Photos taken between Miami, Florida and Tifton, Georgia.
Erik dropped his wife off at the Miami airport before sunrise and had a long haul by his lonesome up to Georgia where he reconvined with Kent and Troy.
It was around Lake City, FL that I heard Mike decided to stop doing the tour, rest up, and head due West on his own back home to California.
Photos taken between Raleigh, NC and Miami, FL.
This was Erik’s longest day of riding clocking in at 799 miles.
The upside is that he was joined by his wife Kathryn. They enjoyed some fresh Georgia peaches on their long haul to Miami.
And Southern Illinois and Georgia too…
I just wanted to say “thanks!” for agreeing to let most of our country’s bugs live within your region.
The rest of us really appreciate it.
540.9 miles
Tifton, GA to Cookeville, TN (by way of Highway 129 or the “Tail of the Dragon”)
Atlanta, Georgia and just about everything South of it on the 75 had horrible air quality issues going on (smog alerts were in effect) - so riding through this area was not fun.
Once we turned off of the 75 and headed into the Blue Ridge Mountains it was much different. Clean air and great views.
Lunch at The Varsity in downtown Atlanta. It’s the world’s largest drive-in and single biggest outlet of Coca-Cola products.
Swim. Soak. Sleep.
We lucked out by getting a motel with a 24 pool and hot tub.
After a full day of riding your motorcycle a soak in the hot tub feels great before getting to sleep.
495.5 miles
Miami, FL to Tifton, GA
During the early afternoon I would ride through a rain cloud and then the sun and wind would dry me off… but later in the day the cloud cover blocked the sun too much and it stayed cool enough that I arrived at the motel still damp.
798.9 miles!
Yes, this is a record breaking day for me on the trip - beating out the long haul we did from Texas to St. Louis.
The good news is that even though I covered more miles, I was able to do it more efficiently and checked into my hotel shortly after 11pm (opposed to 2am like St. Louis).
My wife flew out and met me in the Raliegh, NC area to join me for the Key West, FL corner “check-in”. This was her first day riding with me and she sure is feeling the wear on the body (particularly the rear end) after riding from morning to night.
Looking forward to hitting the Florida Keys tomorrow!
Note: These are my miles since I was separated from the group as I broke away to meet up with my wife and visit with friends. Others in the group will have different miles/end points for this day.
