1,000 mile solo ride from Daytona Beach

1,000 mile solo ride from Daytona Beach
3/15/2006

The Route:
Start: Daytona Beach, Florida.
End: Hockessin, Delaware.

Roughly 1,000 miles in two days (with scenic detours).

The Bike:
1977 Honda Goldwing GL1000

The Conditions:
Clear with temps from 70 in Florida to 50 in Delaware, but there was a strong possibility of heavy rain and thunderstorms the entire way.

And the ride begins...

My plan was to pack all my gear and take it with me to work on Thursday. I'd fly out of Philly on Thursday afternoon and arrive in Jacksonvill, FL, where my cousin Jeffrey would pick me up at the airport.

Here's where I work in Philly.

While I was waiting for the plane at the Philadelphia Airport I had a coupe cold beers.

Boarding the plane.

Jeffrey and I driving home from the airport.

Once we arrived at the house in Flagler Beach, I unpacked everything and we went down to the ocean to hang out and watch some of the bikes go up and down A1A. This is a picture of Finnegan's Bar, at the corner of A1A and 100.

Enjoying a couple more drinks!

Friday morning I took the title to the bike and went to a tag agency to get tags for the bike.

I was amazed at how many license plate designs were available in Florida. There were well over a dozzen.

The next stop was to go pick up the bike. My father was friends with a fella that had a small motorcycle shop in Daytona. He did all the maintenence on my dad's bikes, and the bike was on consignment for a short while there before I told him that I was coming to get the bike and ride it home. He went over the bike ahead of time for me and checked everything out prior to my long ride.

A closeup of the bike outside. It was a clean machine.

I rode the bike home and double checked everything myself (fluids, tire pressure, spokes, brakes). Later that evening I rode back to Daytona to check out some of the Bike Week festivities.

As expected, there was a lot going on.

There were a lot of bikes and a lot of people, including the owner of the Bunny Ranch, Dennis Hof. He had a spot set up where they were selling shirts and promoting their HBO series. They also had a pink chopper parked in front.

Saturday morning I got up early and strapped all my bags on the bike. It was time to ride!

Here's a shot of the bike and I all loaded down. On the bike I had a tank bag and tail bag. On my self I had a large backpack. The tankbag held stuff like maps, cell phone and tools. The backpack had spare clothes. The tankbag carried my rain gear and some miscellaneous junk. In retrospect, I took too much gear. I could have left a lot of the spare clothes at home.

My first gas stop. At 28 miles per gallon (at 70 MPH), this is where I realized that the bike wasn't going to get the fuel mileage I was hoping for. I ended up having to switch to reserve twice on the trip. The extra gas stops were welcomed as a good opportunity to stretch my legs and go over the bike. At almost every gas stop I had people tell me how nice the bike looked. That was nice.

I95 is long and straight through Florida. The 65 and 70 MPH speed limits help make the trip go faster though.

My guess was that this was a bus load of strippers coming back from Bike Week.

Crossing one of the many large salt marshes in Florida, Georgia or South Carolina.

In South Carolina, my traveling partners broke off and headed up 26 to the mountains of western North Carolina.

Saying goodbye to Cindy and Jeffrey. I was truely all alone now. Hopefully the rain would hold off and the bike would continue to run like it was.

It wasn't long till I started to see those damn South of the Border billboards. I really hate those things!

In Timmonsville South Carolina, near Florence, I saw a big Honda factory and thought it might be a cool place to stop and check out. I pulled up to the gate and asked the person what it was they built there. They said ATVs, and I asked if they had tours. In an unfriendly tone the guard said there were no tours and that I couldn't get in unless I was an employee or there for official business.

Here's a picture of the Goldwing out front by their sign.

And another damn South of the Border sign!

My plan was to try and make it to Rocky Mount, NC just before dark and stay there for the night. There was a Best Western there that had decent rates, and most important of all had an attached Denny's resturant. This would make it easy for me to get dinner and breakfast prior to leaving early the next morning.

Best Western Goldrock Inn
7095 Route 4, Rocky Mount, NC

I topped the bike off with fuel at a local gas station prior to checking in and then locked the bike up for the night outside my room. There was another bike next to me in the back of a truck.

I settled into my room and got changed before getting something to eat for dinner.

I also had to take some time to take a hot towel and soap to clean all the bugs off my helmet and the bike's windscreen. Florida is really bad when it comes to bugs.

The next morning I got up early and was in Denny's by 4am. The threat of heavy rain and thunderstorms was still very strong, and I wanted to try my best to outrun them.

The early start was cold, luckily I had several layers of long underwear on. I made great time, with hardly and cars on the road. My plan was to take 95 north and then take 295 around the east side of Richmond as I always do in the car. 295 is a little longer, is less congested (a real plus when on a bike), is a better road, and has a 10 MPH higher speed limit.

As I got closer to Richmond I saw a sign for the Virginia Aviation Museum. I really like planes and I had made great time to this point, so I figured why not swing by to check it out.

Virginia Aviation Museum
5701 Huntsman Rd, Richmond, VA

As expected they were closed, but I was treated to the sight below. They had a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird outside on display. This is a long range reconnasance plane, of which only about 30 were build. It was very fast, and held the worlds record for the fastest and highest-flying manned aircraft while it was in service. It's top speed was 2,193 MPH!

The cockpit of the SR-71, and the cockpit of my Goldwing.

A view from above, courtesy of Google Maps.

I hoped on the bike and rode another 60 miles or so when I saw signs for the Stonewall Jackson Shrine in Guinea, VA ("A" on map below). I had seen these signs several times before and always wanted to stop, so why not now?