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Published: October 4th 2018
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After one last stop at Finn McCool’s for a couple pints and to cash in my gift certificate. I decided on a later start since I only had about 250 miles to deal with in route to Mildura. About 75 miles from Mildura I entered my 5th state/territory “Victoria”. I only have one remaining - The A.C.T. Australian Capital Territory which is pretty much made up entirely of the area encompassing the nations Capital (Canberra). Sort of like our District of Columbia. Canberra will be my final stop before returning to Sydney to greet my lovely bride and to hand off my bike.
When I arrived in Adelaide you might recall it was 95 F. Two days later (this morning) at departure it was 55 F. I figured it would heat up before I hit the open highway so I went with my lighter jacket wear and no gloves. This proved to be a poor decision and I had to make a stop an hour in to the ride to put on my leathers. Any motorcycle rider will tell you being cold on a bike is one of the most dangerous situations you can have- Why you ask
- if you are concentrating on how cold you are you aren’t focused on the Roo’s - Emu’s - cars - that should be getting your attention.
The cold wasn’t the biggest problem on what was supposed to be a cake walk ride. The winds were the worst of the trip thus far and made a nasty combo with the cold and what seemed like every Blimmey road train semi in freakin Australia. I felt like I was in a heavy weight fight taking body blows every time a 53 meter long road train would pass, at first they’d block the strong winds then redirect them so they swirled at me in all directions. Once again - thank the Lord ( and the guys from Crane Worldwide) that I made the right decision to ship by 1600 over instead of renting the 1200.
When not holding on for dear life (ok slight over dramatization) the scenery was very different from the outback. A lot of green started to reappear. I went through a number of vineyards, so many, that I thought of naming this segment the “The Rideabout Shiraz”?. No Roo’s but some feral
Emu’s and a couple Emu Farms. The rivers had water in them and some even appeared to be testing their banks. At my lunch stop I was surprised to see palm trees.
My hotel selection in Mildura (pop. 60,000) {Mildura is actually made up of group of communities called Sunraysia} was the Quest Apartment Hotel. Very nice- full kitchen and laundry in room. Back home I get excited if my hotel room has a jaccuzi but these days a washer and dryer is a huge convenience. After checking in I went to my room and sent Karen my traditional “got here safely note” then crashed. I eventually got up and threw in a small load of laundry and the headed downtown (an 8 minute walk) and found the Mildura Brew house. Met a nice young chap named Lucky who helped me navigate the house brews with a brew in hand I gobbled down a steak sandwich. Great food and beer!
I’m back here at the hotel working on this blog. I have a 350 mile day tomorrow so I’ll need to get out a little earlier than I did today. Tomorrow is my second
to last stop in Wagga Wagga Before Canberra and back to Sydney.
The trip itself has gone exceedingly well but I’m disappointed in the donation progress for w
ww.Cureduchenne.org/Jimsride Hopefully, a lot of people are waiting to the end to donate. If you have donated thank you on behalf of the Duchenne boys! If you haven’t yet please consider a donation. If you know of someone who you think might be interested in donating, please send them the address.
Also thank you again to the sponsors who have helped make this trip possible- AMPG - MSC Industrial- AIS- Crane Worldwide - and CureDuchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
G'Day Mates
Jim
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