The Soggy Charleston- Jacksonville- Pensacola Run!

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I took a night off from blogging last night so tonight brings me about 625 miles from the last update.

The run from Charleston to Jacksonville started out like most days last week. Threats of rain but nothing until that is...I hit the intersection of Hwy 17 and I-95, then I got dumped on. I was just about to pull off and make a change in helmets and perhaps put some rain gear on when it subsided. I decided to stick it out.... big mistake right at the South Carolina -Georgia border I hit a torrential down pour. I had to stop in the middle of the down pour and change helmets before I crossed the Georgia border.

[Side bar: I carry three helmets with me on my trips:

#1-Top helmet which keeps the sun off the top of my head but is open on the sides so it is relatively cool. The top helmet does nothing in the rain because it has no face shield or sides.

#2 - Full Helmet - The full helmet has everything - a face shield, full side covering. It is awesome in the rain as long as it doesn't rain so hard that you can't see out of the face shield or the windshield, however, it is extremely heavy and uncomfortable to wear.

#3 - INV Helmet - It comes with a full air conditioning system, extremely light weight, it doesn't hurt your ears, but it doesn't do anything to protect you from the sun or rain. This is also Karen's least favorite helmet because INV stands for invisible. End Side bar]

When I state that I stopped to change helmets I'm referring to one of the three listed above. The state of Georgia requires motorcycle riders to wear either #1 or #2. After putting on number #2 at the border, I had about 30 minutes of torrential ran to deal with. I decided not to don my light or heavy rain gear so I was soaked to the bone. I stopped for gas and some food and saw that it was clearing up. So I decided not to done the rain gear and lucked out - The 95 degree dryer system provided by Georgia and Florida DOT's and my BMW completely dried out my clothes by the time I reached the Jacksonville beaches. The run from Charleston to Jacksonville was a short 245 miles but felt like 500 miles. I booked the Courtyard Jacksonville Beach hotel and immediately donned my swim trunks and hit the pool- hot tub- and Tikki hut. A couple I met on the hotel shuttle in Charleston had suggested a seafood restaurant in Jacksonville. She said it was nothing fancy but the food was fantastic. I took an UBER to the restaurant and stood in line for 1 Hr and 15 min. to place my order. I decide to get if for take out and eat back in my room. The food was indeed great but I ordered to much because I was so hungry.

This morning I got up and looked at the weather which was like a broken record - Rain and thunderstorms - Rain and thunderstorms- yadda yadda yadda! Even though my luck ran out on me yesterday - I decided to go with no rain gear once again. I made it about 20 miles before hell was unleashed upon me. I stopped and put on helmet #2 but no rain gear. HUGE MISTAKE. The idea behind having rain gear is to get it on BEFORE you get soaked. If you put the rain gear on after you are soaked you have the reverse wet-suit scenario. For those unfamiliar with a divers wet-suit, the way the wet-suit works, it traps a thin layer of water between your skin and the wet-suit. Your body heat warms up this thin layer of water and keeps you warm. With out getting into permeability of materials discussions - lets just say that soaking wet clothes under a thin water resistant jacket doesn't operate like a wet-suit. The entire 379 mile trip across Northern Florida was 20 minutes of hard rain followed by 5-10 minutes of light rain followed by 5 minutes of no rain and occasionally sunshine then repeat. The smart way to start the day would have been Helmet #2 and my full body rain suit. The important thing is that I made it to Pensacola and was able to traverse the widest part of Florida in spite of the weather.

I booked a Marriott Residence Inn - rested for a bit and checked in with the home front. I went over to McQuires Irish pub which is only a few blocks from the hotel. McQuire's was highest rated Irish pub in Pensacola so I gave it a go! I was a bit surprised to find out they only serve tap beers made by McQuires pub. So instead of a Guinness I had a McQuires stout. it wasn't bad but was a little to charcoal tasting for my pallet. The food was great and they had live music every night exempt - Sunday's. Had a nice chat with some of the patrons at the bar and headed back for an early evening (and to type of this blog). Tomorrow I'll have about 3 1/2 hours to New Orleans from here so I'll take my time. I've booked the Marriott Autograph- The Saint in New Orleans on Canal. As for mile tracking Jacksonville would be considered the way-point as it stood at about 1,660 miles from Muskegon Michigan and the total trip is estimated to be about 3.500 miles. With the 379 miles added to day I'm at 2,140 for the trip. Tomorrow I'll add Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana to the 12 I've covered the last 10 days.

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