Corner To Corner -- Getting the Bikes Ready

I swear I don’t understand at all why people are moving in droves to Florida. It’s hotter than hell – 95 degrees and 99% humidity, the air is heavy and smells not of the ocean but of heat, and sweat and grease. It’s flat as a pancake and all you see when driving are trees or swamp land on the side of the highway which has no curves – unless you are in the city, when all you see are strip malls, CVS Pharmacies, more strip malls, Walgreen’s Pharmacies, more strip malls, STRIP club, another CVS… and on and on. Me, I need mountains, and cool clean air, and rocky beaches, and pine trees, and curvy, twisty roads that climb and move with the land. You don’t get that in Florida. Tony has been here a week for a conference, and I just got here last night. I’m ready to leave. None-the-less, here we are. You couldn’t pay me enough to live here however.

The bikes, which were shipped on July 3rd, made it in fine shape, albeit a tad late. They got here yesterday – three days late. And despite the last minute arrival, Petersen’s Miami Harley Davidson did some work on Tony’s bike, (thanks Nick!) and we drove 20 miles from the hotel to pick them up this morning. Florida has toll roads – lots of toll roads. Toll roads on a motorcycle are very difficult. First, you can’t just “toss” in a quarter, since the tolls are all $1.25 or more. Second, you have both hands on the controls of the bike, so you have to go up to a booth. Then you have to, kill the engine, put your foot down in a puddle of water and oil and hope you don’t slide and tip the bike over. Then, while standing up straddling the bike, reach into your pants pocket and get funds to give the non-English speaking toll taker. The then give you back your change, you put it back in your pocket, sit down on the bike, start the bike up and drive off, hoping again you don’t go down in the ice slick oil and water puddle while pulling out into merging traffic at 60 mph. It’s great fun.

Or you can get an automatic toll transponder, or Sun Pass as they are called, and ride through on a fast lane without stopping. So as Tony rode back to the hotel, I went in search of a CVS Pharmacy where they sell them. As I said earlier, you can find a CVS about every block in Florida. Not this time – not when you need to find one. I finally came across one about 45 blocks from the hotel and bought two and came back to the hotel to set up the account, then pre-loaded them with a credit card, and stuck them on the windshield of the bikes. The stickers have an RFID chip that overhead scanners read and deduct from your account. Pretty slick.

Now comes the fun part. First thing in the morning we hit the road to Key West. I’ve been looking forward to this for two years – the last time we rode the Overseas Highway. The road is US-1, and its 130 miles down to Key West, island hopping and on bridges the whole way. It’s cool since you are over the water, and the scenery is amazing. It's one of the most magical motorcycle rides in the world. This picture was taken on the last trip two years ago when we rented bikes in Tampa and drove down. We’ll spend a night in Key West and first thing Sunday Morning head to Mile 0 at the southern most point in the US, and the “lower corner” of our Corner To Corner journey.