The Spring Break Southern Run

This trip all started with one of my riding buddies (Jeff aka BigGator)  asking me: "Hey BigDawg, what's the weather like in Oklahoma in March?"  Having been raised in Oklahoma and living there for 38 years I suppose he thought I might have a clue. I replied: "It's a crap shoot, could be 2 degrees and snowing, or it could be in the 80's and sunny, or there could be Tornado's tearing the hell out of the place."  He in turn said... "Cool, I've got 9 days off for Spring Break starting the week of the 18th, lets ride out there"  So, who am I to say no?  All my family, my wife's family and some life long friends still live there and there are some great places to ride in Okieland so why not.. BOOMER SOONER!!  lets go!

A little background on us and our riding style..  BigGator has been riding much longer than I have.. He drank the Harley Davidson punch a while ago and has been a slave to their marketing hype ever since.. All that to say, BG rides a Harley.. it's a gorgeous 2010 Ultra Limited.. blue with black and all the bells & whistles that  Milwaukee can hang on it. She is set up like a big ole couch rolling down the road.. I'm a little more of a budget concious rider.. yeah ok, Im cheap.. I ride a Jap bike.. HOWEVER,  it is one of the unsung heroes of the Japanese HD clones.. My bike is a 1999 Suzuki Intruder 1500 LC..  the LC officially stands for "Legendary Classic"  those of us that ride them call it the "Lounge Chair"...  I don't sit on this bike, I sit in it.. with the set up I have now I can easily ride 600-700 miles a day..  maybe more (my current record for one day is 678 miles). Now a little about how we ride..  BigGator constantly has arguments with his motorcycle about which way to go, every intersection presents an opportunity to change directions. On a given weekend, or even week day if we happen to be off work we'll ride 300-400 miles without a second thought..  I bought my bike 2 years ago this April..  an I have put over 46,000 miles on her. This trip out to Oklahoma will push me over the 50,000 mile mark for 2 years..

We have other riders join us..  our good friend Sherry rides a Honda 750 Spirit. My wife Karyn Rides a Vulcan 900 Classic.  Jeff's wife Becky rides a Yamaha 650.. and another good friend Telisa rides a Yamaha Stratoliner. on rare occasions we all get together and ride to breakfast, then after that who knows.. The long riders in this group are Me, Jeff, Sherry and Telisa..  Becky and Karyn pretty much stay local.. We also ride on occasion with "The Florida Crew"..  not going into that right now..  it's a whole other ball of wax.. just gonna say that their motto is "No Rules, Just Ride"....  and that's what we are about..  Riding!  and a lot of it..

Jeff and I are leaving at the ASS crack of dawn tomorrow Sunday March 18th at 05:30am  from Vero Beach Florida..  we will take 7 days to make it out and back.  Our plan is to ride out through FL, AL, MS, AR, OK then back through those states to get home by next Saturday, or Sunday.  We'll travel mostly scenic backroads and roads less traveled.. we are out to enjoy what's out there..  not just ride a hole in the air trying to get somewhere.. Below is the "planned" route..  LOL..  yeah.. we'll see how close we stick to the plan..  ha ha ha. .this will be interesting. .

Below are a couple of pics of Jeff and I  from Daytona Bike Week 2012..  on "The Loop" north of Daytona Beach..

This is Me.. on my Red & White 99' Intruder

This is Jeff on his HD Ultra Limited.

We leave tomorrow at 05:30... I'll post more as we progress along the trip..

Be safe,

BigDawg!