Oct 28 – Fort Lauderdale, Florida
My fundraising posse – John Russell, Deblyn Russell, Zoe Celeste Lasche-Russell, Geoff Dates, Theresa White, Brennan Dates, Oscar Wijtenburg, Stephen White (Photographer)
My Dad and I
Zoe and some guy with a crane coming out of his neck
The National Marine Party was great. As always Dean and all the employees at National throw the best party of the year. We ended up raising $3,000 dollars that night for the National Parkinson Foundation. I want to send my thanks and appreciation to everyone in the yachting community who pitched in to help find a cure for Parkinsons Disease.
Thank you so much.
Dean… What can I say? Thanks for all your help with this ride and fundraiser. We raised some money and made some important contacts for down the road. My friends and family had a great time. Thanks man.
Nov 3 - Miami, Florida to Melbourne, Florida – 250 miles on I-95
I left the North Miami area around three. Took 95 up to Melbourne and spent the night at a Red Roof Inn. I ate a pint of Hagen Daz Ice cream, it was crème brulee flavoured. Pretty uneventful.
Nov 4 – Melbourne, Florida to Pensacola, Florida – 500 miles on I-10
Picked up I 10 and started the run West through the panhandle.
Dennis Scott and his BMW
Met Dennis Scott on the road. He was also riding a Beemer. I pointed to the stickers on the side of my bike describing the trip while we were underway. He lifted up his riding jacket while we were doing 70 and pointed to his shirt pocket “BMW Mechanic”. We pulled over at the next off ramp and discussed bikes for a while. I had to get some more miles in before I called it a day or I would have taken him up on his offer of a place to stay.
I-10 is beautiful tonight especially with the bike running like a long distance race horse. Threw on the heated vest after the sun went down, nice and toasty combined with the heated grips
Tons of anti abortion billboards,” There is a heartbeat by the 18 th day”
Quote of the day “It’s like wiping before you poo… It just don’t make no sense!” Restaurant patron at a nearby table.
Nov 5 – Pensacola, Florida to Houston, Texas – 500 miles on I-10
I-10 West through the Pan-handle
Met a guy at a gas station on a Heritage Soft Tail. He was delivering the bike from Tampa, Florida for a friend of his. We rode to New Orleans where he split off to go to Baton Rouge. New Orleans has some problems still for sure, just from what I could see from I-10. Stop complaining and clean up your city!
Its tricky doing my business at rest stops with these padded pants and riding boots on. It just don’t make no sense.
BUGS! My helmet and bike get coated. Some days are worse than others. Tonight I had a huge one explode on the lower seam where my visor meets my helmet. The seal was compromised! None got on my face, close though.
I need to get my 6,000 mile service here in Houston, before I hit the border. I called ahead and Scheduled for the 9 th. Guess I’m early.
Got in after dark, tired and hungry. Stayed at the weirdest hotel around the airport in Houston. The Palace Inn. It had a black light on the wall that displayed some clouds and a few stars when the regular lights were turned off. What the…. Lots of mirrors. The type of place that when I asked the clerk for a room for the night and not for an hour or two, he had to get a manager.
Nov 6 - Houston
My ass is sore! Two five hundred mile days back to back and I was hurting. Laid low for the day. Wired up the video camera to my left Piaa head light
After looking around town for some cheaper digs, I came back to the Palace Inn. Ahh my sleazy home. . I ate at a Chinese buffet that was right next door until even my esaphogus was full. Twice
Nov 7 - Houston
BMW Motorcycles of North Houston
I drove up to BMW Motorcycles of North Houston (Woodlands) and had a meeting with the General Manager Brian Creighton. We had a long talk about my trip, why I’m doing it, and simply about Parkinsons Disease. It turns out that he is very familiar with the disease and wants to help me by donating my 6,000 mile service! In addition to the donation he has posted my event on his webpage. http://www.bmwmch.com/event_calendar.asp After speaking with Don (great guy, really helpful) the Service Manager, he said we could push the service up a day to get me out of Dodge a little sooner.
Robert Cline from the Horizons Unlimited (www.horizonsunlimited.com) Houston Community and I touched base and he helped line up a free place for me to stay for the night. So I was off to spend the night at a fellow rider’s house, Dan Greenlee and family. They were really nice to let me drift in off the road, into their house and onto their couch for the night.
Dan mentioned some guys headed to Terlingua, TX on the 9 th to do some dessert riding. He said that he would bring me by Houston Motorcycle Exchange (www.houstonmotorcycleexchange) in the morning for some introductions.