Florida Loop 2026 – Day 1
Florida Loop 2026 is the not so clever name for my motorcycle touring trip, riding a loop of the state of Florida…. hence the name of the trip
Florida Loop 2026 Total Miles = 2,261
Day 1 miles totaled 331 miles riding from Douglasville, Georgia through Montgomery, Alabama and ending the day in Pensacola, Florida camping in Big Lagoon State Park.
First Day of the First Tour with Bruce
Bruce is my 2025 Harley-Davidson Pan America. Today was the first day of the first tour on this motorcycle. As such, I was not 100% locked in with this motorcycle yet with the full load, foot positions, and muscle memory of where all the hand controls are located. I had to concentrate and be deliberate with all these actions.
Nearly a Bike Drop at First Rest Stop
At my first rest stop in Alabama, I nearly dropped Bruce on the right while parking the bike next to a gas station. I did look closely at the pavement where I decided to park and did not notice the loose pea gravel on the somewhat deteriorated asphalt. After coming to a full stop and shifting the bike to my right foot to deploy the kickstand, my right boot began to slide to the right on the pea gravel, and the bike began tipping to the right with all the weight gaining momentum towards the right. A shot of adrenaline kicked in and heaved the bike back to center and shook my head in disgust for myself for not being more aware of pavement conditions. I started Bruce up and rolled forward about 3 feet and parked the bike.
Florida Loop 2026 – Alaska 2028 Test Flight
Florida Loop 2026 was not just a tour of Florida but also a test flight for the planned Alaska 2028 11K plus miles tour. This Florida tour was to test the motorcycle configuration, my riding gear, camping gear, and other equipment. The loadout for this tour consisted of everything planned for the Alaska 2028 trip.
Being a test flight, I also included some interstate to see how the motorcycle felt and handled on the interstate with full load. The only issue I ran into was while exiting Interstate 65. While decelerating on the off ramp, once I slowed to about 30mph I noticed that I was not slowing down. With the stop sign now quickly approaching, my concern increased and engaged the clutch fully and braked heavily to come to a stop. I discovered that my right hand, throttle hand, was applying too much pressure on the throttle while breaking. I need to adjust my brake lever upwards a bit to position my hand better to avoid this. I had adjusted the hand controls not long before taking the bike back into Atlanta Harley-Davidson and did not have any real ride time before getting Bruce back before this trip. Once I became aware of this issue in a not so fun way, I did not have an issue for the remainder of the trip as I purposely compensated for this issue while breaking.
Today’s ride consisted of a little bit of everything including rural two-lane highways, interstate, traffic, some rain, sketchy parking situations, sketchy situations on the highway, etc. Today’s ride did not consist of any unpaved roads, that would not happen until Day 4.
Seat Position Too Low – My Fault
As already mentioned, I did not pick up Bruce from Atlanta Harley-Davidson until two days prior to trip launch date. The bike was back in the shop for the service department to correct a mistake on a writing install I had tasked them with and to install a new rear tire for me (which they did both). However, in my haste for preparation after picking up the bike the evening of April 2nd (Trip Launch was in the morning on April 4th) I neglected to check the seat installation height. I use the seat in the high position to give myself more leg room and to reduce pressure on my right hip that gives me some grief from a motorcycle crash in August 2017.
So, I rode all of Day 1 and Day 2 folded up on the bike, and it was not until Day 3 that it occurred to me that the seat was likely in the low position (I am genius sometimes lol). However, I did not have time to correct this until the evening of Day 4, which dramatically improved the feel and comfort of the bike.
Day 1 Summary
Day 1 was a success traveling 331 Miles and not significant incident, that is a win. I did identify some needed minor configuration changes required on Bruce, namely adjusting the brake lever, and seat height.
I did notice while editing the video for Day 1 that my windscreen is set in a high position. I normally keep it in a low position to accommodate better recording with the GoPro mouthed on my chin. Unfortunately, all the video recorded for this trip was with the windscreen in a high position. So, it is what it is, I guess it gives me an excuse to revisit some of these areas again in the future….oh darn lol.
Big Lagoon Campground was not great for tent / motorcycle camping. My camping site and the others that I saw have thick and loose pea gravel filled in the entire campsite. While this is fine for campers and RV’s (which is what this campground is really configured for) it proved to be a bit challenging and unpleasant for tent camping and handling of the motorcycle on the pea gravel. Though I do understand why they had the gravel as the soil under the gravel was nothing more than fine beach like sand, which would be even worse for the motorcycle. The main issue with the pea gravel was its depth, The bike just kind of sunk into it. It was not too much trouble getting out of it, but turning around in it was a bit of a chore. Not a terrible campground and had some very nice aspects to it (bathhouse, scenery, camp host was fantastic). I have certainly camped in worse places. Fantastic campground for a camper or RV. Adequate / OK campground for motorcycle tent camping.
Wanderlust Lyfe 