DAY #7 and #8 - Starting the Long Trip to Key West

Over the past two days, I have covered 1,209 miles. spent 22 hours riding, and stopped for gas six times. I have overcome the fatigue factor that plagued me the first few days so I have been able to ride from one gas stop to the next. Here is the recap of events.

Tuesday, August 15th

I decided to sleep in and get a later start. I was just tired for just needed to miss rush hour in the Montreal area. As I was leaving a nice gentleman asked me about my motorcycle so we got into a discussion. I eventually hit the road later than I wanted. The ride to Kingston, Ontario was the same as yesterday but reversed.

The first segment of the trip was to get from San Ysidro (SW Corner) to Madawaska (NE Corner) via Lebanon, Kansas. This starts the second segment which is from here to Key West (SE corner) via Lebanon again. This will take six days of travel. The red arrows indicated where I will be stopping at. The exception is that this Friday I will have my first and only down day on the trip in order to have the bike get its regularly scheduled maintenance and have the tires checked out. The Harley dealers are very good at giving bikers who are on the road priority so hopefully things will go well.

PHASE 2

I did hit some traffic coming into the Montreal area. Since I was travelling via the bypass, I only hit traffic in a 5-10 mile stretch. I was able to make it through without too much difficulty. When I got to the Ontario border it was looking like there was rain ahead. I grabbed something to eat and check out the weather on the free Wi-Fi. When I came out to the bike you could tell it had rained. It took 15 minutes to get the rain gear on and repackage everything for riding in wet weather. About ten miles down the road, the sun came out and of course, there was no more rain. The storms had passed so I just missed them. However, the temperatures dropped so it was a comfortable ride the remainder of the way back to Kingston.

I had dinner at the same restaurant as I ate at on Sunday evening. The food was good and the best part is that it is adjacent to the hotel.

Wednesday, August 16th

I left Kingston at 9:30 AM. I decided that this would put me into the Toronto area between 10:30 to 11:00 and miss most of the traffic. I hit some construction just before the bypass cut over. I only lost about 5 minutes and the rest was clear sailing. I want to thank the couple that helped me with my bike on Sunday for the tip about the bypass.

The first thing I did this morning was to throw away the Gel Cushion that has served me well the past four years. However, the ride on Tuesday became excruciatingly painful as the day progressed. When I get to Omaha, I will have to see if I can get a new one. Although the ride was more comfortable, it should be better.

I got to the U.S. Border crossing and spent 30 minutes getting through customs. The wait was sunny and hot. I got to the first rest area and turned my cell phone back on regular service after four days of airplane mode. I stopped for dinner in Kalamazoo and waited a while to take a break from the bike. The weather went from mostly sunny to cloudy. This made the remainder of the ride more comfortable and I made it to the hotel around 8:30 PM. The total travel time for today was 12 hours so it was a long day.

WHAT'S NEXT:

I plan on leaving around 4:00 AM so that I can get the bike into the Omaha Harley-Davidson dealer for maintenance before they close for the day. Needless to say, I am having trouble sleeping because of the ringing in my ears. I will try again.