A bit of a late start. I have a bit of a cold and decided to sleep in some to combat it a little before I rolled out. Dexter is packed up and ready to go. Will be rolling out in about 15 minutes or so all the way to gas station.
Because it is still hurricane season and well, it’s 2020, I decided to check the Weather Channel’s website to see if anything was brewing that might impact my travel. Well, it is yet another hurricane in Caribbean headed towards Cancun, Mexico and then into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico….well that’s not good.
Hurricane Delta is forecasted to grow into a Cat 3 hurricane and then weaken to Cat 2 before making landfall October 9th somewhere between Louisiana and Florida. Of course storm strength, timing and path can change greatly still.
Firstly, I have the luxury of adjusting my route and timing if needed to avoid the effects of a hurricane. My thoughts and prayers for well being go out to those who live along the Gulf who do not have this luxury.
With regard to Hurricane Delta, I will not be approaching north of the forecasted possible landfall area until October 14th at which time Delta should be well to the northeast and maybe just some lingering rain and thunderstorms to contend with. I will continue to monitor the weather as stated at the start of this post….it is still hurricane season and well, it’s 2020.
USA South 2020 kicks off this coming Wednesday October 7th, 2020 in the morning. Dexter is packed less my tent and a few other things (water, sleeping bag, etc) that will be loaded Wednesday morning right before launch.
Starting with my last trip, USA West 2020, I started traveling with a Garmin inReach Explorer Satellite Communicator. I started using this device for 3 reasons. 1. If I have a life threating event take place in the middle of nowhere, I can use this device for SOS response pretty much anywhere in the world without the need for cell service. 2. I can communicate via satellite using SMS text messages and coordinate help if I have a mechanical issue and to communicate with friend and family. 3. To share and record my location and journey in near real time with other.
To follow my progress during USA South 2020, Click Here to open the Garmin inReach tracker webpage.
Here is the trip plan again for Day 1
My USA South 2020 Motorcycle Trip kicks off one week from today on Wednesday October 7th, 2020. Dexter has some additional upgrades, main bags are packed, servicing on Dexter is done, campsites and rooms are reserved, and everything is green for launch.
USA South 2020 – Georgia Move is my one way motorcycle trip starting in Ramona, California and ending in Douglasville, Georgia. At the end of the trip, I will be flying once again from Atlanta back to Los Angeles to wrap things up in California for the final move. My wife De’Andra and my son, Tristan, will fly from Los Angeles to Atlanta while I drive our embattled Volkswagen Tiguan across country (same route De’Andra and I drove our Chevy Volt and Kia Soul over this last Labor Day weekend),
I am planning a fairly leisurely pace taking ten days to travel 2,984 miles (let’s just round that up a bit and call it 3,000 miles, about half the distance of the USA West 2020 trip earlier this year), of which 139 miles will consist of riding the loop of the Twisted Sisters in Texas. 3 nights during the trip I will be staying in motel rooms and 6 nights I will be camping (the last night of the trip I will be at our new home in Douglasville). The first two nights I will be staying in motels to avoid possible very chilly nights as I will be riding through the high country of Arizona and New Mexico. I wont be staying in a motel again until day 9 in Selma, Alabama mainly just because by that time I will most certainly need to wash the road stink off of me.
Continue reading
Shortly before sunrise, De’Andra and I headed East again from Dallas on Interstate 20 under the cover of darkness and a wet fog. It looked liked it had rained the dew was so think. After a quick pitstop in Waskom, TX for a quick hello to De’Andra’s pops, we rolled through Louisiana and descended into the river valley and crossed the mighty Mississippi river into the state of Mississippi. Our planned gas stop was just a few miles into Mississippi at a town called Edwards.
Continue readingStarted the day heading East on US Highway 70 through the every hyper diligent U.S. Border Patrol Check point where he asked where I was from, where I was going, why is there so much stuff in my car, do I know the person in the car behind, and am I a US citizen. Good grief. Turns out they asked DeAndra the same questions to see if our stories matched. Awe, the life experiences near the southern border where the constitution doesn’t matter (but I digress)
Ok, so blogging on the road in real time proved to be too difficult with the hours packed into actually driving. Once stopped for the day, focus was then on getting food, washing up, and resting to gear up for the next day’s slog of driving. So, like my motorcycle trips, the remainder of the drive from Ramona, California to Douglasville, Georgia will be posted in Retrospect.
Eating glorious Subway with DeAndra 😀
I still need to continue writing about my USA West 2020 motorcycle trip, I have stalled on Day 4 (video for Day 4 is posted but not the blog post). I have a good excuse for not writing though, my wife and I successfully closed on our house in Georgia on August 14th. Since then it has been a flurry of activity flying between Southern California and Atlanta, packing, planning, etc etc. Tomorrow, September 4, 2020 we are driving two of our cars from Ramona, CA to Douglasville, GA. We are breaking the trip up into three days with only two brief detours.
Continue readingSo there has been a slight pause in my blog posts and YouTube videos. I have not blogged for USA West 2020 Day 4 yet (it’s coming). That last couple of weeks have been crazy as my wife and I have been working on the mortgage process for our soon to be new home. Actually as I am writing this, I am on a plane bound for Atlanta. The closing is scheduled for late afternoon tommorow. Then I fly back to San Diego on Sunday.
Blog posts should resume this weekend (may have some time to kill) or next week. Stay tuned
Wanderlust Lyfe 