Florida Loop 2026 | T Minus One Day

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April 3rd, 2026

Kickstand Up – April 4th, 2026

Tomorrow April 4th, 2026, I roll out on Day One on my Florida Loop 2026 Motorcycle Camping / Touring trip of Florida.  Checking another state off my bucket list to have ridden a motorcycle in all 50 states of the United States.

I will be riding Bruce with my full Alaska 2028 loadout from Douglasville, Georgia to Pensacola, Florida and Camping on Gulf for the night.  Planned Miles for Day 1 = 441 Miles.

Florida Loop 2026 Trip Plan

Day One – Pensacola, Florida = 441 Miles – Camp
Day Two – Lake City, Florida = 376 Miles – Camp
Day Three – Chokoloskee Island, Florida = 392 Miles – Motel
Day Four – Everglades National Park, Florida = 140 Miles – Camp
Day Five – Key West, Florida = 175 Miles – Hotel
Day 6 – Lake Okeechobee / Indiantown, Florida = 280 Miles – Camp
Day 7 – Lake City, Florida = 354 Miles – Camp
Day 8 – Douglasville, Georgia = 328 Miles – Home

Total Planned Miles = 2,486 Miles

Alaska 2028 – Bike Configuration & Loadout Test

The primary objective of Florida Loop 2026 other than exploring Florida and checking another state off my bucket list goal is to test Bruce’s configuration and loadout for my planned upcoming Alaska 2028 Motorcycle Tour.

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Bruce Status Update – March 29, 2026

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Here is a short(ish) video updating the current status of Bruce, my 2025 Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 Special. Bruce was brought back to Atlanta Harley-Davidson on March 26, 2026. I am hoping to pickup Bruce by Wednesday April 1st, 2026. I am scheduled to roll out on Saturday April 4th, 2026 to begin Florida Loop 2026.

Alabama Ride with Tristan – March 22,2026

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March 22, 2026

Planned Ride

The planned ride into Alabama with Tristan as Pillon was to ride into Alabama from Douglasville, Georga on Georgia Highway 5 / Alabama Highway 48, grab a quick lunch in Lineville, Alabama and then ride north on Alabama Highway 281 through the Talladega National Forest and then back to Douglasville, GA via non-interstate for a planned total of 178 miles roundtrip.

This section of Alabama Highway 281 has some nice twisties and some pretty hill country and rolls by Cheaha Mountain, at an elevation of 2,413 feet, is Alabama’s highest natural point.

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Florida Loop 2026 – T Minus Two Weeks

Kickstand Up in Two Weeks – April 4th, 2026

Florida Loop 2026 is the not so clever name for my upcoming motorcycle touring trip, riding a loop of the state of Florida…. hence the name of the trip .

The trip as planned will be 8 days starting from Douglasville, Georgia to Pensacola, Florida and follow along the gulf and Florida’s west coast to the Everglades and Key West, Florida.  Then turn around and roll north following Florida’s east coast (more or less) and some interior back to Douglasville, Georgia.

Planned Miles = 2,495

Camping Nights = 5

Hotel stays = 2

Kickstand up: April 04, 2026

This will be my first touring trip with Bruce, my 2025 Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 Special.

For all of the planned details of this touring trip, Click Here for my original Florida Loop 2026 post.

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Death Valley Day 2

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Death Valley Day 2 – February 19, 2018

This was the first touring trip with Dexter, 2005 Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic.

I rode from Beatty, Nevada back to Death Valley coming in from Amargosa Valley and was planning on riding up to Dantes View, however the road to Dantes View was closed. 

I then rode down to Furnace Creek and headed to Artists Circle and Badwater, also in Death Valley.  From there I rode to Baker, California and stopped at the fantastic The Mad Greek and rode back to Lake Elsinore, California.

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Death Valley Day 1

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Death Valley Day 1 – February 18, 2018

This was the first touring trip with Dexter, 2005 Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic.

I rode from Lake Elsinore, California, to Lone Pine, California, through Death Valley, visited the Ghost Town Rhyolite, Nevada and stayed in a hotel in Beatty, Nevada.

The ride North on US Highway 395 was quite windy.  The descent into Death Valley on CA Highway 190 was entertaining with a well-maintained twisty road and breathtaking views of the valley below from the mountains.

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Dexter’s Last Tour – Deals Gap to Robbinsville North Carolina

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September 13 2025

Dexter’s Last Tour – Deals Gap to Robbinsville North Carolina on US Highway 129.

The weekend touring trip of the North Carolina / Tennessee mountains was the last touring trip with Dexter, my 2005 Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic.  On October 4th, 2025, I put down the deposit to purchase Bruce, my 2025 Harley-Davison Pan America 1250 Special.

The final ride (excluding ride to Atlanta Harley-Davidson for trade in) was on October 10th, 2025 when DeAndra and I rode from Douglasville, GA to Newnan, GA to have lunch at Culver’s (about 67 miles round trip).

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Santeetlah Road & Joyce Kilmer Road – North Carolina

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September 13, 2025

Not far from Robbinsville and Deals Gap North Carolina, I rode on Santeetlah Road and Joyce Kilmer Road on my way back to Deals Gap, North Carolina.

Joyce Kilmer road goes along a portion of Santeetlah Lake in the mountains of North Carolina just south of Tennessee.  This was a very scenic ride with some nice-looking camp sites along the way that I may try and take advantage of in the future.

Bruce – 1000 Miles

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2/28/2026

Today I rode 250 miles for another burger 🙂 Rode 250 miles round trip from Douglasville, GA to Burger Heaven in Birmingham, AL again but this time I had their 1-pound burger…hmmm beef.

Primary mission was to rack up some more miles to get to the 1000 miles mark on Bruce (my 2025 Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 Special). Soon I will be taking Bruce into Atlanta Harley-Davidson for its 1000 mile service and will also have them install my aux lights and run some power leads under the fuel tank for me, at this point, I don’t want to monkey around with removing the fuel tank, that sounds like future fun but not now LOL.

Installed Touratech Works Foot pegs

February 26, 2026

This evening I installed the Touratech Works Foot pegs (low version). The low version is 20mm (0.8″) lower the Harley-Davidson’s stock foot pegs without rubber insert installed (I still had the rubber installed in mine). This will give me a little more leg room (about 1″ or so) which every little bit helps.

These also have a nice claw profile that is grippy on the boots without tearing them up like sharp teeth type grips. There are much wider than the OEM pegs and are easy to stand on (not that the OEM pegs were bad for standing). I do like that these Touratech pegs have wide openings that will allow dirt and mud to fall through and will not as easily allow mud buildup on the pegs.

Installation was pretty straight forward. Hardest part is pushing in the retention tab on the OEM foot peg pin. I used a small pick to depress the tab and then wiggled the pin out. Other than that, pretty easy to swap foot pegs.

I did have to adjust my shift lever and brake lever height afterwards as these foot pegs do sit a bit lower than the OEM foot pegs.

Here is a video by Camel ADV that shows how to remove the OEM pin for the foot pegs. This video is for a differnt brand of aftermarket foot pegs but the procedure is the same with exception that these Touratech foot pegs use their own spring and a cylinder.

Here is a link to the Touratech Works Foot Pegs for the Pan America