50CC Report
We made it! What an incredible journey. 5020 total miles. Left Conway, AR, at 5:30 am on Monday, October 6th. Had rained incredible hard earlier that morning, fortunately, it blew through. Going west, we traveled I-40 through Oklahoma, Texas, and into New Mexico. Our only stops were for gas and bladder relief. We stopped for the night in Gallup, NM, west of Albuquerque, around 11 pm I think (many of the times have run together).
Up early Tuesday morning, we were wanting to leave by 5 AM. It was cold. Like in the 30's cold. Bike wouldn't start. Less than two years old and lives on a battery tender at home. Not happy...but...I did have my newly purchased microstart battery. The one that will charge your cell phone and jump start you car. Best money I have ever spent. Removed the seat, got to my battery, hooked her up and she started right off. No other problems the remainder of the trip. We went through NM, headed south through AZ and turned west at Yuma for San Diego. Wind...lots and lots of wind. Got into San Diego just before rush hour. Checked into the hotel, got a bite to eat, went to the beach for the obligatory gathering of sand and water, back to the hotel and crashed.
After 1700 miles, we are ready to start the coast to coast. We get on the clock at 6:55 am Wednesday morning. We ride and ride and ride. Aside from gas stops, our only stop of any length was in San Simon, AZ for a quick bite at the gas station. We rode from there to Junction, TX, arriving around 6 AM and slept for about 2 hours in a McDonalds. I will say this about west Texas, the BEST time to cross it is at night. That way you don't see what you're not missing. On around San Antonio, through Houston (absolutely sucked!) and into LA. Road construction on I-10 at Baton Rouge encouraged us to find an alternate route. Not sure we saved any time. Stopped in Biloxi, MS for gas. Found a Waffle House, grabbed a bite to eat and slept there for about 1.5 hours.
Left Biloxi at midnight. No stops in Alabama. Next stop was in Defuniak Springs, FL, at 2:41 am (CST) From this point, we have around 6 hours to get to Jacksonville, and barring any unforeseen problems, we know we're going to make it. But, the next few hours were extremely difficult. Staying awake and alert became our primary goal. Got gas in Lee, FL at 7:03 EST. Only 119 miles to go from here.
Rolled into our last gas stop in Jacksonville and punched the clock at 10:06 AM. 48 hours and 11 minutes, 2,480 miles. In addition to the coast to coast in 50 hours, we got 1000 miles in less than 24 hours and 2000 miles in less than 48 hours.
I then had 900+ miles to get back home. So after doing the beach thing and getting a quick bite to eat, we headed home. My riding partner veered off on I-75 to see family. I stayed on I-10, going back the way that I had just come. Stopped for the night in Pensacola, FL, and left Saturday morning for home. Made it back to Little Rock about 5:15 pm on Saturday.
All I can say is what a trip! This was a big deal for me. I started riding 4.5 years ago. Got my first bike at that time (2006 Heritage Deluxe). So I consider myself still a fairly new rider. Guess I am trying to make up for lost time. Don't know if I will do another one, although it is kind of getting in my blood. Maybe the 48 states in 10 days or even the coast to coast to coast in 100 hours.
We had good weather for the most part. Had some rain Wednesday going through Tucson. All in all it was fairly uneventful. Some road construction (freeway closed at El Paso), Houston traffic, but those sorts of things are to be expected. Glad to be home. Bike is filthy! Never been this dirty. But, she took good care of me, so I will return the favor and get her serviced and cleaned up like new.
If you've read this far, thanks. If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer.
Ride safe my brothers!
Rusty
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Topic: 50CC (Read 9640 times)