Florida Loop 2026 – End Of The Journey – Day 8 Part 8 – April 11, 2026

In this last video of Florida Loop 2026, I ride from Barnesville, Georgia to just outside of Fairburn, Georgia. By the time I arrived in Fairburn, the sun had set and it was now dark. I am still using an old GoPro Hero 5 Black, which does not record well in low light, so I ended the recording here.

Florida Loop 2026 Summary

Florida Loop 2026 was my first tour with Bruce, my 2025 Harley-Davidson Pan America, and was the first tour with much of my gear as well. The only gear that was not new were my gloves and my tent (and my GoPro). Everything else was new and this was the maiden voyage and test run of my configuration in preperation of my Alaska 2028 Tour.

While mainy details on this trip did not go as planned, overall the trip was successfull and the primary goals of this trip were accomplished:

1. Maiden tour with Bruce – test bike configuarion and equipment
2. Mainden tour with most gear and equipment – validate equipment and identify changes that may be necessary.
3. Tour the state of Florida and checking off another of the 50 states I have ridden a motorcycle in.
4. Visit a portion of the Everglades
5. See some Aligators
6. Ride the Scenic Loop Road in Big Cypress National Preserve
7. Ride the Overseas Highway to Key West
8. Camp (though far less camping accomplish than planned)

What Didn’t Go As Planned?

Weather and travel times were the two major factors that necessitated a change of plans during the tour. On this 8 day Florida Loop Tour, I encounterd rain on 6 of the 8 days, with some of it quite heavy. While I can setup camp and camp in the rain, if I don’t have to I won’t. As a result, I only camped 2 nights of the planned 5 nights of camping.

Miscalculated Travlel Time was another significant factor that caused me to cancel camping on the evening of Days 2 and 7 (though there was also significant rain during the night on Day 2). Traveling just about anywhere near the coast (Gulf and Florida East Coast) the travel was slow due to low speed limits in many areas and traffic.

Motorcycle and Gear wise everything worked well as expected. I did find that my drybag is a bit too wide for my preference prohibiting access to my paniers when the bag is strapped on. I have ordered a narrower bag but still providing 40 liters of storage (Nelson Rigg Hurricane). It fits better between the paniers, though I have not loaded all my gear yet to verify everything fits.

I did replace my Pan America OEM seat with the Harley-Davidson Sundowner seats. Whiel the OEM seat worked, I think the Sunddowner seat will provide more comfort and less stiffness in my formerly injured right hip, I have not racked up enogh miles yet to make a verdict on this.

Other than a few minor tweaks here and there, I would say my Alaska 2028 loadout is 98% validated.

What’s Next?

Fly-In Ride Home May 8th – 10th, 2026

I did a Fly-In Ride Home trip from Orlando / Deland Florida to pickup Scarlett, my 2006 Honda VTX 1300C on May 8th-10th. The ride home was just under 500 miles split over two days (crazy heavy rain on day one, some posts and videos coming soon).

Camping Trip with Tristan – May 22nd – 25th, 2026

Over Memorial Day Weekend, Tristan and I rode Bruce to West Point Lake Georgia and camped over the weekend and attempted (and failed) to catch some fish LOL. I will create a blog post about this soon. (pictures are Facebook already).

North Georgia Ride June 19th – 21st, 2026

Tristan and I will be riding from Douglasville, Georgia to Suches, Georgia and staying in a small cabin (Two Wheels of Suches) and will use Suches as our base camp and ride some the roads of the North Georgia Mountains.

No Additional Trips Planned for 2026

After the North Georgia ride, there are no additonal touring trips (overnight trips) planned for the remainder of 2026. I will be starting another 2nd part time job again soon (still waiting on details) to help pay for all this stuff I have been buying as of late, and to take some fiscal pressure off Alaska 2028 trip (Bookings start in June 2027).

I will likely do another camping / touring trip with Bruce over Memorial Day Weekend 2027 (just me this time). This will be another validation test prior to Alaska 2028. RIght now, I am thinking south Georgia I have not deciced 100% yet.

Knoxville & North Carolina Tour with DeAndra June 17th – 20th, 2027

This will be the first tour with Scarlett, 2006 Honda VTX 1300C, (other than Scarlett Homecoming – Ride home from DeLand, Florida.) DeAndra and I will ride from Douglasville, GA to Knoxville, TN and stay in a hotel. There are a few things we have on our list to visit in Knoxville. From Knoxville we will ride into North Carolina and stay another night in a motel / hotel and ride some of the mountain roads in North Carolina to include the Cherhola Skyway.

Labor Day Weekend 2027 – Bruce – Desination To Be Determined

I will take Bruce on another extended weekend trip Labor Day Weekend 2027. I have not decided if this will be a moto camp trip or not. Likewise, I have not determined a destination yet. This will be another Alaska 2028 test trip as wel.

Alaska 2028

Unlikely there will be any more touring trips after Labor Day weekend 2027 until Alaska 2028. I will need the time to prepare and conserve funds as well. However, I will try to get in as much local riding as I can during that time frame. As of now, Alaska 2028 is scheduled to kickoff on June 16, 2028 and end on August 1st, 2028.