Today's Miles: 353.9 Don's Total: 596.5 Sherry's Total: 815.8
In some ways I was expecting this morning to be a little bit normal. I usually get up at 5:20, take the dog out, and wake Lisa to get ready for (gasp) work. Then again, there was also the fact that not only was Lisa going to need to get ready there would also be me and Sherry stumbling around to get a semi early start for our ride south. So I jumped....well, more like hobbled.....out of bed at 5:00 and got all my "morning stuff" done and was all dressed when I woke Lisa up at 5:45. Since I had the 45 minute head start I was all smiling and full of life....and coffee. I let Sherry wake up "naturally" and she was up and about around 6:15.
All of us were getting ready at the same time. The strange part was that we all were heading to the garage at the exact same time. We said our goodbyes to Lisa and she jumped in the car and headed off to earn enough money to pay for MY trip. Sherry and I did the last minute prepping and we saddled up and scooted out of the garage.
Our first stop was a mile away at the 7/11 to top off the tanks. Since we had just left with bellies full of coffee all we needed to do was get gas and hit the road. We shot east on State Road 40 that took us right to A1A and just a couple hundred feet from the Ocean. We turned south and went through Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach, and Daytona Beach Shores. At the Shores we took the last bridge to the Mainland and started south again on U.S. 1. Since yesterday was such a great day for riding we were hoping for another beautiful and dry ride. Sherry asked if I prayed for good weather and I told her I did....BUT....as much as God hangs on my every word.....sometimes it still rains when I for dry.
We continued on U.S. 1 to Cocoa Beach where we were able to catch another bridge across the Atlantic Inter-Coastal Waterway. That put us on the next section of A1A. Twice we rode through areas that had obviously just been hit with a downpour. By the time that we got to those spots it was bright and sunny with only a little bit of spray being kicked up. We followed that all the way to Ft Pierce where we had to grab another bridge over to the Mainland. About that time I was in agony. I had started to sweat a little bit and my sunscreen was just starting to touch my eye. I don't know if you have ever had sunscreen sneak into your eye but it is similar to the way my grandmother used to describe what would happen to my eyes if I was to sneak into my dad's closet and "thumb through" his Playboys. By the way, I never fully understood why my eyes would burn with hot coals if I looked at a Playboy but my dad's eyes were just fine.....the things an 11 year has to ponder. Apparently my grandmother was telling the truth because my left eye was stinging and watering. I tried to stick a finger up under my glasses to wipe some tearing away and all I accomplished was spreading oily crude over my sunglasses lens.
Since we had covered about 165 miles I pulled into a gas station to not only get gas but to try and relieve my eyes. We were successful in getting gas but as for my eyes.....not so much. Sherry asked a tow truck driver who was filling up his rig if there was any restaurants in the direction we were going. He said that there was nothing but a Wendy's. He said that we might not want to stop because it wasn't the best part of town. I said that I didn't care, we were going that way anyways and if there was a restaurant we would stop and eat. Apparently, and this is just my guess, the ONLY place that tow truck driver eats is at Wendy's so he thinks that is the only place there. After about a mile we had passed a variety of chain restaurant....fast food and other wise.....when I saw a non-chain Mexican restaurant called Brisa Del Mar. We had a great lunch and my eye was feeling WAY better......of course, now my nose was running because of the hot salsa.
We continued on State Road 70 from Ft Pierce to Lake Okeechobee. Lake Okeechobee is the 3rd largest lake completely within the United States. Lake Michigan and a lake in Alaska are the other two. We came into Lake Okeechobee and hit U.S. 441 and rode it all the way from the north side of the lake to the south side. There we hit U.S. 27 and started due south to our Florida City destination. We were traveling a good speed with beautiful weather and light traffic. It was about 4:30 and we were about an hour from our hotel. Then what to my wondering eyes should appear.....a bunch of cars STOPPED so the road wasn't clear. We rolled to a stopped and as I looked ahead I could see some of the truck drivers were out of their trucks talking. So we shut off our bikes and set them on kickstands. Sherry checked the Google Traffic and FDOT and we realized that there was a fatal accident ahead of us.........so we sat. And we sat and we sat and we sat. We didn't move an inch for FOUR HOURS. In all my years of driving since Henry Ford personally gave me the FIRST Model T I have never,
ever sat in stopped traffic like that. While everyone else sat in their cars Sherry and I sat out in the late afternoon Florida sun. A couple cars ahead of us felt sorry for us and sent their daughter back with an umbrella. As I write this there is right now a lot of struggle going on in our country......but when push comes to shove there is still love and compassion abound.
FINALLY, after a bit over four hours the traffic started to SLOWLY move. We actually were not very far back from the beginning so we go out pretty quickly. They still had one lane completely closed but we squirted out and we were again on our way. Thinking that we would get into our rooms by 6:00 was changed by fate and we did not get into our rooms until 10:15...........YIKES!!!
Because we were now going to ride through twilight and into darkness we saw a gorgeous, pink sunset. We did a fast stop to take a couple pictures and then were back on the road. About 10 miles from the hotel we stopped for gas. As Sherry was buying hers the credit card company called her to tell her that someone was trying to get a cash advance with her number. With mobile phones and the 21st Century technology she was able to handle the situation in a matter of 5 minutes while standing at the gas pump.
Somehow (it was actually my fault but I didn't say that and if you say I did I will deny it) we came through Homestead, FL the back way and when I got to U.S. 1 I turned us right when I should have turned us left. So we were IMMEDIATELY on the Causeway to the Keys. We had to travel about 8 miles before we came to a spot that didn't have the concrete median and we could turn around. We had reservations at the Quality Inn in Florida City and as we pulled into "hotel row" we saw the Quality Inn sign and pulled in. I would love to tell you the whole story.....but I don't really understand it myself. There has been sales, shiftings, buyings, take-overs, and Super Bowl bets. We wound up at the Travelodge offic after trying to find the Quality Inn office. It took FOUR of them to check us in and then they told us that our rooms had been switched from Quality Inn to Travelodge.....even though the Quality Inn was being used. (there was another section that was completely roped off that no one was using) Then a guy came with a golf cart. He was the Navigation Guy. He took us back to our bikes (they were parked by the Quality Inn rooms) and then had us follow him to the Travelodge rooms we were supposed to stay at.
I wanted some snacks and a drink to keep me "nourished" while I wrote the blog so we walked
up to the convenience store......everyone of them were closed. They ALL closed at 10:00....sheesh! So I grabbed a soda and some M&Ms from the vending machine and went back to the room. Sherry said that she was used up and went on to her room to bed.
I went into the room, got ready for bed, got the computer, and fired it up. It came up and I went to sign onto their Wifi......I read the guest book that had the Wifi directions and I signed up.....BUT....it told me to use a valid password. I tried every which way but Sunday......I guess I should have tried Sunday because I could NOT get online. Since I was ready for bed and I just killed 20 minutes doing my everything but Sunday routine...........I was NOT going to the office.
Instead I waited until morning.....quick update and why this chapter was a day late.....The book had the wrong password. Well, it is the right password but they had changed all the Quality Inn rooms to that password but the Travelodge rooms were not changed yet. ARGH!!!
So that was our second day of riding. It was, for the most part, a good day. Yeah, there were a couple of hiccups but it was a nice day with good company so all was good. Shortly Chapter Six will be up for you to read. I hope you enjoy. Talk to you later.
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