There at last!

My bike on the right. Main street, Daytona Beach.

It hit 81 today.

Shopped for hours. Still want to find a new jacket.

Might get some custom detailing done tomorrow.

Went out to dinner with John and Rae. Great steak. They sure can find awesome restaurants anywhere!

2 nights at this hotel. A Whole day of shopping, and then a good rest before the trip back home.

Changed plans and good progress

This morning, about to leave, I could not help dwelling on the fact that it was going to be 10 solid hours of rain. Warm, but rain.

Then it hit me. WARM! Warm enough to take the direct route! The 77 route cuts a lot of time off, and it was warm enough to avoid the mountain snow storm risk, and avoid most of the heavy rain.

Now I am at a hotel in Georgia, 240 or so miles away from Daytona.

A fattening burger at the bar next door, a bit of TV and hopefully Marion will call to say how much she misses me.

A nights rest, and then off to the festivities tomorrow.

The temp, just before I pulled in for the night, was 72. AAAAAahhhhhhhh..........

All set

Packed. (1)
Fueled. (2)
Just about to lay down to rest before an early start tomorrow.
I feel like I am 7 and it's Christmas eve...

Footnotes
1. But I will surely find something critical I messed once I am on my way.
2. And with 87 this time. Please no jokes. Really. Hey, it was 4am and I was pushing hard to get home.

Route

How does that go? Shortest distance - straight line - What?

Yes, this is my route down to Daytona Beach. Yes, it adds about 250 miles and 4 hours each way.

But it keeps me out of the Appalachians. Something about sudden snow storms in the mountains.

The rain is starting now. Drizzle all day, changing to thunderstorms around dinnertime, so trying to leave early this evening will not keep me out of the rain. Thunderstorms all day tomorrow. Looks like I will leave early tomorrow, in the wet.

At least it will be in the mid 40's. Warm enough that I can get away with my wet gear and several layers underneath. Better than just my cold gear, which has some points of failure in the rain.

Coldest. Ride. Ever.

Officially the coldest ride I have had so far.
Brrrrr......

But I would rather have this for the start of my trip than what the weatherman is promising. Lower 40's and thunderstorms.

My cold weather gear kept me quite comfortable this morning, and my wet weather gear keeps me quite dry, but they are separate outfits. I might have to go with extra layers and the wet weather gear on Saturday. By the time I get to Louisville, the temp should be in the mid 50's, and continue to get warmer as I go south.

First ride of the year

I rode the bike to work today. I figure that it is better to find the chinks in the armor on a 45 minute ride that a 10 hour leg down to Daytona.

This is the temp reading on the GoldWing. Overall, a very comfortable ride in. I DID keep an eye out for ice. The melt water from the snow piles has a tendency to re-freeze overnight. But this only showed itself on the ramps and parking lots.

I need to get better gloves. My fingers stayed warm, but my wrists were cold, even with the big cuffs that fit over most of my forearms.

And in the forecast

An earlier forecast for Daytona suggested rain for the few days I would be there, but this newer one looks promising. I will still have rain pretty much the whole way down. I hope my Frogg Toggs keep me dry and warm.

The bike is coming out of storage today. The valves have been checked. New tires, new air filter, new oil, trailer hitch installed (but not taking the new trailer along for this trip)

I have started packing, I have checked the forecast hourly for the last 3 days.

Yeah, I think you could say that I am obsessing! :)