Iggy the Biker

Huntsville Trip

03.5.2009 | 10:50 am | Goldwing

One advantage to being unemployed is that I can take off and ride any time I want to. So I did.

I decided to ride from Orlando to Huntsville, Alabama to see my daughter, her husband and the grandbabies, Troy and Colton.

I left on Tuesday morning about 0400. The temperature was about 43 when I left the house. I put on my leather jacket with my rain suit over top, and a pair of leather gloves. Even with the heated grips, my hands got really cold, so by the time I reached the first rest stop on I-4, I had to stop and change gloves.

As I rode up I-95 towards Jacksonville, the pre-dawn temperature was slowly dropping. 41… 39… 37. I picked up I-10 and headed West towards I-75.

36…34…31…by the time I reached Lake City Florida and pulled off to gas up, the temperature had reached 28 and I was really feeling it. At this point I was wishing I could afford a complete set of Gerbings heated liners and gloves. I had the seat heater on and warmed my fingers by sitting on them. I must have looked like a big, safety yellow pervert with my hand between my legs!!!

At the mini-mart, I chatted with the lady behind the counter. She was a widow and her husband used to ride and work on bikes before he died years back. She told me that her husband used to ride in all kinds of weather too, and told me the coffee was on the house.

I got back on the road and as I headed up I-75, the temp started to rise and a few hours later it was up to 55, which made it bearable.

I stopped for gas in Pell City Alabama, which is a bit East of Birmingham. The girl that worked there was amazed that I had ridden that far on a motorcycle. She and her husband have a VTX-1300, and she said she could only ride for an hour or so before her butt got sore! When I told her I was on a Goldwing, she just smiled and said, “Ahh…really comfy, eh?”

The rest of the trip up was uneventful, and I made it to the kids place about 1500. My son in law met me at the visitor’s center for Redstone, I went through security, and chatted with the security folks a bit. Being as it is a military base, you have to wear full gear, full fingered gloves, and a yellow safety vest or you can’t ride a motorycle on the base. I had it all so I was given my pass and we headed for the house.

It was chilly and rained almost every day so riding locally was pretty much out of the question. I spent time with the grandbabies and they stayed home from day care so they could play with their PawPaw. (me, for those of you NOT from the South)

I wanted to be warmer on the trip back, so we went to the local Cycle Gear store and I picked up a pair of cold weather riding gloves and a pair of leather chaps. The chaps were on sale for 50 bucks, and the textile riding pants were much more expensive, so since I am on a budget, I got the chaps.

I started watching the weather, and it looked like I needed to ride home on Saturday, since a cold front with snow was due to roll in on Sunday. It was sprinkling a little bit when I left Saturday morning around 1030, but not too bad. I had my leathers on, with the rain suit over top and I was toasty warm. The temp was 45 as I left Huntsville, and it continued to sprinkle until I got close to Birmingham, and then it cleared up, but remained cloudy.

At my first gas stop, I shed the rain suit for a bit, since it was warming up into the lower 60’s.

Later on, the weather band radio was advising that there was probably going to be some showers after I passed Atlanta and got into southern Georgia, and it sounded like the portion of I-10 from I-75 to Jacksonville was probably going to be rainy the entire way. I opted to take 75 all the way South towards Tampa, and cut across on SR-44 by Wildwood, back to Lake Mary.

I made it as far as roughly Valdosta Georgia before the rain started again, so I stopped, got gas, and put the rain suit back on. Since there is still construction on 75 (duh, when isn’t there construction?), there were a few rough spots. I was passed by a semi during one of those spots, and I got the pleasure of being drenched by a “wall of water” as the semi passed me. I had forgotten to cover my satellite radio, which is not water proof, so I don’t know if it is going to work or not. (I have it sitting in a warm place, drying out now.)

I found it kind of cool that, in one of the construction areas, there was a flashing sign that said, “Caution Motorcycles. Uneven lanes ahead.” I don’t know if that was due to it being bike week or not, but I thought it was a nice touch that they specifically mentioned bikes.

I saw a handful of people pulling bikes on trailers. No, none of the bikes on the trailers were Goldwings, and we all know what kind of bikes they were, so let’s not go there…

After I got away from the rain, it really warmed up and reached 75 at one point. Once I got past the I-10, it stayed dry for the rest of the trip.

I stopped at a rest stop to grab a snack from the vending machines. A woman and her two kids asked me if I had just ridden through the last bunch of rain, and she was amazed that I had. Her kids thought it was way cool, and they gave me high fives!!!

The rest of the trip was uneventful, and I pulled into the garage at about 2145.

Overall, I continue to be impressed at how sweetly the Goldwing handles the highways. The smooth, silky power and the stable handling makes it a dream to ride, especially for long distances.

The boys loved their Paw Paw’s motorcycle.