Chris' Ultimate Coast to Coast Ride - Chapter 3

Chris' Ultimate Coast to Coast Ride

Chapter 3

Southbound to Key West

I pulled the bike out of the garage, Saturday morning, the 27th of July. Nancy was there and took pictures of me and the bike. The GS felt overloaded, though I knew it was not. The Adventure is a very tall bike and with a full tank and fully packed, it can be a handful at slow speeds. I also knew that a lot of the clothing I was carrying was only for Key West. It would be coming home with Nancy when she flew back to Maryland.

The weather was wonderful. I had put about 7,000 miles on the bike in the last few months, getting used to the bike and making sure all the accessories worked well. I headed south on I-95, the main north/south artery on the east coast. Navigation was not an issue. Ride south until you hit water. I had no particular plans on where to stop, but as I approached South Carolina, I decided to stop at the “World Famous Thunderbird Inn” in Florence, SC. They have clean, inexpensive rooms and a fantastic breakfast buffet. The locals eat there, so it must be good.

As I rode, I called Nancy on the cell phone and asked her to see if she could reserve me a room at the Thunderbird Inn. I was about an hour or so away from the hotel and was worried that they might not have a room on a Saturday night. The first problem on the ride reared its’ ugly head. The cell phone set up was not working well. I could hear Nancy, but she couldn’t hear me very well. This problem would continue for entire ride. I never was able to fix it. I eventually gave up on using the cell phone while moving and made calls while stationary.

With no reservation in hand, I decided to stop at the Thunderbird anyway. Luckily, they had a room available, which I gladly took. I pulled the bike around to the room and happily started unloading the bike. Though I occasionally leave items on the bike, most of the time, I pull everything off. I do this so often, I can usually pull everything off the bike in a couple of minutes. Having that first floor room with the exterior entrance is a must.

As I emptied the Jesse Bags, my heart leapt into my throat. One of the bags was hanging by a thread. Two of the mounting bolts holding the left bracket had come free. The bag was resting against the exhaust pipe. Fortunately the bolts were still there, unable to drop out because they were wedged against the bag. Everything in the bag had been superheated. The tools I kept in the bag were so hot, you could not hold them. My most important tool, the roll of duct tape, had been melted into a huge blob.

After unloading the bike, I assessed the situation. All the tools, including the voltmeter, seemed to be fine. I replaced the bolts in the bracket and tightened them with a little extra elbow grease. It was time to get the pit crew busy.

I called my pit crew, Nancy and added a couple of things to her luggage; a new roll of duct tape and a small tube of medium Loc-Tite. I probably should have used Loc-Tite on the bolts when I installed the Jesses. In fact, in the recesses of my mind, I think I recall somewhere in the instructions telling me to do this. I decided to Loc-Tite not only the Jesse bolts, but any other bolt I saw that looked remotely important to holding the bike together.

I locked and covered the bike. With that done, I got organized in the room and went to sleep, with visions of the Thunderbird’s breakfast buffet dancing in my head.

The next morning, after eating my fill at the buffet, I continued south on I-95. There was not much to say about the ride. Long and boring. The Jesse Bag stayed attached. I had intended to stop somewhere near Miami, but continued on south instead. I did not want to deal with Miami rush hour on Monday morning. Nancy would be in Key West by noon Monday and I wanted to try and arrive around the same time.

I ended up stopping at the start of the Keys, drenched in sweat. It was hot and humid. Who would have thought it would be so hot in south Florida in July? I checked into a Quality Inn, unloaded the bike and grabbed some dinner at the local Scottish restaurant. McDonalds. At home, I rarely eat fast food, but on the road, it just seems like a sinful pleasure.

The next morning I loaded up the bike and headed for Key West. My destination was a little over 100 miles away, but it seemed to take forever. With heavy traffic and few passing lanes, it took nearly three hours to reach Key West. I also noticed that many of the small towns along the way had set up dummy radar traps. The V-1 detector constantly screamed in my helmet. This tactic tended to slow traffic down even more. I tried to note where these false traps were located, for the ride north four days hence, when my pace would be more enthusiastic.

I met Nancy at the hotel and we settled in. We spent the next few days being tourists and relaxing. A final close inspection of the bike revealed no other problems. I applied the Loc-Tite to every bolt in sight and placed the tube in my tool box. Nancy had apparently taken my instruction to bring a full roll of duct tape to heart. She produced the largest roll of duct tape I had ever seen. The thing had to measure a foot across! If the bike did break down, I would be able to wrap myself in duct tape, stick a few stamps on my head and hop to the nearest mailbox. I stashed the tape on the bike.

We rented a scooter while in Key West and rode all over the island in flip-flops, shorts and no helmets. It felt pretty nice, since I knew I was going to be spending the better part of the next week wrapped up like a bug in a cocoon. We also succeeded in receiving a performance award (parking ticket) on the scooter. Some meter maid had to be very bored, I thought, as I looked at a $50.00 parking ticket for putting the scooter in a bike rack. 25 other scooters at the same rack received the same award. Well, we always do whatever we can to support the local economy when visiting new places.

After three days of trying to sample every frozen fruit drink on the island, it was time to get rolling north. We awoke at 5:00 AM on Thursday morning. I had packed my luggage the night before. After showering and a quick snack, I packed the bike. Surprisingly, I had a lot of space left over. I filled my camelback with ice water and was set to go. Nancy followed me over the Key West Police Station on our trusty scooter. We had stopped there a couple of days ago and found that there should be plenty of officers at the station as this should be shift change. I had two officers sign my witness form and headed to a nearby gas station to get my first receipt.