Searching for the Sun - March 2011

[tiborgh]

I was hoping to get some half decent weather in March and start riding, but lost my patience checking the Weather Network and getting the same old. Then I decided to change my plans and hook up the trailer.

Everything was packed on Saturday and the next morning at 7am I was ready to hit the road. Well almost ready, because of that ice on the windshield.



The plan was to cover the 1,900kms to Daytona Beach as quickly as possible, and park the car and trailer there. The road was uneventful, and with the $2/day unlimited plan from ATT's GoPhone, I managed to keep myself busy calling friends and family. Also, it was interesting to watch the landscape changing along the way. Ney York and Pennsylvania with the frozen ponds and bare trees looked very similar to Ontario. In West Virginia, the grass was already green. Once I hit North Carolina, the trees were blooming and for the first time I felt the spring in the air, it was great. South Carolina and Georgia completed the transition to a totally green landscape. When I stopped at the Florida welcome center, had to put the T-shirt and start the A/C.

While a Protege5 is not the ideal tow vehicle and the $300 Harbour Freight trailer appears a little fragile, the next day at noon I was in Daytona.



After finding a local storage facility with CCTV surveillance, I started to unload the bike from the trailer. This is my least favorite task when trailering, as getting the heavy bike out of the wheel chock is a challenge, especially when parked on a level surface. Also to complicate the matters, the outside storage area was full and I had to book a garage which meant to unhook and fold the trailer, that 's another hour of work. But in the end, all that plus the $60 storage fees were well worth for the peace of mind.

At 3PM I was ready to hit the road again, but this time riding the bike and wearing only the light summer gear. The temperature outside was +25C, and sunny with 0% precipitation in the forecast. After the cold start from the day before it was like a dream. The fun part was just about to begin.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

[tiborgh]

Back in the saddle it felt good, but being my first ride of year was feeling rusty. Usually I start the riding season with an oil change and a few short rides to the local Timmy. This year was different though, as my plans to head south came out of the blue, and left me with no time to do the oil change and go to a few warm-up rides. I took comfort in the fact that last September I changed the oil, and after that barely put some mileage on the bike, so well within the 6000 kms and just within the 6 months. As I was cruising slowly through Daytona, the confidence in my riding abilities was gradually coming back.

Soon I found myself back on the Interstate speeding toward Fort Lauderdale. When I drafted the plans for this trip, there was a full day scheduled for the part between Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, but leaving one day behind the schedule forced me to compress it. Since during a previous vacation in Orlando, I've rented a Harley and visited Cape Canaveral, Kennedy Space Center, and the surroundings, I've decided to slab it to Fort Lauderdale and catch up with the schedule. So the next 400 kms weren't as glamorous as originally intended, and by 8PM I was in Fort Lauderdale looking for accommodation. After a quick search, I decided to stay at the Napoli Belmar Resort, for 89 + tax. They gave me an efficiency room, with a full size fridge, microwave and stove, which would have been great for an extended stay with the family, but just for the night was overkill. The room was clean, with a good wireless connection, the staff and the guests were friendly, overall a good experience, the only downside being that the parking and the bike were relatively far from the room, but that was an issue with every other place that I looked.



Fresh from my room, I walked to the main strip, to see a very busy nightlife. Lots of restaurants, souvenir shops and everything one would expect from a beach resort. But shortly after my late dinner, I started to feel the burden of the 2,400kms and decided to go back and crash.

The next morning, I started with booking the accommodation for the next two nights. The Florida Keys aren't a cheap place to be, and $200 got me just a basic hotel room in Tavernier, 90 miles east from Key West. There are times and places when booking the accommodation in advance can save lots of time and money and the Florida Keys in March appears to be one of those places.

With that taken care, I headed out, starting the shortest daily ride from this trip. I took Hwy A1A, by the ocean, north toward Boca Raton, stopping occasionally.



It was a very relaxing ride, under the palm trees and in front of manicured lawns, million dollar houses and lots of condos. Everybody was so relaxed, there were lots of riders, all in T-shirts and no helmets. Riding with the black leather jacket and helmet, I was an oddity, among the locals, and after a while, as it was getting warmer, I decided to retire the helmet to blend a little with the crowd and for my own comfort.

Deerfield Beach has a lovely beach, and I decided to take a dip in the ocean. The water was warmer than I expected, but despite that not many people were taking the plunge even thought the beach was quite crowded.



Once I passed Boca Raton, the next target was a Wal-Mart. The previous night, when removing the GPS charger from the power socket, it came apart. Not only that I lost a small part, rendering the charger useless, but another metal piece from the same charger came off and made a short inside the socket, blowing the fuse. So running the GPS with only battery power, I managed to find the nearest Wally where I replaced the fuse and started using the backup charger. I love travelling with a GPS, the wealth of information it stores in such a small package is unbelievable, but this incident reminded me how dependent we are getting on technology and how prone we are to failures.

Now I was getting tired of the South Florida traffic and impatient to see the Keys, therefore I jumped on the Turnpike and headed once again south. On my way I encountered a number of electronic toll plazas (think 407) were the signage mentioned about an administrative charge. The invoices are due any time in the mail now.

As I was getting closer to the Keys, there was a funny sign on the side of the road. Forget the Deer Crossing, Bear Crossing, Geese Crossing, etc. This is Florida:



At 4PM I was already in Tavernier, and checked in. The receptionist recommended me a good place to eat, the restaurant at Mile Marker 88. The food was good and the view was fantastic, this place is well worth a stop.







For the reminder of the day, I wanted to go to a beach, but when I inquired about one, the locals told me that the Keys are about fishing, diving, snorkelling and boating. Not too much else. Well, maybe riding as well, so I decided to explore the surroundings until the end of the day.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

[Brodie_laj]

Awesome man! Thanks for the story and the pics, I love reading ride reports like this, the website needs more of this.
oh and lol it looks like you have everything but the kitchen sink on the back of that bike, haha just playin' :P

[clutch]

Nice report!

I drove down there with the family and stayed for two weeks, started at Orlando and ended in Miami beach. Definitely wish I had the bike with me.

[homme de fer]

How did the trailer hold up for the trip? I'm looking at picking one of those up the next time they go on sale.

Can't wait for the next installment.

[AGS]

great story so far

[tiborgh]

Awesome man! Thanks for the story and the pics, I love reading ride reports like this, the website needs more of this.
oh and lol it looks like you have everything but the kitchen sink on the back of that bike, haha just playin' :P

A buddy told me that I look like someone who is moving . That was on another tour when in addition to the touring bag, there was a duffel bag on the passenger seat, with the camping gear.

How did the trailer hold up for the trip? I'm looking at picking one of those up the next time they go on sale.

Can't wait for the next installment.

Trailer was fine, but the tires are worn after 10,000kms. This was the second long trip, after Rapid City SD. Just don't forget that all the costs associated with the traile add up to ~$800 (wheel chock, spare tire, (optional) spare tire holder, plywood, (optional) paint, forged eye hooks, ramp, reflective tape, registration, etc.). But at least the insurance doesn't cost anything and no renewal fees with MTO.

[tiborgh]

The hotel room in Tavernier was booked for two nights, and for once I could leave in the morning without worrying about the checkout. The 180 miles roundtrip to Key West was a perfect distance for a day trip, and without the luggage I was no longer concerned when parking the bike. But as I would discover soon, no baggage meant also no memory card in my camera.

The hotel room was extremly small, so I preferred to finish my coffee in the hotel's backyard.



As I was debating in my chair weather those nuts can do some damage if they fall, I called my wife back home and heard about the big snow storm that covered a large part of the North-East. With nobody else to clean the driveway and after a two hours commute to work, she did not sound very happy. On the contrary…

The trip to Key West was relaxed, with lots of stops, pictures, and a slow pace. The weather was excellent, and the scenery kept me well entertained. The road winds through a number of small islands, most of them built up, that are linked together by bridges and causeways.





This is definitely a recommended route to anybody riding a bike.

Once in Key West, I stopped at a Yamaha dealership to buy a quart of oil, and had a chat with the owner, a very friendly guy, who also gave me some tips about parking and food in the town. When I asked him about selling Yamahas in a place where everybody ride Harleys, his answer was “I am selling only the good stuff”.

The next stop was the mandatory picture at the southernmost point; Cuba is a mere 90 miles from here.



It was funny to see all those people lining up to take a pictures with the southernmost point marker, there was even an unwritten rule that the second person in line will photograph the first, don’t ask me how I know this J. Almost every business in this area has the “Southernmost” word in their name: “Southernmost House”, “Southernmost Restaurant”, etc. it was like a massive brainwash.


For the next three hours, I began to explore the old Key West by foot. With its 19th Century architecture, the mild tropical climate and the relaxing athmosphere, this place felt more like a Caribbean island than a typical US town, but wait a sec, this is a Caribbean island.







With the time running out, I started the return trip, but not before another dip in the ocean. Key West was the destination and the highlight of this trip, and leaving it behind made me a little sad. Just in time for the sunset, I was back at the Mile Marker 88 restaurant.



Back at the hotel, I started planning the next day. In the meantime, Toronto was digging out from the snow. Again!

(TO BE CONTINUED)

[tiborgh]

The last day in the Keys started off on a bad note: first I lost my credit card, but I wouldn’t know that until later when I had to pay for lunch, then a nasty insect decided to wedge itself inside my fingerless gloves and sting me. Not a good experience when riding at highway speed, followed closely by a dump truck.

To follow the Gulf coast of Florida, I had two choices to get across the Everglades National Park: I75 known as the Alligator Alley or Hwy 41, a two lane road south of I75. Since there was no hurry, it was easy to decide. The side roads to Hwy 41 were straight and boring, with farmlands everywhere, think Ontario. On Hwy 41 there were a number of tourist traps, offering airboat tours, but the ride was less interesting than I had originally thought, with long stretches of straight roads and the same landscape over and over again. Gone were the “Crocodile Crossing” signs, but signs from here were still exotic.



At the Miccosukee Village, I stopped to take the airboat tour. The ride itself, through the alligator infested swamps, was interesting, but the guide/operator was in a terrible mood, which made the whole experience less than stellar. Back at the village, they were serving alligator meat at the local restaurant, and I was tempted to try it out, but it was still too early for lunch.







A quick detour from Hwy 41 took me to Everglades City, which is a small community at the beginning of 99 mile-long Wilderness Waterway. This route runs on the wild western edge of the Everglades National Park, between Everglades City and Flamingo, through 10,000 Islands, and is ranked the #1 thing to do in Florida, by LonelyPlanet.
I decided to break for lunch at another restaurant with a patio by the water.



It was here that I discovered about the missing credit card, and had to spend over half an hour on the phone, with the banks, to disable it. For the reminder of the trip I used the backup card, and the thought of a hiccup with this one scared me as I usually carry only a limited amount of cash.
At a gas station before Naples, there was a hippie with an old van parked near the roadside, displaying a big “Hold and Hug an Alligator” sign on the sides. For a $5 tip, the guy would take pictures of people holding his pet alligator. The scary thing (for me) was when he removed the strap from the alligator’s mouth.



Soon after that I was in Naples, on the Golf Coast. The 10 mile beach from here was voted the best in America in 2005. Also, in Naples, there is a Ferrari club, who organized the annual car show on 5th Avenue in February, and more than 400 were brought to the downtown shopping district. When I cruised on 5th Avenue, there were only about 12 Ferraris left.



I continued riding north along the coast until I reached Fort Myers Beach, where I watched the sunset.





Being a beach resort, there were no reasonable accommodations here, so I continued to ride inland for another 25 kms, until Fort Myers, where I found a WiFi hotspot and booked a room through Hotwire.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

[Gryph]

Awesome post and great pics.

Got any more info/pics on that trailer? Thinking about getting something small to pull behind my Acura TSX

[tiborgh]

On the last day of touring, I cruised on the Gulf coast from Venice to Clearwater. To reach the coast, I had to go through an urban area in Port Charlotte, that was like never-ending. Once I was by the Gulf, I followed a small residential street, and had the feeling of someone who is tresspassing a private property.





In Sarasota I experienced for the first time this year, stop and go traffic on the bike in 30C heat. It was just as miserable as going to work in Toronto, but then again, the sun and the heat was the purpose of this trip, so why should I complain? Around the beach, there was that vacation vibe in the air again, and I took another dip in the Gulf. The water wasn’t as warm as in the Keys, but it still felt good to relax after the urban traffic that I’d encountered.

A little further north on the coast is the Beach House restaurant, on Anna-Maria Island, where I had the best lunch from the entire trip. This restaurant is rated #1 of 12 in Bradenton Beach, and would highly recommend it for anybody who is in the area.



The only route to cross Tampa Bay is over the Sunshine Skyway bridge. This is an impressive spanning bridge, built in 1987, that is 9 km long and 131 m high. Fighting the high winds at the top proved to be quite a challenge.



On the other side of the bay was the long coastal route between St Pete Beach and Clearwater. A Iast sight of the Gulf in Clearwater and it was time to move inlands.




For the reminder of the day, I had to cover the 150 kms to Kissimmee in the Orlando area, which looked like a short ride, if it weren’t for the accident on the Courtney Campbell Causeway. It took me an hour to get to the other side of the bay, just 16 kms away. From there it was smooth sailing to Kissimmee and, once booked into a hotel, I went shopping to Downtown Disney. It was 11pm and the place was still packed with kids and their parents. To park as close as possible to the Lego store, first I went to check the store directory, but being too lazy at this hour, I just pulled the bike in front of the panel. In this family oriented place, it must have drawn a lot of attention to have a heavy cruiser on the sidewalk, so it was no surprise that in less than a minute, a security guard approached me.

(TO BE CONTIUED)

[dannyz]

Thanks for sharing.
Great pics and RR.

[tiborgh]

At only 10C, Saturday morning was the coldest since I was in Florida. Daytona was only 140km away, but first I stopped in Orlando to meet an old friend, who is now a professor at UCF. I hadn’t seen him since the early 90s, it took a while to catch up. We remembered the days when I visited his town in the old country. That 90km round trip, at 14 and on a bicycle, was quite an adventure. That is when I started to discover my passion for touring in general, and on two wheels in particular.

On the road again, I had to deal with a few more toll booths. Having to stop every five kilometres and search for change in my pockets was a pain, only surpassed by the stupid security feature at the gas pumps that required me to enter a zip code every time I tried to pay at the pump.

At 2pm, the bike was already on the trailer and I was driving northbound on I-95. In Jacksonville, I stopped to buy a few presents and food supplies for the road. Other than a hot meal every day, I did not want to waste time getting off the Interstate or buying food from the gas stations.

It was also the time to say goodbye to the warm weather. Soon, I was driving under a large system, which brought heavy rains, fog and even some snow in the Virginias. The blooming trees from North Carolina, that were such a joy to see the first day, were now a sad reminder of the long winter that was still ahead.



One last push, and Sunday evening at 9pm I was at home, but what a different world was waiting here: snow everywhere, and -9C outside. By the time the bike was in the garage I was already frozen.



Overall, there were eight days on the road, 3,900 km round trip to Daytona, and another 1,900 km on the bike. The tow vehicle was my daily commuter car. The total cost for the trip was $1,200 and that’s with the single supplement (sharing the trailer and accommodations would lower the cost even more). All this prove that Florida is a realistic option, within almost everybody’s reach, to break the winter blues and get that bike rolling again.

The scenery is not as dramatic as in the Rockies or even BRP, and twisties are hard to find in a state where the maximum elevation is 105m above the sea level, but Florida as a destination is about the sun, the warmth and serene rides by the water, at a time when Canada is still dreaming about the summer under a thick blanket of snow.



(THE END)

[mchatel]

Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed reading this. Nice bike by the way...(lol...it's a twin of mine).

[IRONLUNG]

Your pictures and story make days like today a little more bearable, thanks for sharing. At least the end (of cold) is nearing now.

[afelotreyu]

Thank you for sharing, quite a fun ride for you and well a good read for us!

[Jason Bourne]

Wow.

Great story/pictures/write-up!!!!

[homme de fer]

This is a great idea for next winter. Thanks.