Whippany NJ – Key West FL
Wed March 13, 2019
(~1519 miles)

Roy and I somehow etched out 5+ hours of sleep on those stiff beds and woke to the alarms just past 01:00. We did our necessaries, gathered our gear, and went out into the frigid morning. We’d been having mild temperatures at night the past several days, but of course this was the exception, with a predicted low of 26 just before dawn. Layers and adrenaline would help us through it!.

Marc was already at the QuickChek a mile down the road, trying to warm up with some coffee. I felt pretty alert, all things considered and so abstained from my normal cup ‘o joe, to avoid stopping an hour down the road. Our ride plan was to make good use of our fuel range with the auxiliary tanks, stopping roughly every 320 miles. I downed a protein shake and we wasted no time getting underway once Ken arrived.

We hit the pumps, obtained our starting receipts for the ride, and before you know it we got up onto I-287 headed south, Ken in the lead and me in the sweep position, heated gear cranking.

These were beyond a doubt the coldest temperatures I’d ever ridden in, and I was grateful for the heated pants liner that I’d purchased just the week before. The excitement of the trip and laser focus on not fucking anything up kept my attention off the cold for most of the first leg of the trip. The bike was running well, though my body wasn’t conditioned to the riding, and I felt it in my back and neck as time progressed. We had neglected to futz around with the Sena bluetooth group intercom before leaving and so most of this leg we were left to our own thoughts. I played around with the settings as we rode on mostly empty highways, and eventually was able to connect everyone together to chat and commiserate.

Ken led a lively pace and we made good time on I-78 across Pennsylvania to I-81 and on down to our first planned fuel stop in Harrisonburg VA, some 4.5 hours after the start. As my bike thermometer shows, it had remained below freezing the entire leg and would remain as such for another two hours or so. I pulled on my rain jacket over my Klim to help block the windchill for this next stretch.

We eagerly anticipated the sunrise to help lift our spirits and start to warm things up. We were still in Virginia and rode a controlled pace (sans radar detection) through patches of sunlight coming over the Blue Ridge range to our east, bringing that private spark of rejuvenation you get riding from darkness into light on a long motorcycle trip. As I had the previous year, I enjoyed seeing the progression of Spring in the local foliage through VA and the Carolinas. First just the flowering trees and red-tinge of new buds, transitioning to light green of new leaves.

The temperatures rose as the morning and miles progressed, to almost 60 degrees by the time we reached our second fuel stop, in South Carolina along I-77. Now we started shedding our layers, preparing for the much more comfortable temps we’d hit as we continued down through Georgia and Florida. Roy had plugged in 15 minutes per stop in the trip plan, and we stayed pretty true to that interval for every stop on the trip (though we did use it all!).

I tend to take just a bit more time than my compatriots at stops, especially with such long leg intervals, so I was happy that I was able to get through them efficiently without holding up the schedule. Roy Kjendal is a super nice guy, and is a rider that is either full-on or complete stop, no lolly-gagging. That is partly how you achieve Mile-Eater Titanium status, I guess. When he’s ready to go, he may tell you to take your time, but will sit there on the bike, engine idling, just watching you fumble around. Stink-eye, as they say on the islands. The rest of us joked about it. When Roy couldn’t hear. 🙂

We hit our third fuel stop on the Georgia/Florida border about 14 hours into the ride, having covered just short of 1000 miles – I swear Ken is a machine and we just get pulled along for the ride. By now the temps were very comfortable in the mid-70’s and all excess layers were doffed. We hit the Jacksonville area around rush hour, but somehow avoided any true unpleasantness in the form of standstill traffic, looping round the city on the beltway. The run down through Florida was smooth sailing and beautiful temperatures.

Darkness fell as we made our final fuel stop in Fort Pierce FL. I think all of us were feeling pretty knackered at this point, but excited by the variety that lay ahead of us, in taking US-1 across the keys.

The trip had been timed to avoid the tourist and vacationer traffic in the keys, and this certainly worked out to our advantage as we were able to pretty much do the speed limit or slightly over (only – the road is heavily enforced) for the entire 100 miles or so out to Key West. The hard parts were doing it at night without much to look at, the increased humidity, and reducing our pace that much after burning up the highways all day long. It was a challenge to stay focused here, and we switched up the lead position to give Ken a bit of a break and something to follow.

We finally arrived on Key West just past midnight and made our way past our hotel to the designated Circle K station, where we collected our final receipts 22 hrs 20 min after the start in New Jersey. I’d had strong doubts about doing this ride, but of course it was all worth it at this point!

I wanted a photo of us at the station and hailed a someone with close-cropped hair and a tank-top exiting their vehicle in front of the store.

“Excuse me, sir…?” She turned around…

“OH! Sorry ma’am!”

I fumbled my words and, according to my delighted ride-mates, looked absolutely horrified at the faux pas. She just grinned and was super-cool about it, acknowledging her hair was pretty short and it was late. I explained where we’d just come from and she was happy to take our photo.

The plans included a visit to the “Southernmost Point” buoy landmark, and I convinced the other guys that it was imperative we do it that night, for better effect. Plus no crowds! We road that final mile to the buoy and found a nice couple visiting from Long Island who agreed to photograph us, though we had to rebuff their attempts to get the lighting “just right”. Little do they know of bonus pictures snapped in the middle of nowhere using harsh LED lamps to display the sign, statue or oddity that the rallymaster of the week had sent us to…

Some of us were hungry and we cruised slowly through part of the downtown area looking for a quick bite to no avail, so we headed for the Fairfield Inn to check in. Hotel prices being outrageous on the island, Marc had been gracious enough to book this nice hotel with his travel points, making the trip possible for all of us.

This was a nice place and night-and-day difference from the hotel at the start. Fancy courtyard and pool, which we unfortunately did not have time to sample. I ended up sleeping on the floor (on couch cushions) and it was still more comfortable than New Jersey! The shower was much-needed and then two of us crashed out while the others snarfed down some Dominoes. We needed to be up early in the morning to get some breakfast and make it down to the pier to watch the sunrise…whose idea was that anyway?