The LONG ride home

Sunday, Day 8:
Woke up early.. Again.. Sighh.. got all day to ride to get home so after a quick lousy breakfast at the Key West Inn.. we hit the road just before sun rise. We are headed east down Hwy 280 through the Appalachian Mountains of central AL.. beautiful ride, great road and gorgeous scenery.. except for the sun burning our retinas off as we top each rise.. Did I mention that the sun rises in the East?... well it does! was a beautiful ride though and not a lot of traffic. We stopped in Columbus GA for gas and a little break. Long stretches now between stops. Elsie is getting great gas mileage and running very smooth, getting about 120+ miles out of a tank. Jeff is hanging in there.. We stopped at Tifton GA for lunch right on I-75.. we can smell Florida from here! 

After lunch Jeff suggested we take more frequent breaks between gas stops to make it a little easier on us, and that was a great Idea.  So, I stopped every 40-60 miles and gassed up every other stop.. This seemed to be working well as we weren't so worn out from 120 mile non-stop stretches. Putting miles behind us steadily inching every closer to home on the map.. Warm and sunny just like FL is supposed to be. It was a beautiful day to ride.. The last stop was at YeeHaw Junction just before dusk to say our goodbys and talk about the trip.. we agreed it was an incredible adventure one that we will never forget.. we are tired, road weary and the bikes are dirtier than they have EVER been.. but it's all worth it.45 more minutes to ride and we'll be home. We took off one more time and cruised down Hwy 60 toward Vero Beach..  Jeff peeled off at I-95 and rode down to Ft. Pierce and I continued on home. I pulled into my drive way at 8:00pm.. I sent a text Becky to let her know Jeff would be home soon..  WOW!!  what a great trip! 

SUMMARY:
8 days on the road..traveling through FL, AL, MS, LA, TX, OK, AR, TN and back through AL, GA and FL.  That's 9 states in 8 days. Elsie said 3,214 miles total.

Damage to the bikes: Both our horns quit working after we rode 300 miles in the rain.. LOL, Elsie's right front driving light went out somewhere in Arkansas and Jeff's pipes were fouled down where his rain suit made contact and melted..

Near Death Experiences: only a couple, but we were lucky and no one was injured. Although one cage driver did receive the universal sign of disapproval from me as they ducked back into their lane..

What would we do different:
1) Invest in better rain gear
2) Heated gloves
3) Don't ride in the dark, on unfamiliar roads while it's raining.
4) Clean the windshields more often
5) Don't let Jeff pack all the crap he brought

What we want to go back and do again:
1) The Natchez Trace Parkway.... ALL of it
2) The Vicksburg Battleground
3) Hwy 10 in Eastern OK.
4) The Pig Trail in AR.
5) Corky's BBQ in Memphis!  A definite!

We had a great trip!!  Jeff is a great riding partner.. give us a couple days to catch up and we'll be ready to go again!   LETS RIDE!!!