4/15/2014 - Florida Keys to Richmond, VA

So here I am, sitting in the Tampa Bay BMW dealership feeling shame.

I've approached maintenance with vigor, enthusiasm and relentless attention to times and dates; and now, I'm 600 miles over on my oil change and about to be over a thousand miles over on my 18,000 service.  The 18,000 mile service is the big one...as I was told while I talked to Jason at BMW Tampa this morning, when I tried to schedule it for this afternoon.  I said I could be there by 2, and I was; despite the fact that I was calling him from SW Miami at the time.  He told me they needed A WHOLE DAY to wrench on my bike for that service.  It's going to have to wait till I get to my home dealer when I can leave it.  Besides, there is an old adage about distance riding - no major service before you take on a long trip.  1,000 miles from home qualifies as long distance (relatively).  So, here I sit, feeling shame.


I left this morning with a rather bleak outlook no how this day was going to shape up.  The weather guesser was forecasting thunderstorms with rain.  I don't care about the rain part of that statement (mostly).  The system below was supposed to march into Florida in the afternoon.  The big question was whether or not I'd make it across alligator alley before the thunderstorms hit.  If I got trapped there,  I'd be totally exposed as there isn't any place to pull over and stop.  I suppose I could pull over and throw up a quick tent and ride it out; but, they probably call this alligator alley for a reason.  Things could get bad.

As it worked out, this ride went very well.  Being 5 mph over the speed limit bought me my gas stops without the time penalty, and I didn't get any precipitation until coming into Tampa.  At that point, my GoPro had enough for the day, and that's a shame because I would have liked to have the video of me going over the Skyway bridge into a Thunderstorm.  They have these cool warning sings about high winds on the bridge and even have an AM radio station so you can here a message that says there are high winds on the bridge.  I donned some rain gear and went for it.  Strategery is my thing, so I found an F-150 and ran along it's leeward side.  That broke most of the gusts and made for a nice ride.  Damn you GoPro, you weren't there when I needed you.

Tonight, dinner with a friend and then off in the morning to head up to PA.  Hopefully, I'll have some time soon to put together all the video I've shot.