Getting around
This is more a travelling and planing blog so if you are looking for my daily life, you’ll have to look somewhere else :)Orlando
Today I had to drop of the bike 😦 I then directly went to Orlando, I drive of approximately 300 km. Straight roads as always, hard to stay awake 😉
In Orlando X-mas has arrived 🙂
I arrived at my hotel early afternoon and I spent some quality time at pool side looking at the sun. Tonight i met an ex student of mine, Mersina. She is living in Orlando nad we had dinner at Cheesecake Factory and were talking of old times. Very nice. Sha also invited me to her husbands gig on monday evening. Really looking forward to this.
West to East – last day on bike :(
I’m back in Miami, just for the night to drop off the bike. Tomorrow I’ll go north to Orlando.
The drive today was very Sunny, I have a severe sun burn om my lips and nose. Driving south the whole day with the sun in my eyes was beautiful though. To find a road with at least one or two bends I drove via Tampa. And I ended up in the florida orange plantation. The roads where smaller but still very straight. Next time on a bike in USA will therefore not be in Florida.
This morning I woke up by the sun, it was a stunning view. The few clouds than fastly disappeared and I hit the road aiming for Miami. On my way to Miami I stopped in a town in the middle of nowhere. As I drew through I just realized that this small town was my idea of USA. College, football filed, small shopping centre and lots of petrol stations and fast food restaurants. I stopped
some western-like shops to make a picture of me on the bike. I think the surroundings speaks for themself. (I cropped this pic for you to se me on the bike a bit bigger)
Unfortunately I forgot to put in the put in the support – I’ll have to correct that in Photoshop later 😉
Cool(d) day
Today winter arrived in Florida. Temperatures dropped to below 20 degrees. I’m glad I got a leather jacket. Luckily summer returns for weekend. Today I lost my keys to the bike. But very remarkably I found them again. I had to drive back for an hour my last stop and I found them on the place I last parked. It’s a bit tricky with the Harley, it has no ignition key so you can drive it without any key. You just need the key to lock it. I was very happy, you can imagine, and I sang the whole way back to St Petersburg.
Still it has been a nice ride. approaching St Petersburg is quite thrilling going over a new bridge. It was very windy but the view was breathtaking. I couldn’t stop to take any pictures but I found one on the web.
Right now I’m watching Antikrundan, the US version. Here you really can realize the different age perspective America compared to Europe slash Sweden. The TV show is a lot about thing from the last century.
I’m staying 2 meters from the Mexican Gulf. A small hotel and a nice room, but it is very off. At least I can’t find anything exciting around here.
Key West to Everglades
Today has been ups and downs. I had to leave Key West early to manage to stay out of rain. That went well, I could always find a gas station to fins shelter. Some rain was really impressing, thunder etc. Then I had to spend 2 hours in Florida City to fix my GPS-problem. All this made me miss some attractions.
I am now starting to get to know my bike a little better. I feel more secure and manage for instance to do U-turns without looking to bad. And there has been some U-turns today. But U-turns are almost the only turns I make. The roads lack them completely.
If you know how I like to drive you will realize that this is not my kind og bike riding. But I now understand why my friend Kim makes funny faces when I want to drive a gravel road. Anyway, the Harley is very confortabe but my legs are too long. To stretch out I will move back on the passenger seat 🙂
But it is fan to drive!
This night I ended up in a small place in Everglades. I’m almost alone in the Hotel, it is totally of season. I don’t mind, the owners are nice and I ended up in the Hotel bar. The restaurant is closed so I had to drive 6 miles to the very famous (?) Iron Rhino
A very american bar where the local bikers come together. This night though, I was the only one with 2-wheel. I wanted something to eat and they had a lot to choose from as long it came with french fries. Most of all burgers, but I got a greek kebab kind of thing. The bartender went crazy as I told him I was from Sweden. Great he ment and said that his favourite music is Swedish. Nowadays that is very possible, Abba, Roxette, etc. But I didn’t know a single band. He is a metal fan…
After a nice ride back I’m know sitting in the lobby updating my blog.
Garmin is dead long live TomTom
It was a mistake to write earlier that I was so satisfied with my GPS. Yesterday it started to cause problem and this morning it died! I still have som warranty on it so I don’t want to get a new one. But I must have one for the rest of my trip. It is so much easier when you are driving alone.
My Garmin is waterproof, it needs to be, ’cause of the bike. I A new waterproof costs a lot. But I found a TomTom for just $99. And I made it waterproof!
Another point
One thing I often come across on my recently made journeys are different kind of points. One year ago I stood on Cape Point in South Africa. Today I reached the southernmost point of USA.
I spent the night as a proper tourist, walking Duval Street up and down visiting different bars and music places, some quite nice, others I left at once. One nice place was a big bar called Sloppys.
Then I stumbled across a bunch of people dancing/walking (?) Linedance. The first time for me seeing it live. Kind of strange, I prefer to hold on to someone while I’m dancing.
I don´t want to pay WordPress for the possibility of displaying video on my blog so you will have to click on the links above and watch the clips o youtube.
Last time I was here (some 15 years ago) it rained all the time and I had to look after a class of students. I’m glad I decided to come back, It is more fun being able to have a beer or so and not going to bed too early.
This place is really very nice, I remember saying that the last time. Warm and nice nights, lots of fine food and art exhibitions. The wooden houses are charming and looks, especially in the night, very cosy.
Key West on a Harley Davidson
This will be a short one, I just arrived in Key West. The drive down here was pretty good. I didn’t get a red bike as on the picture below, mine is black. Quite a change to my own BMW. The weather is getting even hotter, about 30 degrees centigrade.
My US mobile
Because I have a company phone I can’t use it on vacation. Therefore I got a US number. Feel free to contact me on
9546709575
If you are in Sweden it will be +19546709575
I look forward hearing from you 🙂
New ride and shopping
I went streight to the rental company this morning to get an other set of wheels. And it was no problem. I got a Chrysler 300 instead. Very nice and more comfortable then the other one.
The I went to the motorcycle rental place to book i bike for the next 4 days. Originally I was planning to go from New Orleans to Miami by bike but I missed the cheap one way offer. It’s quite expensive to rent at motorcycle in the US but there was an affordable midweek offer. I will pick up the Harley Davidson Electra Glide tomorrow and set off for Key West.
This morning on my way to Miami I got my first look at Miami skyline. It is said to by one of the most spectacular skyscrapers skylines after NYC, Chicago and LA. It was nice.
It is very easy to understand the environmental problem USA is suffering under. The traffic is really heavy. As I drove back from Ft Lauderdale this night the traffic vas heavy.
Do you know Ida?
And that is not the sister of Emil but a tropical Strom coming up towards northwest of Florida. She makes it a bit windy here in Miami as you can see in the pictüre of the Art Deco district. The storm will luckely not hit me but I will suffer from some rain and wind.
Anyway, I easily found my hotel. I cheated of course by having a navigator. Nowadays I can’t imagine how I survived without one. My ride is a disappointment, a big America sedan. I booked a two door Dodge. I will try to get it today, I was too tired yesterday ta start arguing about this.
The Hotel is nice and clean and very central. I had no problem yesterday finding the nice bars and restaurants in the area and it just 100 meters to the beach.
The beach is empty due to the storm but I can imagine sun, sand and hot water…
Finally i pic from my hotel. Now I’m leaving for some shopping and trying to get another car. I will head up to Ft Lauderdale to a big Mall with lots of factory outlet stores.
Getting around 