Spring Break - Ride Home and Wrap Up

April 22, 23, 24, 2011 - My blogging delay was due to not wanting to get on the computer at the end of the day after riding so long. For some reason the ride home always seems to take more out of me than a ride to my destination.

Our final morning at Jacksonville Beach, started off as many of the others had. Miranda and I rode our bicycles to get some breakfast at the Dunkin Donuts again. After eating a quick breakfast we went back to Nick & Sam's to pack up the motorcycle. We hopped on and got rolling at about 10:00 and headed north of Florida's A1A. I was determined not to have to go on that giant bridge during the daylight and Nick told me of the St. John's river (or Mayport) ferry. It is the last public auto ferry operating in Florida. We pulled up into a line behind some other motorcyclists. There was a couple with a sister originally from Akron, Ohio now living in Florida out for a Friday cruise and a nice older teacher riding with her husband out exploring Florida for the day. The teacher snapped the picture above of Miranda and I on the ferry.

After crossing the St. John's River the A1A continues North across the Atlantic coast for a while and then heads west where it intersects with US-1/US-23 N. We continued north on US-1 through Florida and the majority of Georgia. It was getting close to dusk and the weather was looking ominous. The next large town on our route was Greenville, SC and I knew that we didn't have time (and our luck would probably run out with the weather) so we collectively decided that the best course of action was to go 30 miles out of our way and stop in Augusta, GA. There was bound to be a national hotel chain there. Lo and behold we happened upon a Holiday Inn which coincidentally was the meeting place for a bike rally for a children's charity. We got settled in to the room and went to the hotel restaurant for what had to be one of the worst meals of my life. How do you mess up pasta with chicken? Miranda ordered pork chops which were a disaster as well.

Saturday morning, no alarms were set and I slept until 10:30. It usually takes us about two hours to get going after we wake up between packing up the room, the bike, eating breakfast, and fueling the bike. We ate breakfast at the Waffle House where the waitress exclaimed "Ya'll ain't from around here are ya. Ya'll got a accent." I thought it was funny. We fueled up at a really busy Kroger gas station and think we made some folks angry by taking so long at the pump. Oh well. it was 12:30 by the time we were underway. We finished up Georgia and moved into South Carolina then North Carolina. The real treat of the day was Tennessee. We had missed the back roads of TN on the way down because we were pressed for time but I wasn't going to miss them a second time and I was well rewarded. TN-70, TN-34, and TN-93 were really twisty and mountainous. Clearly the best riding of the trip. Unbeknown to me, all of the down shifting and leaning made Miranda really nervous. I didn't find this out until we got to the hotel in Kingsport, TN where we stayed the night at a Days Inn. It was really janky and had I read the reviews for the hotel before checking in we wouldn't have stayed there. After settling in to the hotel we hopped back on the bike and rode up to an IHOP for dinner. It was Miranda's first IHOP experience. She had some great cinnamon pancakes.

Sunday we got up at 8:30 and were on the road by 10:30. We were quickly into Virginia where we encountered our only rain for the trip. It was about a 5 minute squall that was just enough to get us to put on our rain gear. By the time we got the gear on the rain had stopped. I can be a tad superstitious at times and I thought that if we took the gear off that it'd start raining again so we left it on for the remainder of the ride home. The Virginia riding was really nice as was the souther part of Kentucky. As you go up US-23 in KY it starts to follow the Ohio river which was still pretty swollen and quite a site to behold. Then we were into Ohio. The only state that I didn't get a picture of it's welcome sign because it was on the bridge that crosses the Ohio. I was a little more comfortable exceeding the speed limit in Ohio because I knew how close to home we were. We finally pulled into the driveway at about 6:00. I had a fantastic time and was really happy to get to spend a week with Miranda by myself. Nick and Sam were great hosts. I could really get used to that Jacksonville Beach lifestyle. I'm also greatful to my Suzuki V-Strom DL650 for getting Miranda and I to and from Florida without incident.

Spring Break - Day 4

April 21, 2011 - Woke up to another beautiful Atlantic coast morning. Sam was getting ready to go visit her family in Sarasota, but she took Miranda and I out to breakfast before she left. We went to a fantastic diner. It was crowded but worth it. I had their Ultimate breakfast laden with pork products, eggs, hash browns and pancakes. Plenty of fuel to get me through the rest of my day. Miranda continued to indulge in her new found love of omlettes. Sam left for Sarasota after breakfast and I took a nap. When I woke up Miranda and I went to to the beach again. We spent about four hours soaking up the sun and the surf. I finally finished a book (been slacking on reading lately) and continued on another. By the time we got back home, Nick was home from work. We changed our clothes and went out to dinner at Mellow Mushroom Pizza. Nick and I split a Philosopher's Pizza (steak, portobello mushrooms, feta cheese, olive and garlic oil base, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives) and Miranda stuck with the standard pepperoni. We then went for a walk on the Jacksonville Beach pier. It was gorgeous to be out there at the end of the day when the sun was going down. We took Liberty for a walk when we got home, hung out for a bit and then turned in. It was a great final full day here.

Spring Break - Day 3

April 20,2011 - Today was our first full day at Jacksonville Beach and we packed a LOT of activity into the day. One of the nice things about the area that Nick and Sam live in is that you can ride bicycles just about anywhere. So Miranda and I started the day by riding bikes up to Dunkin' Donuts for our morning meal. It was more like lunch because it was 11:30. After eating we rode our bikes down to the beach. We rode up and down the boardwalk and then parked the bikes and went for a walk on the sand. It was a really beautiful day. Low 80's with a light breeze. The water was choppy at high tide and there were lots of surfers riding the waves.

After hanging out for a while we went back to the house. Nick was coming home from work and we wanted to get together and hang out with him. We ended up loading the beach cart and going back to the beach for a couple of hours. I must be getting old because it took me about 15 minutes from the time my feet touched the water to the time my chest was submerged because I was going so slow. The water had a refreshing chill to it but it was fine once you were all the way in. I fell asleep under the umbrella a little while later. We ended up staying for a couple of hours and then went back to the house to get cleaned up.

Also within bike riding distance was Ichiban Japanese Steakhouse. Miranda loves hibachi restaurants so that's what we chose for dinner. The food was delicious. I had steak and chicken. Miranda and Nick both had steak and shrimp. It was our waitress' first night. She forgot our steamed rice so it came out late. No matter, we had plenty of veggies to satiate us.

After our hearty meal we ended up going to Adventure Island to play putt-putt and go to the batting cages. Miranda's putter was hot and she handily defeated Nick and I. After the long day, we came back to the house and turned in early. I slept like a rock.

Spring Break - Day 2

Monday night Miranda and I played Pirates of the Caribbean pinball at the Holiday Inn arcade. She thoroughly kicked my ass. I'm a disgrace to my generation. It must be all of that practice she has at pirating from the school musical. I woke up at 6:30 Tuesday which is pretty ordinary for me. I made coffee in the dark so as not to disturb my slumbering offspring. We got breakfast at the hotel, went back to the room and packed up. We were on the road at 11:00. It was a late start.

The rest of the ride through North and South Carolina was nice. We crossed over Strom Thurmond lake and into Georgia and were in the middle of a pine forest. It smelled incredible. Throughout the almost 12 hour ride we stopped about four times. Two 30 minute breaks and two 15 minute breaks to unnumb the butts. We were not able to see much of the landscape of Florida because it was dark when we entered the state. We did cross one BIG ass scary bridge. When we saw it lit up in the distance, I thought it was an amusement park roller coaster. When I realized we were about to cross it I got REALLY white knuckled but we made it over without incident.

888.1 total miles later, we arrived at Jacksonville Beach. It was about 10:30 when we got there. Nick and Sam had dinner waiting for us and it was delicious. We hung out for a bit and turned in around midnight.

Spring Break - Day 1

April 18, 2011 - Miranda and I left Columbus this morning headed to Jacksonville Beach. It's Miranda's first long distance motorcycle trip. We actually got on the road at 10:30 this morning. Ohio went by pretty quickly and we crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky near Ashland. The Ohio River was ANGRY today. It was really high and moving fast. The ride through the Bluegrass state was pretty uneventful. We rode US-23 "The Country Music Highway" all of the way through the state. After Kentucky we were briefly in Virginia. It ended up being about 6:00PM when we

made it to Tennessee. Miranda and I had a decision to make. We could either call it a day and not quite get to our intended mileage goal (the 10:30am start time was about two hours later than I wanted) or we could hop on Interstate 26 and fast track our way to Asheville, NC. Asheville had been my intended goal. We decided to go ahead and ride the Interstate and I am glad that we did.

Even though I-26 is and Interstate Highway it didn't go through any major metropolitan areas. We still got a really good view of the mountains in TN and NC.

Tomorrow we'll h

ave to adjust our route a little bit but I'm hoping to get an earlier start. We'll see what happens. As I write this I'm really exhausted and ready for bed.

On a personal note, Miranda was an absolute trooper. Not one complaint all day and she's an awesome travelling companion. The only thing that would make the trip better would be Laela on a scooter with Indy in a side car to go with us.

States that we visited today:

Spring Break!

Miranda's spring break starts this afternoon at 2:00! WooHoo! We're really excited because she and I are embarking on an adventure Sunday afternoon. First we're going to celebrate my Mom's birthday by taking her to the Reds vs. Pirates game and dinner. Then on Monday morning, we'll be travelling via motorcycle to spend a few days at Jacksonville Beach, FL. We'll be traipsing through the back roads of Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. It should be a fun and interesting time. I'm really looking forward to spending the week with Miranda. We'll be blogging and tweeting from the road so keep an eye out for updates. Look out South, here we come!