Corner To Corner -- Chapter One...

OK here we go. Chapter one, page one… Tony get me another drink... this isn’t so hard… You know every great story has to have a great opening line. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, or “Who is John Galt?”, or “Howard Roark stood naked on the cliff.” If this is going to be a good book, I have to have a good opening for the story. So…

The sun was low in the Atlantic sky, the air heavy with the smell of jasmine and magnolia as we loaded up the bikes and tried not to wake the other guests of the bed and breakfast. We left the bikes off until we backed out of the drive, and turned south on Flemming Street and headed to Mile 0 on US-1 at the southern most point of the US. After tapping the sign for good luck, we turned our backs to the East and the Atlantic, and headed west without looking back.

That work? We’ll see. None the less, we got up early and although it was 7am, no one was stirring at the guest-house. After all it was Sunday morning, and most of the guests had been out partying on Duvall Street or in the pool until 3am when we hit the hay. So naturally there was no breakfast in the breakfast bar. We snuck out as quietly as we could given we were on Harley’s and headed to the start of US-1 for the long trip back home to Seattle. We posed by the sign, and tapped it for good luck and roared off up the road. We went .5 miles and found an open Denny’s and stopped for breakfast. Sunday morning at 7:30 most Denny’s are hopping – we were the only ones there. A further testament to the partying ways of Key West. We stopped for gas, and finally got rolling north on US-1 for good a little past 8. It was quite pleasant that early – no traffic and it had yet to turn ungodly hot. We made good time up the Keys and again I was amazed at the railroad bridges that withstood time and hurricanes and still stood. The most amazing one is at the Bahia Honda channel, and as you can see, it is what is known as a “thru truss” bridge, meaning the support is over the tracks. This meant when the state took over to build the highway they didn’t have room at the track level so they chose to build it on top of the bridge. Can you imagine driving over it, on lanes barely wide enough for a single car with the mirrors pulled in?

The 130 miles up to Homestead went by fairly quickly and it was a nice ride and didn’t really warm up until Key Largo and the last 30 miles to Homestead. We stopped at a McDonalds for a drink and to use the restroom and were resting in a booth when I spotted another biker drive in, and she was driving my exact bike, outfitted with bags just like mine. This bike is my Dyna FXDBI Street Bob, which is not normally a long-distance touring bike, and I’d never seen one outfitted for that other than mine – until now. We had to go talk to her. So we saddled up and rode around to the other side of the parking lot and met up with a nice biker chick who was as amazed as I was that here was someone on a dressed out Street Bob. She too thought she was the only one.

I asked her what her name was, and she said it was “Em”, and I said that’s short for what? Grabbing my note pad she wrote down “Emereldeyz”. She said her Grandfather gave her that name for her green eyes. She also handed us her contact information for her page on “bikerornot.com” which is a new “My Space” kind of place for bikers. We will have to check this one out. She also noticed the shirts we were wearing – I hope you do to. Tony designed them to commemorate this trip.
They have a big map of the US and say “The mildly amusing adventures of Gary and Tony – 2008 Ride, Corner to Corner.” She wanted one, but alas all we have with us are what we are wearing now. But she, and you too can buy your own. They are available on line, at: http://www.cafepress.com/tonyandgary. I could do a whole Ron Poppeil “Ginsu knife” thing here, but I wont. Aren't they cool?

So we said goodbye to Em and her pals, and headed up the Florida Turnpike to pick up US-41 and go across the Everglades. The Everglades is very cool, and I’d wished we had time to stop and take an airboat ride or watch some alligator wrestling on the Microsukee reservation. US-41 is also known as the Tamiami trail – as in TAmpa/mIAMI. Get it? It’s also 100 miles of ramrod straight road with not a single curve or turn. This is absolute hell for a biker. We live for curves and turns. It’s about as exciting as watching paint dry at 75 mph. At least the road-kill through the everglades is interesting -- if not pungent and gross. I'd sure hate to run over one on the bike! I kept hoping for some excitement along the road, even a bump would have been nice. I might as well have been riding on a treadmill!

On the other side of the state at Naples, Florida we picked up Interstate 75 to head north to Tampa for the night. We really had no choice, and you know how we feel about traveling freeways -- only as a last resort. So we blasted up the Interstate for 160 miles in the oppressive heat and humidity, feeling like a rack of Gyro meat on a spit in a Greek restaurant, glistening in sunscreen and sweat. However I forgot to put sunscreen on the back of my hands and it was too warm for gloves – so now I have nice lobster colored fists that hurt like the dickens.

The highlight however was the somewhat circular route we took into Tampa. Rather than stay on I-75 I wanted to loop through St. Petersburg and go over the Sunshine Skyway bridge. It was cool up on the bridge and the view is spectacular, and I love going over cool bridges on the bike. I could see all the way out to St. Pete Beach and the fabulous Don Cesar Hotel which is one of those turn-of-the century resort hotels built on the scale of and with the luxurious treatments of the Titanic. We stayed there last year for four days and I didn’t want to leave. Staying on the beach in a private cabana with a flag you could raise for cabana-boys to bring you new drinks and towels. It was heaven. And since I’d had just about enough of riding through a blast-furnace exhaust, I signaled for the exit to St. Pete beach. Now Tony, who is always riding back and to the right, usually follows along with me wherever I want to go. Not this time, no way Jose' -- he stayed put and wouldn’t move over, try as I may to get him to. So at the last minute I moved back over into the thru lane, and Tony rode up and glared “NO” at me.

You have to note too that Tony has let his beard grow and does not intend to cut or trim it this entire trip. By the time we get home he’ll look like ZZ Top. In the wind on the bike it curls up too, and so when he gets off the bike he looks a bit funny. I’m threatening to take scissors to it at night.

We pulled up to a Holiday Inn Express near Tony’s folks house at 4:45pm and had put just over 423 miles on the bike today. I was so covered with sun screen and road grime the soap tuned black and stuck to my fur. However after a half-hour of cool water and lots of soap I felt like a new man and Tony was able to get his beard to lay down too. Tomorrow we’ll head further north, I’d like to head up through the Ocala National Forest and avoid Jacksonville before crossing into Georgia. We are aiming for Augusta, Georgia or vicinity tomorrow night we hope.

Now go to: http://www.cafepress.com/tonyandgary and buy a shirt!