Stop Time: 1500 EDT
Start Location: Florida City, FL
Stop Location: Tallahassee, FL
Lodging: Best Western
Dinner: Pizza Hut Delivery
Miles Traveled Today: 517
Weather: 70, RAIN to HEAVY RAIN, Tropical Storm Andrea - RAIN SUITS ON!!!!!
WOW, what a day to be on a motorcycle in Florida. Got some advice from a fellow Harley rider, Jeff, that lives in Fort Pierce, FL to hit the Florida turnpike at least by 6 am to avoid some of the Miama traffic. Jeff was right on. We left at 5:30 am from Florida City and the traffic was, even then, starting to pick up, but flowed very well. The problem was the RAIN from Tropical Storm Andrea. It also started and continued for most of our 517 miles. It rained and then rained hard back and forth for most of the trip. The last 50 miles coming into Tallahassee, it REALLY rained!! Made me think of the Forrest Gump quote about rain in Vietnam:
"One day it started raining, and it didn't quit for four months. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin' rain... and big ol' fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night... "
Several times we and the rest of the traffic were down to 35-40 mph with our flashers on!! Had we known this morning what we know now, I think we would have just spent an extra day in Floriday City relaxing and headed out tomorrow. In any case, we were SAFE and looked out for each other. It was a stressful ride with lots of tense moments! We did see 6-7 wrecks along the way (2 cars spinning out hitting the Jersey wall, tractor trailer off into the woods, another car off into the woods, etc.).
Here is a pic of the radar after we arrived in Tallahassee. I really think we drove through every rain band in Tropical Storm Andrea one time or another today!!
Bikes parked for the evening at the motel with rain still coming down!!
Everything we had (that wasn't in a saddlebag or tourpak) got some wet. We even had to "launder" our money after we got to the motel room!! Ha! Found out from Bill the value of a motel hair dryer too!! Great for drying gloves, billfolds, coin purses, tank bags, etc!!
One of the several turnpike service plaza stops along the way today.
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