It was another character building day! There is an old saying; "The worst day on a motorcycle is better than the best day at work". I keep repeating it to myself like a mantra, and I might even believe it!

In the past, unless I had a specific destination in mind, I would go to the Great Basin National Monument area (Nevada, Colorado, Arizona) and just hang out. I see now the advantages of going to the desert.

I had watched some weather channel prior to leaving so I knew what the day had in store, the first hour still in Georgia was sunny and nice but dark clouds were looming on the horizon, literally. We were on HWY 19 SB, and the rain started, lightly, just past Perry as we left the pan handle and went out onto the peninsula.

The systems were in bands so the rain was intermittent and never really heavy. Once again, no rain suit and the slight dampening was pleasant from a cooling perspective when I would drive out of the rain back into a sunny stretch. On the Ping, Doink, Twack meter the rain was a soft Ping.

Using my SD cards for the CSAPS shoot had an unintended positive side effect; they had to be formatted as exFAT for the cameras, then reformatted as NTSF for the HeroCams, and the good news is they are working again! Here is a minute, in real time, of riding in the rain.



Most of the time 19SB was a great road, 2 lane divided, sparsely traffic'ed, things were going good. Then 19 swooped towards to coast at Inglis, FL and the rain became a constant drizzle and the highway started having traffic lights every 1000' feet. They were timed so that the highway traffic had to stop at every light, then wait for turn phases, then each of the 4 way traffic phases! Each stop was at least 6 frustrating minutes.

I put up with it for about 2 hours, in which time I traveled 55 km (usually do at least 200 km in the same time span). A map check was required! I ended up doubling back about 15 miles and then hit a bunch of Toll Highways that ring-roaded Tampa Bay. The first toll booth I stopped at I realized how wet I was, trying to pull .50 cents out of my water swollen and puffy change pocket was a real chore!

The other benefit of moving inland was also that the weather improved and the rain stopped, the sun even made a few appearances.

Just south of TB, FL I paid $1.50 for the privilege of crossing the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, this picture isn't mine, but the time compressed video is:



There is also an interesting article about the history of the bridge on WikiPedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_S kyway_Bridge

Kept on I-75 SB to make up some of that time spent on 19SB, and the further south I got the heavier the rain. I was in the 750+ km range when I thought I would stop for the day, in Fort Myers. Pulled off the interstate and took the first Holiday Inn. Here is what my hands look like after being in wet black leather gloves for about 8 hours.



I started the now familiar riding clothing drying process. This hotel's hair dryer had an even lower tolerance for over heating so I had to get creative with the shoe drying process. It wasn't very effective.



All of this puts me about 450 KM from Key West. I was going to drive I-75 (known as Alligator Alley) but my buddy from Ft. Lauderdale told me there aren't really any gators there so I am going to take his suggestion and go on Hwy 41. The Tamaimi Trail features canals beside the road in which the gators lie awaiting hapless motorcyclists whom unwittingly pull over and stop to pee.

We shall see. I am very excited to see one of these magnificent reptiles. I am staying 2 days in KW, so we'll be taking a day off of riding, and hanging out on the beach.

Talk soon!