his lack of knowledge and tried to befriend him...
...He then ripped on my Harley...so it was on. I told him my 883 sportster, the lowest powered bike made by Harley in 07, would spank his Benz. About 1 minute later, we lined it up and then I kicked his ass with my bike. The icing on the cake was when he got pulled over by the fuzz!

The next day brought good weather. Just before I got on my bike to head down through Georgia, my aunt called me and said that I was welcome to stay at her place in Jupiter, FL. The ride to Jupiter was relatively uneventful with the exception that people drive very fast on I95. The speed limit might be 70, but the norm seems to be 85. I’m also not talking about just sedans and SUVs breaking the speed limit. At one point, a mud truck passed me. The truck was lifted so high that the transfer case was at eye level with me. The weather also went from warm and dry to hot and humid around Jacksonville. For those who know me better, this is my kind of weather.

I originally planned on staying in Jupiter for one or two evenings, but my aunt insisted that I stay longer and that I could use it as a location to stay while I made my rounds in southern Florida.

From Jupiter, I traveled to Key West. Riding down highway 1 was something extraordinary. I had not thought about it previously, but the keys seem to take for ever to get across but I enjoyed every minute of it. The distance from Homestead to Key West might only be 100 miles, but the average speed traveled is about 35 mph. Key West was a circus at that time because they were gearing up for Fantasy Fest (look this up for details). I did get to meet Spiderman and Wonder Woman while I was down there.


Key West

I caught a bite to eat at a bar and the food was decent. I sat right at the end of a pier where I threw my extra fries in the water one at a time. This was amusing because when I did this, little fish would swim up to eat the fries. Throwing fries in the water was interesting for a while, but then a tarpon came up and snacked one of the little fish. After that, throwing fries in the water was awesome!

I managed to get back to Key Largo by dusk and I then headed into Miami. I filled up with fuel and then decided to head to South Beach. South Beach is a unique place: neon lights, pretty girls in bikinis, senior citizens in bikinis, and overpriced food that tastes like crap. I parked my bike in a motorcycle parking spot, fed the meter, and walked the strip a few times. When I passed by where my bike was parked 20 minutes later, I noticed that 5 scooters were parked in the same little square intended for just my bike. I LOLed.

I ended up ordering a small pizza at one restaurant so I could sit and watch the people walk back and forth. I struck up a few conversations with various people sitting at adjacent tables. There was a chemical engineer from New York, a parole officer from Orlando, and a Croation girl who was a student in Miami. Jelena, from Croatia, seemed to want to flirt more than anything else. I ended up with her phone number, but I never called her back. (sorry)

On my way back to Jupiter from Miami, people were driving really fast on the highway. I took advantage of this and rode my bike wide open for 90 miles. Riding in a normal position, the bike topped out at 105. When I tucked my feet in and crouched down, the bike picked up another 10 mph. That was all fun until the low fuel light came on. After filling, I pulled back on the freeway. About 5 miles later, I saw many of the cars that I was riding with pulled over by about 20 highway patrol. Lucky Break!!!

Another interesting part about being in Florida was the Fort Lauderdale boat show which was going on. Aside from motorcycles, I like boats. I ended up spending most of my time talking to a ship captain about his days of piloting an ore carrier on Great Lakes. He was a Milwaukee native and seemed to enjoy his days on the Great Lakes more than piloting yachts in the Caribbean. And yes, we could not avoid talking about the Edmund Fitzgerald for a few minutes. That conversation segwayed into a sentance or two about how boring Gordon Lightfoot concerts are.

After Ft. Lauderdale, I decided to head back to Miami so that I could ride on the A1A. The A1A is a great road to ride down. The asphalt is smooth and the lights are all coordinated. That night, it was about 80 degrees outside and I contemplated on moving there. Someone seemed to want to race me on my bike again. This time, the guy peeled out at one light when it turned green. At the next light, he reved his engine and looked at me. As one would expect, I gave my bike the beans when the light turned green. He jumped the gun, but I quickly reeled him in and passed him. I finished racing at the top of second gear with a huge lead and then got on the binders. On the other hand, this guy seemed to want to keep on racing. About 10 seconds after he passed me, he got nailed by the police. I'd say he was going about 100 mph when it happened.