What a great afternoon/evening with my friends. While talking last night Phil reminded me that Shelley is still waiting for that motorcycle ride that I promised her so long ago when they still lived in the L.A. area. So, I told her that we would go for a little ride this morning before breakfast if she was interested; she was so that’s what we did. It started out just fine, about 5 miles up the freeway then to A1A for another 5 or so then 10 miles back on the freeway. She is a good rider and even handled the rain quite well. That’s right – on our way from A1A back to the freeway we got rained on. Now a downpour but we were definitely wet and going to stay that way for a while. Phil had Eggs Benedict and home fries ready when we got back to the house and it was GOOOD.
I left and planned to slab it (take the interstate) until I got north of Daytona then move over to A1A and go up the coast. When I got to Daytona I called my nieces up in Atlanta to see what was going on up there and they said that they were leaving tomorrow morning for California then Vegas but if I could get there today…. Okay, that makes this a fairly long day as far as miles go so time to get back on the slab. I was still a little wet from this morning’s ride so I wasn’t all that worried about the dark cloud just to the north when I hopped on I-95. I toyed with the idea of putting on the rain gear but decided against it (I’d like to have that one back). I have never been on a bike in that much rain. It only rained for about 10 miles but my boots couldn’t have been wetter if I’d waded knee deep into the swimming pool!! A few miles down the road I pulled over to dry the inside of my sunglasses off so I could see (they were so much water outside and in while it was raining that I had to take them off to see).
After that it was mostly dry on I-95 and I kinda dried out (not the boots though). And – for all the Florida folks 95 is the number of the Interstate – NOT the speed limit. The speed limit on that stretch of road is 70 and if you’re not going 80 the simi trucks will run you off the road. You’re safe at 85 but don’t be in the fast lane.
After I got to Jacksonville I picked a secondary road to get to Newnan and got rained on again for about 50 miles (guess my boots are never going to dry out today). Next time I see rain coming I’ll at least put my gators on (they cover my boots and up to my knees). Back on the slab to make sure I was there in time for dinner. Cracker Barrel with 4 adults and 6 children (all but one between 7 and 12 months – crazy…)
Back to Sara’s apartment where we hung out for a little while before packing it in for the night.
That intersection looks awfully familiar….hmmmmmmm