Thanksgiving Trip Report
#1
11-25-2007, 12:41 PM
Thanksgiving Trip Report
Well we made it, and best of all, my wife and I are still married. We took four days and three nights over the longThanksgiving weekend to take a motorcycle cruise. This is the thread describing what our intent was: https://www.hdforums.com/m_2465518/tm.htm
Day 1: From Palm Coast Florida to Vero Beach. Departed around 8:30am, quit for the day around 3pm. No rain. We decided to head pretty much due south because of a cold front moving in from the northwest, heading southeast from the Gulf. We stayed along the beach (A1A) almost the entire way.
Day 2: From Vero Beach to Captiva Island. Departed around 8:30am, quit for the day around 4pm. We got caught in that front, had rain for about a half hour. The West Coast of Florida is beautiful.
Day 3: From Captiva Island to Silver Springs. Departed around 8:30am, arrived in Silver Springs around 5pm. No rain. This was a LONG day as we got caught in traffic heading to Gainsville on route 301. At one point it took 45 minutes to go a mear 9 miles.
Day 4: From Silver Springs back to Palm Coast. Departed around 7:45am, arrived home again around 9:15am. Very foggy, cool, no rain. Gave me time to wash the bike, download the pictures, and get caught up on email.
Total distance traveled: 735 miles.
Next year, we will choose less destinations and keep the overall traveling distances down. Once we found/checked into a hotel/motel, there wasn't much we felt like doing other than eating and slaming some brews. The beers gave way to Jack Daniels as this seem to work better for sore butts.
The bike ran great, the T-bags were perfect, and the rainsuits kept us dry on the second day. The bike did get mighty dirty, and unfortunately had two close calls with traffic. One was my fault: Not slowing down soon enough behind a semi that had no trailer lights. He stopped to make a turn down a side road and I had some extra effort to stop us a few feet short of his crash bar. The other "event" was a guy barreling up behind me on a curved off-ramp. He locked his brakes and skidded a little sideways before stopping. I had no where to go; feet down behind stopped traffic.
Here's some pics:
My wife, Patti on one of our early fuel stops (Day 1):
One of the parks we stopped at in Melbourne (Day 1):
Causway bridge in Melbourne (Day 1):
Outside Vero Beach (Day 1):
The town of Arcadia (Day 2):
Another shot in Arcadia (Day 2):
Crossing the bridge onto Sanibel Island (Day 2):
Gulf of Mexico from our hotel balcony in Captiva Island (Day 2):
Sunset picture on Captiva Island (Day 2):
We happen to be at an annual party on the Isla
Day 1: From Palm Coast Florida to Vero Beach. Departed around 8:30am, quit for the day around 3pm. No rain. We decided to head pretty much due south because of a cold front moving in from the northwest, heading southeast from the Gulf. We stayed along the beach (A1A) almost the entire way.
Day 2: From Vero Beach to Captiva Island. Departed around 8:30am, quit for the day around 4pm. We got caught in that front, had rain for about a half hour. The West Coast of Florida is beautiful.
Day 3: From Captiva Island to Silver Springs. Departed around 8:30am, arrived in Silver Springs around 5pm. No rain. This was a LONG day as we got caught in traffic heading to Gainsville on route 301. At one point it took 45 minutes to go a mear 9 miles.
Day 4: From Silver Springs back to Palm Coast. Departed around 7:45am, arrived home again around 9:15am. Very foggy, cool, no rain. Gave me time to wash the bike, download the pictures, and get caught up on email.
Total distance traveled: 735 miles.
Next year, we will choose less destinations and keep the overall traveling distances down. Once we found/checked into a hotel/motel, there wasn't much we felt like doing other than eating and slaming some brews. The beers gave way to Jack Daniels as this seem to work better for sore butts.
The bike ran great, the T-bags were perfect, and the rainsuits kept us dry on the second day. The bike did get mighty dirty, and unfortunately had two close calls with traffic. One was my fault: Not slowing down soon enough behind a semi that had no trailer lights. He stopped to make a turn down a side road and I had some extra effort to stop us a few feet short of his crash bar. The other "event" was a guy barreling up behind me on a curved off-ramp. He locked his brakes and skidded a little sideways before stopping. I had no where to go; feet down behind stopped traffic.
Here's some pics:
My wife, Patti on one of our early fuel stops (Day 1):
One of the parks we stopped at in Melbourne (Day 1):
Causway bridge in Melbourne (Day 1):
Outside Vero Beach (Day 1):
The town of Arcadia (Day 2):
Another shot in Arcadia (Day 2):
Crossing the bridge onto Sanibel Island (Day 2):
Gulf of Mexico from our hotel balcony in Captiva Island (Day 2):
Sunset picture on Captiva Island (Day 2):
We happen to be at an annual party on the Isla
#2
11-25-2007, 12:47 PM
Extreme HDF Member
RE: Thanksgiving Trip Report
Glad you both are back safe, and still married! LOL. Great pictures and story.
#3
11-25-2007, 12:58 PM
Outstanding HDF Member
RE: Thanksgiving Trip Report
Glad you had a fun and safe trip, Arcadia is just a short ride from my place. As a matter of fact Wideglide95th and I just rode through there yesterday.
