Not my ride but I vote for the center of the state. See the real florida. Take 441/192 south from Orlando to 441 south into the town of Okeechobee. Stay the night. Then take 78 south west around the lake to 27 north on 27 a few miles then back on 78 south west to 29. 29 south through Labelle south through the center of everglades to 41 east on 41 to krome ave south to Honestead. hop on the over seas hwy. Dont miss the real florida while you are here. PM me if you do and I can help with more details. have fun.

 

Fuel gauge accuracy seems to be reasonable from what I've seen and heard on forums. The "low fuel light" is another issue - some come on with a gallon left, others when you have three drops. I use the gauge but also use the old school approach - reset the "A" trip meter each fill up. Mileage on my 04 once broken in and stock was 50 mpg easy - 225 to the 5 gal tank was a breeze and I pushed 250+ more than once (scary though). Stage 1 cost me about 7 mpg.

09 still isn't broken in - 1200 miles - so my mileage sucks at around 35. Hoping this trip will help with that. Still, with the larger (6 gal) tank normal (legal) riding gets me 200 with no worries.

Carb Harleys have a reserve just like your Yammy, but no fuel injected bikes have a reserve (FI requires a closed-loop fuel system).

See you soon,
T

 

Go for it If you have the time it is a fun relaxing trip. Stop at some of the road side stops and enjoy what is left of the Everglades. I moved to Bonita springs in 79 and it was a laid back little town of around 15,000. we used to ride our 4x4 all over the open country. Now You are not allowed off the main road any where at all. We used to hunt the glades and now I think they have stopped all of it except gov. drawn hunts. I know of several people who had homes out from the mainstream and they turned into a water shed and forced them out. Bonita now has 50,000 in the summer and 150,000 in the winter. They have talked about water shortages for 30 yrs and nothing was ever stopped. Money talks and BS walks. Glad I am not there anymore, but I do miss the salt water fishin.

 

I travel to the Keys yearly. Despite what you hear, there are actually two ways in and out of Key Largo. We take Card Sound Road at Homestead/ Florida City. It is toll ($1) and two lanes as well, but rarely traveled or crowded.

Stop at Alabama Jacks (the FIRST bar in the Keys). Great conch fritters and beer if you want one. Only open during daylight as the mosquitoes are ferocious.

This route saves you the 20 miles of following some diesel powered motorhome. And, you are in the "Keys" almost immediately.

To get from Orlando, we take 441 straight through the middle of Florida around Lake Okeechobee. If you have never seen the sugar plantations, it is a sight. The lake is enormous and has several access roads to view the water. The rest of the lake is surrounded by levees.

It is a great trip, and you will enjoy it, especially this time of year. Bring the sunscreen as well.

Ride safe!

Hardy

 

+1! on Card sound and Alabama Jack's The best Fritters in the world! The rest of the food there is just so so. When in Key West go to Blue Haven.

 

I'm liking the idea of 441 and Card Sound as of right now. As my brother knows, I'm from upstate NY - rural area and ride alot in the Adirondack Mts. Like 2 lane , low traffic - I know this may be hard to find in the Keys but trying the mid part of the state might be a nice option. Still keeping route open and it may develop as we go.
Figure the Keys will be touristy enough so anything out of the ordinary going down and back would be refreshingly different.
I'll keep an eye on the gauge and odometer - figure 200+ and start looking for gas until I figure out mileage.

 

Thanks to all that showed interest. We returned Friday night from a memorable 1200mi trip.

In a nutshell, Day 1: 11/14 Friday we took the interstate 4 from Orlando to Rt 27 south to Avon Park Rt 98 to Okeechobee. 98/441 around the lake and 98 into West Palm.

Day 2: 11/15 Sat - 441 S to 595W back on 27 S to 997 thru Homestead to Card Sound Road (A+) Key Largo and Rt 1 to Key West. Even though the last NASCAR race was going on, we had no trouble at all with traffic on the route we took. Had Conch fritters at Alabama Jack's - wonderful!

Day 3: Rode around KW with my brother and his SO - walked the town, shopped and....I slithered into a baitshop and made arrangements to go Sail fishing for Monday :-) 11/16 Sunday

Day 4: 11/17 Monday - Out to sea 10 mi - caught a couple dolpin (mahi-mahi, not flipper) had an absolute blast!! Water was rough with 24mph winds but the boat handled it fine - can't wait to go again. Rest of the day we checked out the sites - Hemingway house, museum, Ripley's. Too nasty to do any water sports - jet ski, swim, etc.

Day 5: 11/18 Tuesday - Rode to Marathon on the bikes, windy as hell and cool but still a great time. Had lunch and cruised back, took the Key Deer rd and saw a couple young ones.

Day 6: 11/19 Wednesday departure - Rt 1 off the Keys (what else?) and took Rt 42 W to Naples. Saw a bunch of gators along the road on the banks of the stream. Naples is fantastic - thru Ft Meyers and up to Punta Gorda for the night. Longest day on the road.

Day 7: 11/20 Thursday - easy ride to Kissimmee on Rt 17 thru a bunch of small towns. Stopped at AAA office for help finding a room in Orlando for the night and directions back to HD dealership to return the bike the next day. Woman at AAA was also a rider so she was a great help - got us an awesome room at the Hyatt for $89 a couple miles away from the dealer and map. Really made the last day a pleasure not having to roam around looking for places to stay and figure out the maze of unfamiliar roads in heavy traffic. Well worth the yearly fee - more I use the service the more I realize it's value.

Day 8 Friday - dropped off the bike at noon per the agreement and had time to kill before 7pm flight so we hung out for a couple hours, sat in the sun at the outside tables and checked out the inventory..... Gotta say, anybody looking to rent, Rudi at Orlando HD was a pleasure to work with, really helpful and accommodating.

Bike was an '09 Ultra with 2500 miles, almost perfect condition - couple light scratches from previous use, well documented so I wouldn't be blamed upon return. All in all, it was a great time and only inflamed the infection for a new ride. I plan on renting a Roadie next summer for at least a couple days so we can compare the ride and the fixed fairing to the batwing, thinking that is the way I want to go when the $$$ is there.

Got some good pics but unsure of how to post. Read the sticky but it seemed like a major pain. If someone can enlighten me to the process I would love to share the photos with you guys. FYI - I use Firefox/PC.

All the suggestions during the planning stages I received here, along with the great accommodations my brother and Cathy provided led to a fantastic memory my wife and I will have for a long time. Many thanks.

Ciao

 

Welcome to the Forum, stay in touch with us and dont be such a lurker. Doesn't matter WHAT you ride it's that you DO ride.

Let us know how your trip goes, sounds like alot of fun. The Electra Glide is an amazing bike and very comfortable. You're going to love it and it's a very easy bike to ride too despite it's size.

Share some pics too!