South??

It took me a while to leave the house yesterday.   It was hot as hell and I really wanted to get moving before I could come up with an excuse to stay home.  All of the gear didn't exactly fit on the bike so I had to leave some things behind.  Nothing
really important as far as i could tell but I also am very limited on clothes now.  In a few days I'm probably going to smell like the carpet in front of the airport bathrooms in Atlanta.  Maybe the Alaskan girls are into that sort of thing??  I'm looking forward to letting you guys know.

So I got rolling at about 1pm.   The bike is HEAVY and tough to wield around.  I cant help but wonder just how many times I'm going to tip over at an intersection or in a parking lot.  At speed there is no problem at all.  She feels just as balanced and easy to handle as if there was no cargo at all.  That being said, new rule... SPEED.

I had to make a last stop at the BMW dealership to get the lock on one of the cargo boxes fixed.  The key cylinder was installed backwards and although I could latch it, it wasn't locking.  While I was there I bumped into an older guy that asked me where I was heading.   I told him that I was headed to Alaska.  We chatted about my trip for a while.  He was really interested and wanted to know all about it.  After a few minutes he told me he was headed to Ft Pierce (about 3hrs south)    The look on his face was pretty priceless when I said I was going that way first and we should ride together.

I'm headed to Key west for a sticker.  Key West is the end of the road as far as going south is concerned so It wasn't really an option to skip KW.

After the BMW shop my new riding buddy and I hit the highway pretty aggressively.  It was hot as hell but traffic was light.  I set the cruise to 80mph and jacked up the tunes in my helmet.  I couldnt stop thinking to myself how weird this feels to actually be getting this voyage started.  It haunts me to think about how many days and hours I'll be on the throttle but I kept focused on today's destination and easily ignored the tendency to plan and worry about tomorrow.  There was some rain on the horizon in almost every direction but for the time being we were dry.  2hrs later we're in a torrential down pour.  The 95 degree heat and sweat fest turned into an 60mph shower and followed by an 80mph hot and humid blow dry.  This wet/dry cycle repeated itself for about 100 miles or so.  I cant say it bothered me much.  It's really hot under my helmet and the rain is a nice way to cool down quick.

4hrs later I made it to Ft. Lauderdale.  My first destination was my long time friend Jason's place.  We worked together in Hawaii for Norwegian Cruise Lines and have been good buddy's ever since.  He works for the USCG but spends all of his spare time flipping bikes.
  

Jason in his stable

Jason has a sleeve tattoo and his daughter Ava was no exception.  I've never seen more temporary tattoos on a such a small arm.  Within 5 minutes of walking in the door I was getting tatted up.

After dinner I went down to the shop to drink some beers and hang out with old friends.   My friends in Lauderdale have a huge 4 bay garage/clubhouse/workshop right up the road.  Mostly it's for drinking beers and listening to tunes but every once in a while they get their acts together and crank out some amazing skateboards.  They started a little company called Inspiration Longboards that sells the nicest rides around.   The guys wanted to send me off with some stickers and a free longboard.  Within minutes my bike was decorated with their logos.   The boards they make are really well made and great to ride so I didn't mind whoring out the bike with stickers in exchange for a board.   There's actual hills where I'm going so that'll be a new experience.  Riding these things in Florida takes a little too much effort for me.    So the rest of the night was spent boozing and bullshitting just like we normally do at the shop.   Shop nights generally dont end until the beers are all gone. 

Picture montage and I'm out...  late start.. gotta eat some miles today...   Thanks for reading.  Hope you like it so far.