My usual Statistics

I like numbers, sorry.



We drove 3233 miles in our Roadtrek, consuming 213 gals of diesel at an average price of $2.02/gal for a total of $430.

With the price of fuel being so low I choose to drive faster than our normal just over 65mph pace, I was running just around 72mph when I could. Our fuel consumption went from our typical 16.5 mpg while towing to 15.2 mpg.  Frankly, it is a bit more of a hit than I expected, but the numbers don't lie and 15+ mpg in an RV towing a trailer with a Harley is respectable.




We did an additional 1041 miles on the Harley, 375 in Georgia and 666 in Florida.

It was truly a driving vacation, but did not feel like it until the very last leg.

Day 13/14 - Home

Sunday we expected to get up and just hit the road, but when we entered Eric and Myra's home, the smell of bacon was in the air.  Eric treated us to a home cooked breakfast so we were well fed when we departed Pikesville, NC at about 9:15 AM.



Eric and Myra were great hosts and it was a very nice visit.















After nearly two weeks of goofing off and visiting friends and family our next destination was home, all good things come to an end.


We left with the intention of taking I95 to DC then routing towards Binghamton, this is our normal course, we sometimes park at the Binghamton Cracker Barrel for the night. However, I have a friend who insists that I95 is better. I recognize that it saves about 90 miles of distance but have memories of being caught in the east coast metropolitan traffic, but it was Sunday, how much traffic can there be in Sunday? We decided to give I95 a try. We missed an exit in DC that gave us a nice tour of downtown DC and cost about half an hour, but that was my fault and we got back on course. The I95 route takes you from DC to Baltimore, past Philly and NY.

Let's just say, unless it is in the middle of the night, we will never take the I95 route again, it just sucks. Yes the western route through PA adds nearly 100 miles, the roads are not great and jammed with trucks, but it is a much less stressful drive. The traffic on I95 is bumper to bumper and goes from 70mph to 0 instantly. We would sit in traffic for a half hour at a time and then take off only to hammer the brakes a few miles later.  It was not pleasant and we were happy to bail out onto I287 (again adding miles) in Edison NJ just to escape the madness. I feel for the people who deal with this daily.


After getting on I287, it was pretty smooth sailing, and we decided to just push on to home. We arrived at home at 00:30 this morning. We had been on the road for just over 15 hours and covered 795 miles. It was our longest and most stressful leg of our driving vacation, not the way you want to end it but we were glad to be home.







We are back to reality and the weather of the northeast. But it was a nice two week vacation in the sun.








There is no place like home.  Now we have to unpack..work tomorrow.

Day 13 - Travel North

Saturday we left Daytona.  The weather forecast is for rain on Sunday so it seems  our timing is good.   We pulled out of camp about 6AM, with June still sleeping, and headed for June's nephew's place just outside Raleigh, NC.

Since we left before breakfast we stopped at a Cracker Barrel about 8AM for breakfast. I would recommend their Strawberry stuffed french toast..it is like dessert for breakfast.

We had no traffic issues with the exception of one traffic jam north of Jacksonville, FL for a three car wreck that cost us about a half an hour. We arrived at Eric's and Myra's place right around 5PM. The temperatures were still very nice, 80F and sunny. We traveled 550 miles in 11 hours with a breakfast, lunch and two fuel stops. With the price of diesel fuel below $2/gal we have upped our cruising speed to just over 70 mph. The roads and traffic have cooperated.

Eric and Myra have a very nice place in Pikesville, NC. Eric has already planted some of his garden and things are turning green.













Eric also has a Harley, a brand new Ultra Glide, yeah I am jealous but nearly as much as Ed...it is his color.












Sunday is Eric and Myra's 12th wedding anniversary so we decided to go out to celebrate. We had dinner at a Texas Road House in Goldsboro, less than a half hour from their house. After a good meal we returned to Eric and Myra's and watched a movie, Dolly Pardon's 'Coat of Many Colors'... yes, it is a sappy feel good flick.


We lost an hour of sleep last night, so it is about 7AM now and we will likely get a late start. We  have about 850 miles left, I expect we will get to Binghamton, NY tonight and spend the night before pressing on to home.

Day 12 - A day in Daytona

Friday we spent the morning at the Daytona Speedway browsing the vendor area.



We arrived before the crowds.













It seems they had stock cars parked in some odd places.














Eventually the bikers arrived, there was not good place to get a picture of the bikers, thrust me there were many.











There was every type of 2 or 3 wheeler machines you could think of, including the Boss Hog V8's.













We even found a Roadtrek display. Frankly is was not well staffed and not done very well.













We spent some time at the Harley Tent, looks like they even brought the Army Harley we saw in Sturgis.












I must say one of the most impressive displays was the Indian Tent.













I found one I liked.....













We had lunch at the track, smoked pork sammiches...they were excellent.  We then headed back to camp for a siesta. We eventually decided to take one last ride, a nature loop we got from one of the brochures. It basically took us due west for about 50 miles then north to Palatka and then south back past the Bruce Rossmeyer's Harley Davidson to Daytona.

Between Palatka and Daytona, there are traffic jams caused by the congestion around the saloons and bars, like The Broken Spoke, The Iron Horse,  etc..











It was our last ride in Florida for this trip, about 150 miles. On this trip we rode about 375 miles in Georgia and loaded the bike in the trailer with 1041 miles on the trip meter.  The riding in Florida is not as good as riding in the west or even the northeast, but it is riding in March and that makes it good.

Saturday we leave Florida and head for June's nephew in Raleigh, NC .

Day 11 - "The Ride"

Thursday we got up and walked a couple of miles with Liz while she had breakfast in the oven baking.

We even stopped at the 18th hole where John tore off his tendon that connects his bicep to his forearm in March of last year when we were playing golf. Liz and I still had 5 holes to go, so we told him to suck it up and drive the cart...true story. We felt a little guilty when we found out he really was seriously injured. After surgery and about 6 months of rehab, he is good as new...no foul right.










The walk was not all work, we rested at the Gazebo that is also on the 18th hole.













After our walk, Liz pulled breakfast from the oven, I can't tell you want it was called, but it was yummy. Liz and John were great hosts as usual, we hope to return the favor this summer.

We were still undecided on what route we were going to take back to Daytona, we were a bit disappointed with the route we took down, it just was not very interesting.

We left Liz and John around 9:30 AM. 

We hit Rt 80 east bound and instead of turning north at Rt31, we went farther east and turned onto Rt29, then Rt27 and onto Rt70 to Okeechobee and Rt 70 east to Fort Pierce. 

This section was actually pretty scenic, lots of orange groves and horse farms.  

 

The highways are straight and flat, you can see for miles and miles.

We rode all the way across the state to Fort Pierce and turned north on US1. When we got to Vero Beach we stopped for lunch at a Subway where we debated running the interstate or staying on the coast. We decided to give the coast a try, it was the right choice. Although it was slow in spots, it was much cooler and riding along the ocean was pretty nice. 

North of Vero Beach we dropped onto A1A for about 35 miles, it was a really nice scenic ride. 

We got back on US1 and headed for Daytona, when we reached Port Orange we dropped back onto 1A1 and found our way to the beach. 

The nice lady at the booth said come back in 15 mins and the gate will be open, I will be gone and you will save yourself $10.  For us the $10 was well worth it.

We have driven on the beach a few times in our life time, but you can't beat riding on the beach, and it was a bonus that we pretty much had it to ourselves. 

We were a bit wind blown but still smiling. 

We left the beach and headed back to camp, only about 5 miles, but it took over a half hour, apparently at 5 PM everyone else is leaving Daytona headed west too. 

Overall it was a great ride, we left Fort Myers about 9:30 AM and pulled into camp about 6 PM, after traveling 295 miles and being on the bike just a bit over 8 hours.  We were tired but it was an epic ride and it made the Martini and Dakin Ribs on the grill taste even better. 

Today we are going to spend the morning at the Speedway browsing, and eventually get packed up to head north tomorrow.  

Day 10 - Fort Myers

Wednesday after a good breakfast at camp, we departed around 9:30 for Fort Myers. I spent some time the night before laying out a route that mostly avoided the major interstates. We wanted to see our good friends, Liz and John, and at the same time see a bit more of Florida. It was a pretty uneventful ride and maybe it is the season but frankly there is not much scenic about interior Florida. We did pass through some towns with strong aroma of citrus and then we would see a big processing plant with trucks just heaped with lemons. The ride did not take as long as I expected, most of the Florida non interstate roads are straight and flat with speed limits of 60+. We arrived at John and Liz's around 1:30 PM so the 230 mile trip took just over 4 hours, not bad.

It was great to see our once Vermonters friends and catch up.

Liz even baked me some fruitcake. Liz and I are about the last two on the planet that really love fruitcake. Liz's Mom made it for years and passed on the recipe to Liz. It is some mighty find fruitcake.


We pretty much chillaxed the rest of the afternoon, which is what we hoped we would do.


















Today we will make our way back to Daytona, I haven't decide what route we will take, it is always an adventure.

Day 9 - Brisket and Bikes.

Tuesday we took a short walk around George and Gail's 'village' to get a more of the feel of the place. I has that new feeling, everything is in perfect repair, and everything looks squeaky clean.


The Villages is very neat even on trash pickup day.
































Our original plan was to visit June's sister Jane in the morning and move onto Daytona in the afternoon, but Jane has the flu so we elected not to make that trip.  Hopefully there will be a next time and we can see her snowbird home another time.

June and I listen to a weekly podcast on the 'RV Lifestyle' done by Mike Wendland and one of his sponsors is Leisure Time RV in the Orlando area. You can check out his website and podcasts by following this link RV Life Style .  We thought since we were so close we would stop and check it out, there are not many dealers who carry inventory of Class B or B+ RVs.  The Pilger's decided to join us and we followed the to Orlando, I had to be careful not to run over them without seeing them...:-).

They tow a smart car behind there "Luxury Coach" to Florida that is about the size of a golf cart.









We stopped at two RV places just outside Orlando, Winter Garden, and browsed. June always likes bigger, but I found after seeing all the new class B's the one closest to our configuration was what worked best for me.  New is nice, but ours is just fine in my (small) mind. We decided to have lunch with George and Gail before we left, I led the way to some residential area that was supposed to be a Quizno place. ...google maps failed me...not the first time..doh.  Funny how things work out, eventually we ended up in a parking lot where I could see a Subway, but  there was a place that had lots of activity with outdoor seating on the other side of the lot, we decided to check it out. It was "4 Rivers Smoke House" they specialize in brisket.  If you are in the area go for it...it was pretty awesome.

After lunch we said our good byes to the Pilgers and headed for Daytona.  We checked in at our campground, Speedway KOA, it was in the 80's and sunny.


















After getting settled into camp, we decided to take a ride to check out the area. We rode south of Daytona and then took US1 north until we hit the biggest Harley Dealer I have ever seen. It is located north of Daytona where US1 intersects I95. "Bruce Rossmeyers Daytona Harley Davidson" is impressive to say the least. In addition to the dealership the parking lots surrounding it are occupied vendors. You can get your Harley tricked out just about anyway you want on the premises.



Huge front wheels are the rage.








We got back to camp around 7PM and had a nice dinner at camp. Today we plan to take a long ride to Fort Myers to visit Liz and John. It is a bit under 250 miles each way, but we are here for the riding more than hanging with the hardcores in Daytona.

Day 8 - GA to "The Villages" (FL)

Monday we left Randy and Sue to migrate further south. Randy, Sue and Joe were awesome hosts but I am sure after 5 nights they had just about enough of us. We jumped on I75 and just about 300 miles later we met up with our snow bird friends from Moriah George and Gail at The Villages.

The Villages is just that...a huge complex of small villages (78) of housing, each having their own bit of identity. The population in The Villages exceeded 100K in 2013 and it grows by 4500 people per year! It is a 55 and over housing so we fit right in. They have over 100 miles of golf cart paths that connect everything, over 60 recreation centers that have pickle ball, tennis, pools, and 30 golf courses.  It is not hard to see why northerners migrate to here.




We strolled through one of the three town centers, Lake Sumter, it really is very pleasant.

















As you stroll through the The Villages you will see golf carts from the basic models to the extravagant and custom builds of all kinds.

CBS Video on Villages Golf Carts











In the Town Centers they have theaters, shops, and restaurants. We ended our stroll with a nice dinner at Johnny Rockets.












It was nice to catch up with George and Gail, they appear to have settled into The Villages lifestyle quite well and already have plans to spend next winter here.

Today we thought we would jump on the Harley and head an hour south west to see June's sister Jane. However after speaking with Jane yesterday, she is under the weather, so we might just punt on that idea and move onto Daytona where we are booked until Saturday in a the Speedway campground.

Day 7 - Sunday, a day of rest...almost.

Sunday was a day of rest...sort of. We pretty much laid around in the morning and then we decided to put up lights for Randy's horse shoe pits.

It may not look like it in this picture but Joe provided the bulk of the labor, he dug about 50 ft of ditch and did a bit of the wiring. He gave a bit of blood, sweat and tears...after uncle Fred said make sure your hand is above that razor or.....too late. It was nothing serious.









We even went out after dark and tested the setup...pretty sweet.












After we got the wiring done Sue and Randy cooked up a big steak dinner...yeah!

It has been a great week at Randy and Sue's the weather cooperated and it was a nice long visit.

Today we continue south towards Daytona, but will stop in Orlando to visit our friends George and Gail.

Day 6 - Hiking Stone Mountain

Saturday we drove to Atlanta to hike Stone Mountain, yes we drove to the city to hike a mountain but in Georgia you take the mountains where you find them.

It was a bit chilly in the morning but I was still itching to get out on my cycle,









Stone mountain is just that, a granite stone that rises up to 1686 feet which provides vertical climb of about 700 ft that provides spectacular panoramic views of the Atlanta area.


Most of the hiking is on smooth granite that can be slippery, especially since we had quit a bit of rain on Thursday night things were still "moist".

You see lots things on the hike up, but this guy topped it...full turn out gear...brother Don time to step up!  He did look a bit exhausted.












The summit is wide open rock where people gather to sun themselves and fly kites.  Atlanta is lucky to have such a cool place to get outside this close to the city.














Views of Atlanta are spectacular.

















The men conquered the big stone.








We did the two mile hike and wanted more..so we headed around the base to the Confederate Stone Mountain Memorial, which is about another mile in each direction.
























We left Vermont, there was no snow.  Imagine our surprise when we came out of the woods trail in Atlanta, Georgia and there were kids playing in the snow!!! Yeah, we have not snow in Vermont but they have it in Georgia...who would have thought that?

















After our hike we were hungry and met Randy's college buddy Mike and his fiance at a Pizza place in Atlanta, it was good pizza and company.








June decided it was warm enough to ride back to Randy's on the motorcycle but did not want to ride the interstate with all the big trucks so I plotted the no interstate route into my GPS.  In hind sight, I should have at least got outside of Atlanta before I abandoned the interstates, but hey we got a nice tour of the Atlanta perimeter. Overall it was actually a pretty nice ride, Route 23 is beautiful taking you by Lake Juliette where we saw a beautiful sunset.  The long way home was not much farther but took roughly an hour longer but it was a much less stressful route. Overall I put 250 miles on the Harley and the weather was beautiful.