It is hot. Not just the hot that makes you think of a cold beer, but the hot that make you think of going solo bobsledding except without the sled and naked!! This is the kind of “hot” mixed with 500% humidity that seems to reach down into your chest and squeeze your lungs! You walk outside an instantly begin to sweat right through your clothes. Now picture all that and try to imagine yourself in this climate, but wearing boots, jeans, a long sleeve black shirt, black gloves and a helmet while sitting on a hot motorcycle that’s riding on sun drenched asphalt…now that’s baking!

If you can’t already guess, I’m in the sunny state of Florida and have just left Adamec Harley Davidson of Jacksonville…which I’ll get to in a minute, but first let me tell you about my stay in Jacksonville, FL.

I arrived on Tuesday around noon from Savannah, GA and as I wasn’t supposed to be to Jacksonville until Wednesday so I had a little time to kill. First I needed to set up camp or find somewhere to stay. Now I’ve stayed in a few dumps before on this tour, but I think I found the ultimate dirt hole. This warm little nook was 20 dollars a night ($25 with tax) which was cheaper than the campsites way outside of town so I decided to check in. I think these places need to show you your room BEFORE you pay for it because if this had been the case I would have run outta there screaming. This was not the case…she was mine for 2 whole nights!

On entering my 8 X 8 cell I found a bed a table and a TV. The bed sheets had visible brown stains and…what I believe was a pubic hair acting as one of those greeting mints they leave for you on your pillow at nice hotels. The table was missing a leg so there was no need for a chair. The TV was twice as old as I am and the luxury of a remote, well, no room for luxury in this paradise. All of this was set upon a cracked and sandy tile floor. But the worst part was the bathroom. My superior maid service had forgotten to flush the toilet from the previous and obviously sick tenant. The sink was incrusted with an unidentifiable yellow greenish scum, but the shower…”wow” is what I remember saying out loud. It had a similar looking scum than that of the sink and the curtain was faded a spotty black at the bottom from the mold growing on it. The tiles on the shower wall were covered with scum and cracked in sporadic places while a seemly large family of ants had taken up residence somewhere near the drain. Like I said…”Wow.” The very best part of this entire experience was the girl at the front desk had mentioned something about the newly remodeled rooms throughout the motel!! They must have forgotten about # 219 which was to be my home for the next 2 days. Home sweet home.

As you can imagine I spent as little amount of time there as possible as I checked out the historic city of Jacksonville which is also the biggest city area wise in the US. I made it to the beach, but was unable to really enjoy it because I was in full biker apparel; I certainly wasn’t going to ride my big HOG through and around the city in shorts and flip flops just so I could play in the sand. I walked out onto the piers and through the shops, but had to keep popping into bars to cool down from the blistering heat (drinking water). When I mad eit back to my palace that evening I was soaked with sweat and thought I’d take a dip in the pool, but was in no way surprised to find the pool a quarter full with a filthy brown soup looking liquid dotted with leaves and branches (and even a band aid). I survived the night and made it to Adamec Harley the next day.

At the dealership I met Missy who I honestly have to say is one of the nicest and most friendly person I’ve met thus far. She took me to the dealerships event that was staged at a bar call Buffalos café. At the event she damn near introduced me to every person in sight. I must have shaken 50 hands that night. One person she got me in front of was the owner of Buffalos who surprised me and said he was going to get up on stage and announce some upcoming events and verbally plug The Patriot Tour. He surprised me again when he called me on stage. Then another surprise when he asked if I’d like to speak…what was going to do, say NO? SO I did and I think I did alright because even more people became interested in what sgoing on. The rest of the night Missy continued to introduce me to people and tried to rally more riders for our launch to Tallahassee the next day. I ended up leaving around 8:30pm and had a very nice dusk cruise back to my ant infested cell. But the day was complete and it was a success. It was a real pleasure to meet all those riders and their support and respect was more than motivating.

This morning I had my bike at Missy’s dealership for my 5,000 mile tuning service. Missy had a guy grilling “Red Neck Sausages” (which are freakin outstanding) and hamburgers. As I waited for my bike to get finished I talked with a very nice guy at the service dept. named Bob who is actually a retired US Marine. He gave me a really awesome price for the service performed…Thanks Bob! I also spoke with Lilly, she’s a radio host for Rock 105 out of Jacksonville and works closely with this dealership. We had a good chat and I’m not sure if she realized it then, but she really gave me some uplifting and motivating encouragement that will last with me for the rest of this tour. The hospitality, the size, cleanliness, variety, staff, community involvement, and Missy make Adamec Harley Davidson one of the best dealerships on the East coast and when I finish the rest…they’ll probably rank way up there on a national level. Hats off and thank you guys for everything!!

Of course the day wouldn’t be complete without getting wet. So as I was getting ready to leave it began to rain! I took shelter at a nice lady and fellow rider’s house; she likes to go by the nick name of “Oil Fingers.” I would like to thank her for helping me out and getting me to Tallahassee.

I have recently made a sign out of thick white cardboard material and a Sharpy I bought from Walgreens. It reads “I’m riding 48 states raising money for wounded vets. Help me America. Do your part at www.nationofpatriots.org.” It’s bungee corded down with the rest of my gear but plainly visible to passer bys. The response is amazing. Some people honk, some pump their fists, nod, thumbs up and even show me that their writing down the web address. Of course there are those that could careless and just want to get where there going as quickly as possible, but this only makes the positive reactions that much more uplifting and extremely encouraging. The sign actually made something happen today that really left me speechless; the impact of this event will also ride with me, but not the end of this tour, no, this will stick with me for the rest of my life.

I pulled into a gas station somewhere in Florida of Hwy 10. Called my girlfriend and stood in the beer cooler for about 10 minutes. When I walked out of the store there sitting on the dirty pavement was an older rough looking man eating one of those gas station hot dogs and had another one waiting next to him. He was sitting against the wall of the store right in front of my bike so as I approached he fired up a conversation. He told me about how he used to ride, where he was from, about his father who had passed, and his current drifting situation. He was a bit dirty, skinny, and frail looking, but he was extremely nice…he even offered me his other hotdog. I explained to him what I was doing and he seemed a bit confused or just didn’t hear me right. As I was getting ready to leave the man stood up and came over to get a better look at my bike when he walked to the backside and saw the sign I had made. He looked up at me with glassy eyes and said to me “You’re a good man for what you do.” He then reached into his pocket and tuned it inside out to reveal a single 1 dollar bill. He offered this dollar up to me with a shaky hand. Of course I refused, but he said “No, you take this dollar bill, It’s my last one, but I’ll get another. You do right by those soldiers.” I didn’t want to take it, but didn’t want to insult him. As I rode away I looked up as he was turning away from me and there on his arm was something that damn near broke my heart…it was a tattoo that read US MARINE CORE. But his gesture even though it was a single dollar was something I’ll never forget.

We all wonder why this world is so crazy and sometimes even bad. We travel through life as fast as possible until its too late and the path behind us looks like a blur. It’s no wonder that we all miss the good in people as well. The more I seem to travel, the more good I seem to find and it is reassuring, but it’s also motivating. It’s further strengthening my confidence in this country and for what it stands, but also building my faith in the people that reside within her borders as well. The phrase “United We Stand” may not be as far off as some think for it may be true that there’s Patriotism in the hearts of all Americans.

On Friday I Made my way through the morning showers over to Lexington Kentucky from Charleston Virginia. It was only 2 hours but it felt like four as it was all highway driving and the sky was pale and gray. I only had to pull over 3 times on this drive which is few compared to past travels. Eventually I landed at the Man O War Harley dealership where Eric was waiting to greet me. He was an extremely nice guy who has what most people would consider a dream job and a sweet office! Unfortunately, because of his packed schedule he was busy putting together a large event on the following day, but we did manage to work out a way that his dealership could use their local clientele to help us raise money in the next month. He then got me an unbelievable rate at a decent hotel down the street. It was Friday night in Lexington and even though it was setting the sun was out so I couldn’t help but check out the night life.

There’s some interesting people in this part of the country. Everyone seems to want to know your business once they figure out you aren’t from their part of town. They ask a lot of questions and make serious eye contact with you which makes it feel like they actually give a damn about what you might be babbling at them. Their good folks and it’s comfortable in Kentucky.

Since I left I can’t help but notice the changing accents as I travel. But it’s strange, as I go I’m subjected to a different accent for about 2-3 days and then it starts to mutate into something else. The Midwest (for me) was normal, but there seemed to be a slight drawl as I entered Indiana. Ohio seemed came back to normal, but then Pennsylvania picked up a mix between the southern drawl and that rough east cost “dropping of the R.” The missing “R” became more and more “missing as I moved north and then all but disappeared as I went through New York. The “R” slowly came back once I entered the DC area where the accent was still rough, but seemed to return to normal. I hit West Virginia and the twangy southernish mix came on strong. I met a gentleman at a gas station that I could barley understand!! Into Kentucky the accent lost it twanginess and became more distinguished sounding like everyone came out of one of those whiskey commercials. Then Tennessee and it was all southern drawl. North and South Carolina seemed to be a giant mix of all these accents as there are many tourists floating around. In fact, I came across a bunch of Wisconsin travelers. I haven’t seen a Wisconsin plate since I left Wisconsin 3 weeks ago. The first one I came across I nearly crashed my motorcycle!!
 

So, I went from Lexington KY to Knoxville TN with about 15 riders. I think they were waiting for the right time to surprise me with what was on the road ahead of us as we made our way to US HWY 129, but I knew what lurked on the horizon…The Tail of The Dragon. Or so it has been named because of it windy switch backs and hair pin turns. I had been told/warned about this treacherous drive and at last I was headed right for it. As we began it seemed like all the tails I had been told were BS, but shortly in I realized the hard way why it was infamous in the biker world.

I was on a left hand bank when I looked up and saw a road sing unlike anything I’ve seen or thought even possible. It was a yellow caution sign that you’d see anywhere in the country warning of curved roads ahead. Most that you see have an “S” shaped road in the center. Well, this one had what looked like a paperclip in the center!! I wasn’t sure what to make of it until I actually saw “it.” IT was a switchback type thing from hell and it was banked to the right. I hit it too fast and my back tire found a little sandy gravel…fishtailing through this curve I almost flew right off the road and my bike almost became part of the Tree of Shame - The Tree of Shame is a large tree on this hwy that’s adorned with parts of bikes that have crashed trying to navigate The Tail of The Dragon. - Somehow I pulled out of the fishtail and got the bike heading straight again!! That was close and it made me realize this was no joke and I had to really watch it.

Minus the near death experience and the rest of the 1.9 million hairpin turns this was a breath taking drive. If I get the chance I will do it again.

We popped out of the “Tail” and right there on the next horizon was, believe it or not, a nasty storm cloud heading right for us. It didn’t take long for my posse to disappear so they could all get home before they got wet. I don’t have this luxury and seeing as I’m no stranger to the weather and our little drive just pushed me a day ahead of schedule…I didn’t have anywhere to be just then. So I continued through, well at least until I couldn’t see 5 feet in front of me, then off the highway again! It cleared up and I was on my way.

That was Friday and Saturday, on Sunday I decided to travel down to Charleston South Caroline. I had a little free time because I wasn’t scheduled to be in Savanna Georgia until Tuesday. I rode all day in the steamy sunshine as I watched the Inland landscape turn to coastal plains.

Because of the heat all around me it smelt like hot sticky pine sap, but slowly I could smell the sea again. It is probably one of the most soothing smells I know. Every time a get a salty whiff of the sea it reminds me of the beach, a cooler of beer, good friends, and nothing to do…excellent. Even though I have none of the above with me, I still very much enjoy the smell.

As luck would have it, I hit another nasty storm that afternoon only about 3 miles from the Harley store in Charleston so I got the chance to see how they construct the undersides of their bridges in this town. By the end of this trip I might be an expert bridge engineer after all the time I spend under them!! Give me a brake!!

Charleston is a beautiful coastal city which reminded me a lot of Key West. I didn’t have much time to spend there because another storm was coming and because it attract tourists the hotel prices are ridiculous. So, a quick trip down Market St. and I was outta there and headed for Savanna around 7pm. It didn’t take long for the weather to catch up with me so I was off the hwy and into the 18 star resort that is the Peach Tree Inn.