Homco's Gettin' Lost

I spent a month finding myself on my motorcycle, Jade.  Now I'm home, and back to reality, but the adventure is just getting started!  Let's get lost together.

[death-collective]

[wherethehellishomco]

Well, I'm laying in my hammock, listening to the rain hit my rain fly while I think, "I should be blogging." I suppose even though I'm only 30 miles from home I am camping, and I did ride here, so why not. 41 miles in about an hour. Home to a camp ground at Winona Lake. One end of my hammock is tied to a tree and the other to a Ford. I am here to camp with my buddy Matt and his friend Nick. They are racing in a mountain bike race here tomorrow. Nothing really exciting or deep and insightful to say. Just noting that it is nice to be laying in he hammock again. Id better fall asleep while the rain is falling and singing it's sweet lullaby. Night y'all.

[wherethehellishomco]

The End Of This Chapter

Oh, hi! Sorry, I didn't forget about you. This post trip has been different then last year and where before I wished I was still out on the road, this year I am happy to be home, and I found it hard to make the time to write a wrap up when there were other things I could be doing. At the moment I am back on the road for work and in Saskatoon, SK, home of the coolest people ever. I'm sitting at the bar at Amigo's Cantina, home of my favorite Mexican food anywhere. I have an order of Carnitas Pueblo coming and I'm sipping a water thinking, "well, better late then never!" Over 3,500 miles in just eight days. And, unlike before, with someone! The trip was awesome and lots of memories were made. Way more than you all want to hear about. To narrow it down; three standout things happened on this trip that are worth revisiting. The Dragon, US 129 from Tennessee into North Carolina. This was by far the most challenging piece of road I have ever ridden. We rode it and the Cherohala Skyway twice. Once North to south on our way to The Keys and then south to north on our way home. I will be back here. I could stay here a week and just ride once in the morning, shoot the shit with all the bikers mid day, ride again in the evening for a week straight and never get bored. This is the first time I feel I have pegged my adrenaline while riding Jade, and I liked it. I liked it a lot. Oh yes, I will be back here. Key West is a very cool vacation destination, but it was our encounter with John that made it incredible. A late night drunken response to a Facebook comment that simply said, "my dad lives off the coast of Key West on a catamaran," led to the most memorable night of the trip. Lots of awesome conversation over delicious food and then on the water. Be nice folks, be friendly, be cool. It all pays off here and there. I'm pretty sure I'll see John again someday and I look forward to it! Coming home I found myself getting more and more excited to be back home. I had just had an awesome week and now I was ready to be back. I pulled in the garage, took off my helmet, and got the best hug and kiss I can remember in a long time. I needed to shower, badly, but it could wait, there were stories of the past week to be told! This was a totally different experience than last time. My life is different now than it was eight months ago. Divorced, new girlfriend, new home, and new attitude. Life is good and home is great. The trip was great! The length was perfect. The company was enjoyable. Much like last time I am VERY chipper right now. I don't know what it is that makes me so happy. Maybe we all work to much and we should spend more time doing what we want. Maybe we spend too much time on our devices and should disconnect more often. Maybe we need to be in nature more. Whatever it is, this just further solidified that I will continue to do trips like this whenever I can until I'm no longer capable or dead. This is, without a doubt, who I am now and I feel so fortunate to have found my life before I am too old to live it. Peace and love y'all. Until next time!

[wherethehellishomco]

345 miles today in almost 8 hours. Over 3500 miles and 6 states in 8 days. I'm home. I'm tired. I'm going to spend some time with my girlfriend. I'll give you all a recap tomorrow. Night y'all.

[wherethehellishomco]

More of The Dragon

477 miles in about 12 hours.

A lot of good riding today.  We worked our way up north and tackled the Cherohala Skyway and the Dragon again.  Nothing too noteworthy to mention.  We did learn that they take pictures of you on The Dragon that you can find on their website and buy a copy of.  We found our pictures from last Saturday, but the photos from today should be MUCH better.  They took the photos on The Dragon in a curve that both Steve and I were dragging pegs in.  It should be fun to see once they are up!

Have a good night all.

Taken on Highway 28 (not the Dragon) on April 30th at 9:24am. That’s Steve behind me

Taken on Highway 28 (not the Dragon) on April 30th at 9:24am.

Steve at the Dragon Harley Dealer

Shit was getting real at the Cehrohoala Skyway.

[wherethehellishomco]

Sitting in a huddle house in rural Georgia somewhere I have some wifi, so here are the pictures from yesterday.

[wherethehellishomco]

Happy Cinco De Mayo

Over 367 miles in just under 10 hours. Started at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, FL to Wadley, GA

We launched into space, we cruised the coast, we froze, we met the Waffle King.

Today started by going to the Kennedy Space Center.Yeah, I hear you, “Isn’t that for kids?” So? and your point is?  It’s one of those things I am interested in but would never make a pointe to go to and it’s something that Steve remembered from his childhood as being awesome. So, we were here, we should go.  It was awesome. We saw the shuttle Atlantis, we browsed the rocket garden, we crashed some lunar landers, and we enjoy a shuttle launch simulator with the added effect of a couple dozen screaming fifth graders. If you are ever in the area you should certainly go. If you have kids you should make the effort to get there even if you don’t live in the area.

Around 1:45 we hit the road form Kennedy and headed up the coast towards Georgia.  We cruised the A1A, coastal highway up through Daytona and on to Saint Augustine. A stop was made in what had to be the crappiest most trash inhabited beach town in florida. I don’t remember its name at the moment. It’s ok, the place was a shit-hole on the beach.

Post fish tacos, post bypassing Jacksonville, and into the southern part of Georgia.  As we cruised on the air go chilly and the sun disappeared.  We found ourselves riding at night since we had such a late start to the day.  After a couple hours of freezing in the dark we stopped in a small town, sat at the counter at a Waffle King, realized it was after 10:30, and decided to get a flea bag for the night.  It’ was the only thing that made sense. considering the time, our locations, and how we felt.

So here I am falling asleep as I write this after a long day.. apparently I am also in a black hole of service, no cellular or wi fi.  So I will post some pictures tomorrow.  Night everyone

[wherethehellishomco]

Rain, rain, rain, rain rainrainrainrainrain

395 VERY WET miles, in just under 12 hours. Started in Key West and ended near the Kennedy Space Center

We woke up this morning on the sling across the front of a ridiculously awesome Catamaran anchored in the marina off the coast of Key West.  Yeah, that was an awesome start to a great day.  Thank you so much Kirsten for mentioning to me that your dad was in The Keys.  A retired Fort Wayne Firefighter with a lot of living done and he’s still kicking ass and taking names living in Key West.  We had a great time, and are sooooo thankful for his graciousness last night.  We sat on the front of his boat watching the sun set over Key West with his ship cat, Mate . . it was great!

After the waking up and a quick breakfast it was off and down the road. 87 miles up to Key Largo and the approaching black clouds could not be ignored any more.  We pulled up behind a couple Harley guys that were putting on their rain gear so that we could do the same.  One of the other guys joked, “Have you seen this thing?” as he held up a satellite picture on his phone.  At this point I was still hopeful that the rains would be light for the day.   HAHAHAHAHAHAH, damn was I wrong.

We skimmed by Miami on the interstate in the pouring rain and took a jump off in Hollywood, FL to the A1A to start cruising the coast.  That was the plan for the day, make our way to a campground around Kennedy Space Center by weaving on and off the A1A, or Coastal Highway.  After about 11 miles in 45 minutes we stopped at this little hole in the wall oyster and seafood joint.  Unfortunately as we ate the delicious food at the counter our counter mates were kind enough to consistently remind us of how bad it was out and that it was only gonna get worse.  Thanks lady, we get it, shut up and eat your shrimp.  Can’t you see that we are already drenched head to toe? We are aware of the weather.

At this point, screw it.  The coast is already going to take forever, and with the rain it is going to take twice as long. . . it’s not worth it.  We need to get north so we can go to the Space Center tomorrow, because were are fucking nerds.

Up I95 we went...in the pouring rain.  After some cruising we stopped at a Dunken Donuts to get some coffee and warm up.  After a quick warming under the hand dryer we were on our way in the rain again.

I have to say, I am perfectly comfortable riding in the rain.  I know my limits, I leave extra space, and I am HYPER aware of those around me.  That being said, apparently no one in florida can drive when it rains.  I’m not just saying this as an off the cuff opinion.  I am basing this on the five or six (I can’t remember) MAJOR accidents that were on the freeway.  Dumb people doing dumb things.  This was a LONGGGGGG day.

Finally we made it into Titusville after deciding that we couldn’t camp tonight. We were soaked to the bone and it was supposed to continue raining all night, so we found a flea bag motel.  Unfortunately I am fairly certain we set the bar too low.  Neither of us were comfy leaving our bikes parked outside this dump in the hood.  So back  up the road to the branded hotels it is.  As I sit our clothes are being dried in the housekeeping’s dryer, I am eating some pizza, and we have the heat cranked to 80 degrees.  At the moment, life is good.

It was a miserable day of riding, but when we pulled in the parking spot in front of our room, we both agreed that we felt really good about today.  For some reason conquering such nonsense as today really makes you appreciate the good days and the comfy beds.

Goodnight everyone. . . stay dry!

My opinion of the rain

my SOAKED for twelve hours hands

Steve’s “I’ve lost my mind” opinion of the rain

All tucked away for the night in front of our room

This bastard came and parked itself over the east coast of Florida ALL DAMN DAY

[wherethehellishomco]

So I'm going to start by preaching a little. You never know when being a friendly, good person is going to allow you to experience something you never before thought possible. As I write this I am sitting on a Catamaran off the coast of Key West with Steve and our new friend John. I am also really having a hard time wanting to write this because I am sitting in a sling on the front of the boat, sipping a drink, and enjoying the conversation as we watched the sunset on the ocean and are currently staring at the stars, the water, and the lights of The Keys. So that being said, I will leave you with some pictures and a big huge thank you to Kirsten for introducing me to your dad John. Needless to say, we are sleeping out on the water tonight as our hotel room lays empty in the city. Goodnight you all.

[wherethehellishomco]

Hey Key West, You Sexy Bitch

A little over 315 miles in just under eight hours.  Highlands Hammock State Park, Florida to The Southernmost Pointe, Key West, Florida.

Well we did it. We have braved rain and cold. We have slayed a dragon and dined at it’s tail. We have suffered the wrath of a rainy Doyle ridden night, and we have endured the dreaded Florida Driver.  For what? For that photo up top. And it has been totally worth it.

Today was good. Today was really good.  We woke up bright and early and got on the road in search of coffee. Lake Placid, Florida. Yeah! That seems like a good place to grab a cup. Well let me tell you folks, the slow southern style does not stop at the Florida Georgia Line. If I had to guess I would say we waited a solid twenty minutes at the counter for two cups of their regular coffee and two bagels.  I also learned to not trust coffee in Florida. Stick to greasy diner coffee, it’s safer.

On down into The Keys and we stopped just after Key Largo at Robbie’s in Islamorada and watched the Tarpon be fed fish by people while the Pelicans tried to steal it. Lot’s of squeamish tourist trying to stay away from the business end of the pelicans beaks. Then we had some fish tacos that were de-fucking-licious and headed on down Highway 1.

On down the keys, over seven mile bridge and into Key West.  Straight to the southernmost pointe marker. At the marker no one seemed to care that we  pushed our motorcycles up on the sidewalk and behind a barrier to get the picture above. A nice family was kind enough to take the picture for us in exchange for some conversation.

Now, as I type, it’s six pm, I am sitting on the bed in our hostel and it’s about time to go enjoy some adult beverages in Key West.  Jade can sit under her cover and relax for a couple days because we don’t check out until Wednesday and after a little over 1,500 miles Jade, The Harley, Steve, and I have earned the break in the sun.

Have a good night y’all  Catch you on the flip side.

These Tarpon are at least 24 inches long

Jacket meet glove, glove meet jacket. No? Oh, ok.

A White Trash Bloody Mary: Bloody Mary, Slim Jim, Bacon, Olives, Lemon, Shrimp, and a lime

The pelicans were working on taking the Tarpons meal.

[wherethehellishomco]

Central Florida, You Can Keep it

463 miles in about twelve hours.  Started at Hamburg State Park in Georgia and ended at Highlands Hammock State Park in Florida.

Nothing too exciting happened today.  It was simply a long day of VERY boring riding.  Once we realized that Florida was basically nothing but cities and VERY boring stretches of highway we decided to book it to make tomorrows final southern leg to the keys shorter.

The only two stops worth mentioning today were the all you can eat barbecue chicken somewhere in Georgia and Spook Hill in Lake Wales, FL.

A: The chicken, it was good, it was chicken. . . yup

B: Spook Hill was a spooktacular disappointment.  It’s a hill, that visually looks like you went down it, but it’s an illusion and you actually went up it so things appear to roll up the hill.   Yeah. . . don’t waste your time folks.

That really is it.  Just a long day of straight roads and less than exciting stops.

One other thing though.  Florida. . . yeah I’m looking at you.  We just did a lot of miles over the past few days with not one incident on the road.  Everyone was safe and paying attention and driving reasonably.  But Florida, you need to get your act together.  20mph over is apparently the rule and I would like to propose that car manufacturers stop selling cars with mirrors in Florida as a cost cutting measure.  They are totally pointless since no one in this swamp of a state uses them.

Well, off to stare at the fire and go to sleep,. . . .catch you guys tomorrow from Key West

Highlands Hammock State Park, Florida

Florida Georgia Line

Steve’s Glamour shot

Spook hill. . . you can keep it

[wherethehellishomco]

What an Awesome Day

Over 275 miles in about 7 hours. Deals Gap, NC to Hamburg State Park in Georgia. 

More amazing roads, tasty ice cream (times two), Hillbillies, lots of Georgia State Troopers, and an awesome campsite (with horrible neighbors).

Yesterday kicked off easily leaving Deals Gap, NC and heading towards the Cherohala Skyway.  These roads are AMAZING.  They are even better when you are fresh and not at the end of a long ass day of riding.  Hmm, go figure.  Just a morning of over a hundred miles of twisting roads that took us way less than 100 miles closer to our goal.  That’s ok though, that’s the way it should be.

Out of the Skyway and back into Tennessee we sat at Paula’s Ice Cream shop one mile from the North Carolina border and 15 miles from the Georgia border and enjoyed the conversations of the locals. . . well, what we could understand.

On our way through Georgia and a sketchy as hell looking small town flea market we hit our stride south of Athens and moved through some awesome country roads  that looked like the rural scenes from the Susan Sarandon Tommy Lee Jones movie The Client. It’s a good movie, you should watch it.

After passing what felt like the entire force of the Georgia State Troopers we settled into Hamburg State Park in Georgia.  We found an awesome campsite next to the lake.  As we walked around and got the scope of the land our neighbor in a 40′ fifth wheel trailer came over and introduced himself as Doyle proclaiming, “I’m a rider too and if you boys want to come over and have some drinks with us you’re more than welcome.” All that was said as he was holding two cartons of whipping cream and also proclaimed that, “we’re making peach ice cream tonight.”

Little did we know he was being nice because they were the most annoying and rude campsite neighbors ever.  Apparently when you camp you want to have the electric motor of an ice cream maker running deep into the night, and of course you can’t cook over the fire without a five million watt LED light pointed directly at your neighbors camp.  Who knew? Screw you Doyle.

Settled into the Hammock and off to sleep I went.  at some point in the night I was woken up by lightning and thunder.  A giant storm in the distance gave us some dazzling lightening and thunder and a little rain. Unfortunately it was followed by strong winds that made my skin pretty chilled, Worse for Steve, he didn’t have as much tree cover and he got a little damp in the drizzle. It’s alright though, I survived.  Steve partially survived, but we are working to revive him with coffee as I type this.

All in all it was a pretty fucking fantastic day.  Anyhow.  740 miles to go to Key west and two days left to do it.  Catch you guys later.

Looking out off the side of Cherohala Skyway

The same

Some Douche along the Cherohala Skyway

The scene I woke up too looking out of my hammock this morning

While at the Dragon I picked up a couple of these bad boys.  I am typically against stickers, but I feel like this is a good mascot for Jade.  Most people will just think it’s a dragon, but those who know, know that means Jade has conquered The Dragon.

[wherethehellishomco]

Made it to Hamburg State Park, Georgia. Not any cell service here so I will post tomorrow! Have a good night y'all

[wherethehellishomco]

Day 1 in the bag

535.3 miles in 11 hours 24 minutes. Fort Wayne, Indiana to Deals Gap, North Carolina

Rain, Ferry let downs, hillbillies with gingivitis,  twisties, and The Dragon. It was a good day.

Steve was broken in and I was re introduced to long distance riding with one hell of a long day. We got cracking this morning and rode out the pouring rain and 40 degree temperatures in northern Indiana until it gave way to sunshine and warmth.

Over the border into Kentucky and we headed for the Valley View Ferry, the longest operating public works in the country. This two car paddle boat ferry has been operating since before Kentucky was a state. It crosses 250' across the Kentucky River.  Well, normally it does, but when we arrived today the ferry ramp  gate was securely chained shut and the ferry was quietly anchored to the other bank without a soul in sight.  Well it looks like we need to find another way across the river and on to The Dragon.

Cruising down US-27 we wound our way through the back hills of Kentucky and Tennessee. Running into such fine folks as the gum disease riddled man in Tennessee that raped our ears at the gas station with stories of his house arrest and jokes about the differences between Yankees and Damn Yankees. We also then got to watch him start his truck as he left by letting it roll down the hill and popping the clutch. He then executed a burnout as he left that Joe Dirt would've been proud of.

Continuing on we drove some amazing twisties on into Tennessee. As we got within 20 miles of our destination for the day we were spent and ready to be off the bikes but our gps's said that we still had an hour twenty to go. How is that possible with only 20 miles left?  It must be wrong.  We wound our way to our place for the night where we would stay and rest before tackling The Dragon the next day. The Dragon is US-129 through Tennessee and North Carolina. It's arguably the best driving road in the US. Once we got within 11 miles of our place the road got tight and twisty. REALLY tight and twisty. It was intense!  Especially for two guys that had been on bikes for 11 hours already today. It was fun, but our mental state was not sharp enough to really push it in the hairpins or switchbacks.

Once we arrived at our place, Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort, we unpacked and went further south on 129 for some food. Carving through the woods on the hot spring night was awesome. It was awesome, but the road seemed much more tame than the road in was. I thought The Dragon was supposed to be hard, but this was simpler than what we already did. Hmm, well it must be further up.

Once we had some food in us we came back to the resort and sat around the fire with a couple on a Goldwing that looked like it was out of Tron. In the conversation we asked how far up the dragon was. "It starts right here," he said as he pointed at the road in front of the resort. Wait....is the dragon north or south of Deals Gap?  "It's north," he replied.

Silence...Silence.

Did you just realize what we did? Yup. We rode a  gigantic day, were destroyed mentally and physically, and ended it by riding The Dragon without even knowing we were riding The Dragon. Go figure.

I have to say, it is nice to be back on the road on Jade again. After the first couple hundred miles I settled in and felt right at home again. Leaning back on my dry bag and rocking out to some Zeppelin brought back memories of my trip last year. I really do enjoy traveling on motorcycle more than most things.  I'm happy to say that I think Steve is into it as well. He was a little sore at the end of the day, but generally pumped at what we did today and looking forward the the continued travel.  I think this is going to be a successful trip.

Well it's late and we have some riding in the twisties to do tomorrow before the rain comes, so it's off to sleep I go

Night all!  Some pictures below!

The Tree of Shame outside our room at the bottom of the Dragon

Hanging o-u-t at the Tail of the Dragon.  Actually the name of a store at the end of the dragon.  

More

Somewhere in Kentucky

The Whole Tree of Shame

The ferry. . . . the closed ferry. . . . GRRRR

[wherethehellishomco]

Rise and Shine Fucker; Time to Roll

Welp, off we go.  It’s Just before 8 in the morning and it’s time to get a move on.  I will post a regular post tonight, but I know a good chunk of you are gear guys and want to know what is new or different in packing this time.

The Camping Gear:

Not Carrying tent, sleeping bag, or ground cover.  It’s all hammock this time.  

Added a structural ridge line to my hammock (google it)

Now carrying a Rain fly for my hammock as well.  

I have started to use Loop Alien’s for all my hammock rigging.  These things are AMAZING. Check them out here http://www.loopalien.com 

Not carrying nearly as many clothes

Added a cast iron skillet.  The extra weight is worth it to not have to cook on the crappy aluminum camping mess kit.

Jade:

I got rid of the Puig Touring Screen and added this MRA Vario Touring Screen.  It is big and ugly, but it ACTUALLY puts the air above my shoulders, where the Puig put the air near my stomach.

I stopped using the cramp buster and put on a cheap-o throttle lock.  It is so weird to cruise with your right hand off the bars, but it helps with fatigue quite a bit

I added spools/frame sliders on the back axel.  Doesn’t effect the ride, but it is nice in the garage.

I’ve put an additional 5,000 miles on her since the end of the trip to now. October 1 to April 27.  Not too bad for an Indiana winter.  On the contrary I’ve only put 1,000 miles on my car.

The Riding Gear

Added a Sena SMH-10 helmet comm.  SOOOO AWESOME.  Bluetooth to my phone, I can have full conversations with the mic in helmet and earbuds in helmet.  I can listen to music and I can have intercom conversations with Steve as we ride!  I can also torture him with my music.  Prepare yourself Steve.  It’s about to be a week of nothing but ‘Britney Bitch’  Just kidding. . . .  .kind of.

I carry 2 sets of gloves now.  Riding all winter taught me that gloves are important.  Along with my trusty Icon leather gloves I now also have a pair of wind/waterproof Fly gloves.  

I also upgraded to a Pinlock visor. . another product of winter riding.  It is essentially a second piece of acrylic that snaps inside your visor, thus creating an insulated layer of air like a double pane window.  Now, no more fogging up my visor with my breath. Very helpful in the rain when you don’t want to have your visor open.

Some pictures below.  Alright ya’ll, time to heat up some rubber.

[wherethehellishomco]

Here We Go Again

Well, the time has come to head out on the open road again.  Spring has sprung, trees are awakening, the smell of cut grass is starting to fill the air and make me sneeze.  Life is completely different now than it was before.  My life and mental state is much more stable this time around, so I’m not sure if I’m going to have any revolutionary moments like last trip, but I am sure at the very least it will be a good reset for the soul.

This time around I am doing things a little differently.  

Much shorter this time.  I’m only going to be on the road for a week.  One quarter of the time I did last time and a little bit less than half of the miles cruised before.  Even though I loved traveling for so long last time I have to admit, regardless of how many new friends I made along the way I did start to feel a little isolated and lonely as I pushed home.

That brings me to the next big difference.  I’m not going alone this time.  I am making the trip with my buddy Steve on his Harley.  It will be interesting to see how this goes and how many times we shut off the comm’s and say at the next gas stop that the battery must have died when in reality we were just trying to be alone in our heads as the other yaps about the scenery. Seriously though, I’m sure having a travel companion will make the rough days that much easier and the smooth days that much more enjoyable.  It’s his first big two wheeled trip too, so be gentle on him.  ;)

It’s funny how the texts from him as he packs remind me of me last time when it was my first trip.  I was worried about what I might need and completely overpacked after redoing it a hundred times the week of.  This time around I just started and finished leisurely packing up Jade (my bike’s name for those of you new or who don’t remember), much lighter than last time I might add, less than 12 hours before we leave.

So where to? Well, as the compass on my tank bag above states, we are headed south. Heading to the southern most point in the Continental United States, Key West.  Aside from two nights in the keys we will be camping the whole week.  You can see a rough plan of our route at https://trips.furkot.com/ts/xJQIso The overnights generically put in a hotel, that’s how they make their money.  But rest assured it’s hammock camping the whole way.

For those too lazy to click, I’ll put the map below.

Well, it’s off to bed. An 8 am meet-up is the kickoff for this great adventure. I plan on the daily posts just like before.  I will catch you all tomorrow night from Deals Gap, NC.

[her-two-wheels-deactivated20210]

Do you have a big road trip planned for this year?

Nope! Not a big road trip fan.

[wherethehellishomco]

Key west in May, Seattle to Indiana in August and the Baja Coast in Mexico in November!!! Can't fucking wait.