February 10, Tuesday Jerry and Judy decided to split up with us and begin their trek back north, so Deb and I loaded up Bear and took off for Key West. We stopped once or twice for coffee, and after checking with the Ranger Station at Bahia Honda State Park, which was all reserved 11 months in advance, we ended up at the KOA campground on Sugarloaf Key, at about mile marker 20 something. A tent site was going for $60 a night, but if you spent $24 to become a KOA member, you got 10% off. I became a member, [View Full Entry]

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February 8, Sunday We were all four loading the bikes around 9:00 am and on the road to the Everglades by 9:30. I led the way down the coast, running mostly through the towns which gradually merged into a stop and go situation. Finally I cut east to a major thoroughfare, joined the Tamiami trail, US 41, along the Everglades to Florida City. Originally we were going to stop for lunch at Everglade City, but as we approached, we couldn't help but notice the hundreds of Harley Davidsons in the area. It turns out there was a big seafood festival, which [View Full Entry]

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February 6, Friday Up late again awaiting warmer temps. We finally started off for Sarasota and a visit to Kay at Quest Outfitters. We stopped for brunch at Nellie's restaurant about 30 miles south of the 3 River Motel. Continued on along Route 19 and 19A near the coast. Sadly, we could not see much of the gulf, so eventually near Ozona, we turned east, caught the main road again ( 19 ) and then crossed the bay on the toll bridge, our only choice. We stayed on the interstate I 75 to a mall, dropped off Deb, and continued to [View Full Entry]

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February 4, Wednesday Chilly morning, temps in the low 30’s but came up by noon. Jerry and Judy decided to accompany us on our trek to Key West, we left around 12:05 and took the LONG way around Panama City Beach. We reached St George’s Island about sundown and took refuge from the cold in the Buccaneer Inn. Reasonably nice kitchenette room. The Inn is right on the beach, but beach facing rooms were $30 more. We ate pizza at a nearby joint, pretty good actually, then all headed for bed and some TV/reading. Very cold night, temps in the high [View Full Entry]

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February 2 Monday Rain started in around midnight, we awoke to more rain. Weather called for a band of rain to move across our intended route all day, with temps in 40's We discussed holing up for the day, but forecast for Tuesday called for snow showers ! We loaded up and decided to tough it out. I really felt we needed to get south as soon as we could. We had a minor problem with the left tank pannier, the zipper foot had pulled out and it was not holding. Off to Wal-Mart for safety pins, straps and various Velcro [View Full Entry]

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February 1 Sunday Up none too early, had some coffee at Shoney's. I took Bear alone for a test ride, as this was the first chance I had to try him out fully loaded. He still rode very stable, so I went back to Motel 6, picked up Deb and away down Interstate 65 we went on the way to Key West. I had hopes of making Montgomery AL, but we settled for Birmingham as it approached sundown. We had taken Wayne Garrison's advice and picked up a hotel/motel discount coupon magazine at the TN/AL border. Deb found a deal at [View Full Entry]

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Jan 31, 2009 Saturday These are the adventures of Rick and Deb, the Wandering the Americas tour - 2009 We are riding together on an '08 BMW R1200 GS Adventure named Bear (This is a motorcycle - for you non-biker types) We are camping in a Big Agnes - Big House 6 tent, using Big Agnes insulated air mattresses, and Bear is really loaded up. We left Indianapolis IN USA about 2:30p with Bear loaded up and tied down in the back of the Toyota Truck. Star came with us to drive the truck back to Indy when we decided we [View Full Entry]

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