While I do not own a bike at this time ( a story that is the result of my own bad decissions) I owned a 1995 Roadking. It had an Andrews cam, Mikuni Carb and a set of very loud pipes. It was black, my favorite color on any bike.

On Feb 1, 2001, I embarked on the ride of my life. I road from Portland, OR, to Key West, FL and back. I went down the coast to San Diego and then headed east. The first day only making Coos Bay due to a late start that day. I could hardly sleep that night and packed up the bike before dawn and headed down 101. Well what started as a bit of mist turned into rain and I stopped in a small cafe for breakfast waiting for the rain to let up and a little more sunlight. Well, the only thing that changed was the amount of light and it was still pretty grey out when I continued south.

Anyone that has been on this road knows parts run right along the edge of the ocean and I took the brunt of this Pacific storm for miles, getting thoroughly soaked and chilled. Sometimes I was leaning into the wind as it blasted away at me. But there is a magical place on this stretch of highway...the California Border. It was like stepping out of the shower at home. The rain stopped, the winds calmed and the sun came out. By Eureka I was beginning to dry out but I bought another pair of rainproof gloves at the Harley dealer. With better road conditions I made it to Pacifica that evening. It was dark when I got there. Figure I spent close to 12 hrs in the saddle that day.

I don't have the space to recount the whole trip but the thing I have to state is that I never met an unfriendly person the whole trip. I spent time in San Antonio, Mobile, Pensacola, Daytona Beach and of course Key West, where I spent 6 months before deciding I missed Oregon too much. In all I took 6 weeks going across the US and 8 days coming home.

The closest call to disaster was having my rear tire blow out at 75 mph on the freeway in Palm Springs. Thankfully I had AAA and the Harley dealer was only one exit up the freeway.

So this is the ride I rave about and will never forget. Be glad to share more details some day.