I took my time about loading, hoping the rising sun would warm the Gulf Coast landscape quickly. I fired the engine at 7:25 a.m., gassed at a Shell station in Gulfport, got onto eastbound I-10 and settled in for a day in the saddle. This was the first time I'd ridden any part of I-10 along the Gulf Coast on this bike and the ride began to feel like an adventure somewhere after Mobile, as I crossed into the Florida Panhandle. I stopped at the first rest area inside Florida for a snack, to check in with my wife and to shoot a photo of the bike with my phone. Lunch was a hasty one at the Chipley, Fla. Wendy's. I turned south on I-95 at Jacksonville, finally shedding my jacket liner somewhere north of Palm ... read more

Things are coming together - mostly - for a departure for Daytona tomorrow morning. I've checked the oil and concluded once again that I can't see a damned thing in that stupid oil sight glass. The guys at the Colorado Springs BMW dealership opined that I had overfilled the oil last summer when I set out for the West. Not seeing a level line of oil anywhere in the glass, and the glass being dark and murky even in the brightest light, I can only conclude that it is still full - even overfull. But on the chance that it's too low to show on the sight glass, I'm carrying a quart of BMW 10W50. I fired up the air compressor and brought the tires up to inflation spec - 36 psi front and 42 psi ... read more