Florida run 3289 miles 6 days

[mp183]

Wanted to visit my sister, aunt and uncle.
Started on Tuesday in 25-degree weather on the V-Strom.
Two feet of snow fell on Sunday.  Started coming back on Saturday in 84 degree weather and came back yesterday on Sunday in 24 degree weather.  Rear tire was beyond shot.   Did more miles that we intended.  Wore it fast due to high speeds.  Got beyond lucky with the weather.  Missed most of the rain and snow showers. Went on the Dragon in Deals Gap.  Don't know if I would make a long trip there just to do the Dragon.
Nice road but a good portion is very tight turns and switch backs.  They had salted and sanded it so could not go too fast.  To do it justice you need to do a couple of passes to get familiar with it and afterwards you can go for it.
From The Dragon went to Atlanta. Shortened the life of my rear tire there.   Ran from Atlanta to Alabama border doing 85-95 indicated with plenty of rapid acceleration.  Afterwards stayed at indicated 75 until Daytona Beach.  From Atlanta went to Montgomery Alabama and Selma Alabama.  Had some Soul Food in a small restaurant in Selma.  Took some back roads to get us to Pensacola Florida.  From Pensacola went to Tampa, Ocala and to Port Orange by Daytona Beach.  Left back for NJ at 3 pm on Saturday.  Hit some rain on Saturday night.  Left one day earlier.  Sunday was the only dry day and that was most of our riding.  Good portion on Sunday was in pretty cold weather.  Much of it below freezing.  Long mindless trip when you think about it.  Could have stayed home and watched the snow melt.  On the other hand we have an amazing country.  There is so much to see.  Have to get out there and see it before Home Depot and McDonalds make it look the same.  Such a big contrast from the backroads of Alabama to the strip malls of Florida.  If you want to see "local" places go to the areas that do not have money.  Once they have money they all look the same.  Walmart, Home Depot, Outback etc.
V-Strom ran flawlessly.  Over 23,000 miles on it so I guess it's time to check the valves.
Great long distance bike.  There is nothing like it out there.   

[annguyen1981]

Sounds like fun (except the cold parts)