Steezin's Cross Country Attempt and Fundraiser

[steezin_and_wheezin]

The Route(minus Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon stops..)


How's it going everyone? Beginning April 28th I'll be departing on a cross country attempt on my Suzuki C90t. It's been a dream of mine for a while to ride coast to coast and see all my friends/family that's spread across the country. Going through the forums that brought me up in the motorcycle world to see if there's anyone on my route that wants to meet up in person for a hi five or quick bite to eat. GStwins was my first forum and forum family. I have met a few of you through buy/sell and the relay across america attempt. I would definitely like to put more faces with usernames!!

My project/planning thread for the bike and trip;
http://www.volusiariders.com/49-stories-road/378706-friends-road-2017-coast-coast-attempt-c90t.html

Riding and seeing friends was the goal, but after watching some documentaries I felt the need to do something more than just me, my bike, and my route. So I have decided to do some fundraising to benefit my church family. Never my style to spam people all day/every day with the link and constant prodding to give. Beginning as a GStwinner myself I know there are top notch people that frequent this forum. I would like to give everyone the opportunity to give where we have been blessed. So to my friends, strangers, and strange friends;
https://www.gofundme.com/friends-of-the-road-2017

Keep an eye on the VolusiaRiders forum for the most updates. I will likely copy/post the main milestones here as well to keep y'all up-to-date!! Thanks!

[Watcher]

If you were stopping in Tucson I'd totally hook you up for lunch, but that's going to be several hours off route for you.

I also can't afford to donate right now, but in light of that I wish you the best of luck and will be cheering you on the whole way!


I haven't visited the GC yet, if you have a tentative date for that maybe I can make the ride up there to exchange a high-five 

[ShowBizWolf]

This is awesome steezin! I'm sure I can come up with something to donate. Also, it'd be cool to meet up and say hi but PA is not on your route 

Lookin' forward to pics and updates on this one 

[bombsquad83]

I'm in Bloomington, IL.  Looks like you will be headed through STL, and a couple hours south of me in IL.  Keep us all updated on where you are, and if you need anything along the way!

[yamahonkawazuki]

I'm still in the Knox Tn area. Near interstates 40 and 75, if you are close at some point lmk, maybe we can meet up for lunch perhaps?
Aaron

[steezin_and_wheezin]

Sorry guys and gal!! Missed these replies in the frenzy of getting prepared still. Thanks for the kind words, and no worries if donation isn't possible!

@ Watcher - I actually shifted my route to skip the GC.. I have hiked it when I was younger and planned to see the sky walk on this trip. After reading more on the skywalk I was really turned off on it. They make you park and ride a tour bus all day with one of the stops being the skywalk. Looks like the closest I'll be your way is Flagstaff for a night camping. Would be down to grab some grub or something if you make it up that way!! If the plan holds I'll be there 5/18

@ Showbiz - No PA this round unfortunately, but if this trek goes swell(and I'm still able) I dream to do a north to south route as there's a bunch of east coasters I'd like to visit!! So maybe someday

@ bombsquad - Yup, will be traveling through STL 5/3. Heading to camp just on the other side of STL in Jonesburg. I'll let keep ya posted if anything comes up in that neck!!

@ Yama - Was hoping you'd reply to this one!! I'll definitely be coming right through your way. Will be the day I'm heading down to Wheels through Time museum(5/24). We will have to grab a bit to each or something for sure!

[yamahonkawazuki]

When you come by, you wont be far from the dragon. (45 mins to an hour?). Pellissippi pkwy 129. Or go in from NC. Just a thought  
O0O0
Aaron

[dominickbuff]

ny here 

[bombsquad83]

Any updates?

[steezin_and_wheezin]

I'm home and happy!! Didn't update my threads while on the road, but I kept all my peoples on facebook updated. Find me there if ya want to see some of the photos and hear a story or 2. I'll get my thread on volusia riders updated with a long winded post soon!!

[Watcher]

Copy/paste here too?

[steezin_and_wheezin]

You got it!! Here's my first day write up..

Going to try and do a day by day kind of post update. Goal is to milk as much out of my memory as I can.

Day 1



My girlfriend surprised the hell out of me when she showed up day before departure. She's the best and although it put a little different spin on my final night of packing and preparing - It was definitely a good spin not bad in any way shape or form. I've never had a girlfriend go so far out of her way(she lives 3.5 hours away and had just returned home from a trip to visit her birth mom in Louisiana) to surprise me for anything. The feelings I have for that girl are stronger than any moto or moto ride I could imagine!! The plan/route/ride was set though and I was heading out first thing the next morning :*( Then she tells me she's took the day off and would be driving with me on my first leg of the ride!! I was so over the moon that I was going to have someone ride with me.

Packing Edit;
https://youtu.be/_I43a9fdpxQ



Night before was a bit of a mess(not all ^that^ mess is for the ride, we are selling out house soon so the place is a pig sty), still lots of packing and some new bits I had added to figure out where/how to stash it all in the bags. Recorded a little vid of my packing, but since I added some gadgets I had to do a little extra squeezing. Stayed up a little later than I wanted, but managed to get everything packed and only had to sacrifice a few spares.

Some candid shots my brother snapped out of his bedroom window;














Morning of departure was a cool damp morning. My brother works from home on fridays so he was there to see me off. Dad dropped through to be sure he got to see me before heading out. He was super worried I wouldn't be able to get the bike from my back patio and up the small damp hill to the road. I made my brother record a vid to send to him to reassure I made it out.

Leaving home for a month on the road;
https://youtu.be/r72B3VHI0mA

I joked if I can't get out of the yard this whole transcontinental ride was going to slay me. No probs getting out, pulled too many bikes out of there to miss my first mark.









Had a couple stops in the hometown before hitting the road. First stop was at my Mom's school, tears were definitely had and I'm glad I had my tinted shield on so no one could see my leaking when leaving out haha.



Next was over to my office to say so long suckers to my work fam. And ahh finally I was heading east to my first night stop. A little later to the road than I had planned, but this was it!! I was eastbound and down for the coast.



First stop out of town was at my Nana's place in Lynchburg VA. Was so great to see her smiling face, even though she did her grandmotherly duties to scold me and tell me I'm bat crap crazy. She gave me some great words of encouragement though, "The same Lord will be watching over you on the road as he the watching over you walking down the hallway." Talk to her for an hour or so and then geared back up.

Katelin(my gf) and I decided on firehouse subs for lunch and we jumped across town to the closest one. As we sit down to wait for our food I pull out my phone to post the photo of my Nana on FB. A couple screen taps in my phone freezes..... OK deep breaths, just pull the batt and reboot. It vibrates like it's turning on, but nothing on the screen shows :/ A little nervous at this point. My lg v20 has 2 screen, the main and a small separate screen on the top. Nothing at all on the main screen then all the sudden my second screen turns to pink "snow" like when the old cable went out, but pink instead of white. BUMMER!! Hahah good thing the food just showed up. My wonderful girlfriend reassures me everything will be fine. After we ate I pulled out one of my printed copies of my itinerary(I had a total of 3 copies and gave one to each of my family members/gf). Had everything listed on there from each stop/address/phone numbers as well as my emergency repair shops I had tagged at each area I planned to stop for the night. Went over to a verizon and got a replacement phone ordered and shipped to my stop after next in Richmond. On the way I tested connecting my sena bluetooth and to my surprise it was still functioning so my screen had just bit the dust. I was able to connect, navigate and use all my voice commands on my phone.

With that all sorted we got moving towards my stop for the night in Suffolk VA. Second fuel up stop we decided to cool off in the gas station for a bit as the sun was beaming on us. Standing around chatting I heard my gps talk to me so I pulled my phone out. To my surprise my screen was back up and fully functional! What a relief and now the replacement would just be my backup. Another short leg and we arrived at my friends place in Suffolk shortly after the sunset. My only day I assumed I would be arriving after sunset(which it was!!).

Unloaded and laid out for my next day. Never had an easier month picking what to wear. Riding today? Yes.. Suit up!!


Addison put us up and his gf was driving up from Charlotte NC to hang out for the night. We had nachos grandes. Addison's gf Katie joked that my nachos(meat n cheese) were basically anti-vegetarian. I had a small goal to try as many foods/things out of my comfort zone as possible, so I chose an 'adult' nacho with the smallest amount of diced onions/peppers on it pinched my nose and tossed it back(just a slight exaggeration).

After a couple whiskey drinks it was time to turn in. I had asked Katelin to bring an air mattress for us, but wasn't clear that both of us would be sleeping on it. Guess she thought I needed more practice sleeping with my pad/bag or something since she only brought a twin sized air mattress haha.. So we slept side by side on our separate bed rolls. Still better than sleeping on my bed roll alone in my tent!!

In the morning we were moving early as I needed to get east to the coast and back west to my next stop in Richmond. Also Katelin had to work at noon so she had to head south asap. Was a terribly tough goodbye.. We handled it well, but she started to crack driving by herself back home. Being a long distance relationship we were getting use to the so long for now's, but with a solid month in between the next hello it was tough on both of us. I told her I ride to ride home and that she would be seeing me again real soon!!