Day 1 (the ride goes on, and on...)

As the sun dropped, so did the temperature. At a stop somewhere mid-panhandle Florida we looked at the time/ distance remaining, I think we thought we could A) get there in three more days, B) Increase speed and really get with it. We picked “B” and Mark was off.

At first it was kind of artful, we were slaloming our bikes in and out of traffic with great ease, swishing past the various cars AND trucks, very much the skier on the slopes. Unlike a skier we were moving past objects there weight 2-10 times our weight, they were also moving and the thought of falling into a powdery puff didn’t seem to exist….. Needless to say at our next stop….

I looked everyone in the eye, are you really “mentally and physically crisp and clear”? The answers were mixed and not on the side of positive. We decided to take a beak and re-evaluate our plans. Should we stop here, we did cross the 1,000 mark, at least that’s what our bikes said, but Google didn’t agree, they said another ~50 miles and we had another ~150 miles to our original destination. Should we stay/ get to 1000 “Google” miles/ continue on with our destination?

After a nice meal which gave us time to relax and rethink our strategy, we picked the final destination, at least that was what we were thinking. That and “Mad Mark” would relinquish the lead “Slalomist” would give way to “Determined Dennis”. We abandoned the mad race to a more moderated approach, think put it on cruise and try to stay in the same lane for more than a minute. We didn’t get there any faster, but felt there the tension diminished, that and the break got us to our destination.

12:00am (Local time) We arrived!!! Not to end the day with only a bed call, we decided to go into the old town and find a local pub, the Milltop. It was a really nice little bar across from the old fort. While we were recanting the ride, taking copious notes on what worked and what didn’t we met Ken.

Thanks June, awesome stop.

Ken was a local who drove a horse drawn carriage at St. Augustine. Come to find out was a rider (Honda) and deeply engaged in the local ABATE chapter as Seargent at Arms. He was a little guy, with buoyant personality and some magic tricks, but again what would you expect from a guy who rides a Honda?

Since the most of us rode Harleys and he and Scott rode Hondas the lines were drawn. He was quick with his wits and a capable verbal contender, through the evening there were laughs and we all had fun but it was time to go… We went back to our hotel and Teri made the observation, when we were riding away, he was walking, but then again what can you say about a guy riding a Honda? I guess one his bike, he has “my other car is a horse”.

And that was the ride from Fort Worth, Texas to St. Augustine Florida, about 1,100 miles, in ~20 hours!

Read more Day 2