I made the Fourth Corner on Sunday - I MADE IT!!!

I finished the run down the East Coast

Happy Anniversary

I want to take this opportunity to wish my wife Trish a (belated) very happy 29th Anniversary. We were married on a very hot and muggy Saturday afternoon at the Third Street Pier in downtown Milwaukee. We had our reception on a dinner cruise.

Fourth and final corner - 15 days

Saturday, August 17th, 2019 - Roanoke to Jacksonville Florida

I left the hotel around 7:00 AM with heavy fog. A few miles down the road it cleared up as I pulled out of the valley. The hotel was nice and let me park the bike under the overhang. When I arrived the previous evening, I was totally soaked and every item of clothing I had on was dripping. I rung them out and hung them up but that was not good enough, so I had to pack them away while there were still damp. I didn't think that would be a serious problem since I was doing laundry when I reached Jacksonville that evening.

It was 70 when I left, so I took the chance to not wear any extra gear. It was a little cool at the beginning but when the sun came out it warmed nicely. By the time I reached Columbia, SC the temperature climbed to 84 and remained there the remainder of the day.

I reached the hotel about 5:30 PM. I had to wait awhile to get an open washing machine. I was only able to get one machine, so it took nearly 2-1/2 hours to complete the two loads. Once I had the final load in the dryer, I called a Domino's pizza which told me it would be midnight (2 hours) before they could deliver to my room. I decided to go to bed without dinner that night.

I got everything repacked and called it a night around 11:30. I was tired, and the trip has caught up with me. I covered 605 miles today in very hot weather.

Sunday, August 18th, 2019 - Jacksonville to Key West!!!

I was going to sleep in and get a later start in order to get more than 4 hours of sleep. However, when I looked at my NOAA Weather App, I saw storms were headed towards my path. I ended up leaving at 6:00 AM just as the sun was rising. I stopped for gas in Daytona and got into discussion with another motorcyclist. After 30 minutes or so, we took off on our separate ways.

I ended up getting gas at Daytona, Fort Pierce, Hialeah before reaching Key West. When I reached the Miami area (Hialeah) the temperatures climbed into the low 90's. I pulled out the cool vest and soaked it in order to keep cool. I had lunch and drank a lot of water because I was getting dehydrated. After an hour of cooling down, I took off for the final corner.

I got my official gas receipt before heading to the Southernmost Corner of the United States. It is interesting that we are only 90-miles from Cuba. It is a busy place with people lining up to have their picture taken at the monument. There are a number of cars, tour buses and bicycle also passing by. Parking the bike and getting the picture is awkward. I was able to get someone to take my picture since the wind kept blowing the "official" towel with my rider number on it.

I headed to the hotel and arrived around 5:00 PM. It was a small room but was nicely decorated. Because it was a Sunday night, the rate was only $100. I decided to stay there because it had a restaurant on premise. I got to the room and took a shower and a short nap. I headed to the restaurant around 7:30 PM and ordered a couple of appetizers. The food was awesome. I had a shrimp and baby octopus ceviche as well as some coconut shrimp. I topped that of with a slice of key lime pie

This was a nice restaurant and my waiter Sean was very friendly. When he delivered the disk in the picture, he also placed on the table what looked like a Baseball Players card. It was for the fisherman who caught the shrimp that morning. All their seafood is locally caught the day it is served.

I finished my dinner and headed back to the room as I was very tired. I covered nearly the entire length of Florida which was 520 miles.

It will be an early morning because I want to be at the Harley-Davidson dealer in Homestead when they open in the morning. After that I will start the trip home.